Mac and cheese, grilled cheese, cheese curds... think you know cheese? Not very common yet in the Midwest is a warm, melted, and buttery mouth sensation known as raclette, and it’s ready to be the center of entertainment for your next happy hour in Southern Wisconsin. In this episode of Wisconsin Foodie, Host Luke Zahm meets up with Paula and Orphee, owners of Alpinage Cheese located in Oak Creek, WI, just outside Milwaukee. Their passion for cheesemaking and dairy farming led them to pursuing a living love letter to the worlds they both represent, by producing only one style of cheese: handcrafted Alpine-style Raclette. Paula and Orphee take us through their midnight cheesemaking process, from fresh warm milk to finished Proudly Wisconsin cheese, aged for over 60 days. Extremely fortunate for their partnership with Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy in Kewaunee County, Paula and Orphee drive up north once each week to make their cheese at Pagel’s, and using Pagel’s fresh high quality milk, then they bring it back down to age it. According to Luke who helps slice and mold the 400 pounds of cheese, “that fresh curd squeak is vibrant.” Raclette is a French or Swiss style cheese that is known for being a beautiful and luxurious melting cheese, traditionally over potatoes, meats and bread, scraped straight off the wheel.
The authentic flavor comes from the rind and the process of washing and flipping, which is unique to America. In the hierarchy of cheese sophistication, fondue has no leg to stand on when compared to raclette.
To experience the full flavors of Alpinage Cheese’s raclette, beyond a simple melt-and-pour- over, Luke makes his way to one of Milwaukee's favorite new restaurants, the award-winning
Birch Restaurant in Milwaukee, WI to visit with Chef Kyle Knall. Nominated for 2022 Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation, Chef Kyle is proud of his contemporary farm-to-table American cuisine that elevates local produce and ingredients, and has ventured from Alabama to New Orleans to Wisconsin looking for the ideal agricultural environment. He is challenging the perception that the upper-Midwest is culinary flyover country, by mastering the element of absolutely uncontrollable pieces when cooking solely in a live fire approach. Live fire isn’t just for meats, and Birch is very vegetable-focused, any dish will have you guessing “is it meat or is it produce?” Similarly, Chef Kyle’s showcase of Alpinage Cheese’s raclette is nothing less than show-stopping, “it’s like cabbage ramen,” you have to taste it to understand.
01:17 What is this Raclette thing?
03:47 About Alpinage Cheese
05:22 Keeping it in the [dairy] family, with midnight cheesemaking
07:52 How to dress for cheesemaking operation
11:50 “That fresh curd squeak is vibrant”
13:09 No gas, only fire at Birch
15:16 The passing of the cheese
16:39 A master chef at work
21:44 It’s like cabbage ramen
24:11 Say what? (Outtakes)
find Raclette cheese near you:
www.alpinagecheese.com
/ alpinagecheese
Looking for a high-end dining experience in the East End of Milwaukee? Then Birch is a must:
www.birchonpleasant.com
Fresh from the farm... take a tour of Pagel’s:
www.pagelsponderosa.com