This 4-star hotel, built in 1888, is a jewel of Lucerne. Many Dignitaries, Kings, Queens, diplomats, world stars, and the residents of Lucerne have stayed here. The Guetsch funicular takes you quickly and easily to the hotel. The restaurant menu is seasonal Mediterranean and regional cuisine. Enjoy beautiful, panoramic views of Lucerne while dining. Signature selections include Seabream Baked in Salt, Spicy Calabrese Chicken and  Veal Milanese with Rocket Salad. The rooms come in different styles from Queen Victoria, traditional to modern.

Visit: Kanonenstrasse, 6003 Luzern, Switzerland; +41 41 289 14 14; https://www.chateau-guetsch.ch/en/

The Bernese Tongue Sausage

is to the Bernese government more than Sausage. They want to protect this product. Demand for the product is growing, experts say.
It belongs on every Bernese plate and meat lovers lick their fingers for it: The Bernese Tongue Sausage is known nationwide. For more than two years, Berner butchers fought to make sure that the tongue sausage could only be produced in the Canton of Bern. They feared that wholesalers could move production abroad. Now the application has been approved by the Federal Office of Agriculture. “With the registration, limitations should be avoided in the future and both the good reputation and the excellent quality of this Bernese specialty should be protected,” writes the Confederation.

Survey

When did you last have a Berner Platter?
The Tongue Sausage is one of the most famous specialties of the Canton of Bern. Unlike the name suggests, the sausage is not made of the tongue, but of two different types of bread.

More Popularity for the Tongue Sausage

Objections to the petition can be raised within three months. “I do not think that there will be headwinds from other Cantons,” says Adrian Gygax, butcher and board member of the meat trade association of the Canton of Bern. He led a working group that works to protect the sausage. “The difficulty was that you had to reconcile the different needs of the producers,” says Gygax. That did cost a lot of time.

The goal is now that the Tongue Sausage regains popularity.

“We want to market the sausage better; the protection is a side effect,” says Gygax. One wants to prevent the Bernese original from being made abroad.
As soon as the period of three months has expired and no complaints are received, the Tongue Sausage will be registered in the Swiss Handelsamtblatt as a geographically protected product. From then on, the sausage may only be produced in the Canton of Bern. The consumer should enjoy geographical protection: “This is guaranteed by the fact that we have a top product that comes from the region,” says Gygax.

Raclette is a Swiss cheese dish, a cultural landmark, the name of a cheese, a tabletop appliance, a dining experience, a great time!
Raclette is incredibly in style in Europe

The History

Particularly within the Swiss Alps and different ski regions.

And that’s where it’s said Raclette came from.
Back in the day, Swiss shepherds from the French-speaking Valais region were required to bring food up to the Alps that was relatively low-cost and wouldn’t spoil simply within the hot summer month. So they brought cheese and potatoes. While the potatoes cooked within the hearth or in the fire, an enormous piece of cheese was placed close to the fire. Once it started melting the cheese was bumped off and scraped onto the baked potatoes. This wasn’t solely filling and nutritional, but additionally delicious. In French ‘to scrape’ interprets as ‘racler’ and this is often wherever the term Raclette came from.

The Equipment

Today, few houses have an open fireplace, so to simulate the process we now have Raclette Melter that holds a block or half wheel of cheese under a heating element. Once melted, the cheese is scraped off onto the prepared potatoes.
Another selection could be a Raclette Grill, which permits individual melting parts of cheese and offers a grill on top at the same time, to serve grilled vegetables, meat, chicken, or fish with the cheese. Many of those models go with a reversible grill (flattop) that may be used to create crepes or pancakes. And yet one more selection may be reborn into a mini pizza pie kitchen appliance.

The Recipes

This simple raclette formula below serves  4 people.
• 8 small/medium potatoes
• 1.5 lb. Raclette Cheese
• Buendnerfleisch (cut in paper-thin slices)
• 1 jar of pickled gherkin cucumbers (cornichons)
• 1 jar of pickled onions
• freshly ground pepper
• paprika
Wash potatoes and, with skins on, boil in a pot filled with salted water for about 20 min. Test with a knife if the potatoes are done. Keep hot to use in an insulated potato bag. In the meanwhile take away the rind of the cheese and delve 1/16″ thick slices employing an adjustable wire slicer. Arrange gherkins, onions, and Buendnerfleisch on a platter and set aside until required. Turn the raclette on to start to heat up (allow for a minimum of five minutes before using). For raclette grills: every guest takes a slice of cheese, places it in their pan, and slides it under the raclette grill to melt. It takes minutes to soften to a creamy consistency and three minutes for an additional crispier high. In the meantime take a potato, place it onto your plate and cut it into a few pieces, remove the pan from under the grill once it’s reached its preferred consistency, and hold the pan onto its face to scrape the cheese out, using your wooden spatula. For a raclette, each guest prepares potatoes and side dishes on their own plates. When the cheese starts melting on the wheel, scrape the cheese onto the plate—season it with freshly ground pepper and paprika.

The beverage to break up the cheese!

Pair Raclette Cheese with Pinot Grigio, Swiss Fendant, or a light, fruity wine, like Burgundy. A popular beverage is also a Kirsch Licor. (Cherry Brandy)

This is what a table looks like serving Raclette  for 8 people

Order your own Raclette Grill here, from Amazon

You Just Have To Try!

 as published in THE LOCAL.CH

The Aargauer Rüeblitorte

Canton Aargau: Schnitz und Drunder and Rüeblitorte

are a group of fortifications located around the town of Bellinzona, the capital of the Swiss canton of Ticino. Situated on the Alpine foothills, the group is composed of fortified walls and three castles named Castelgrande, Montebello, and Sasso Corbaro. Castelgrande is located on a rocky peak overlooking the valley, with a series of walls that protect the old city and connect to Montebello. Sasso Corbaro, the highest of the three castles, is located on isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other two.^[1] The Castles of Bellinzona with their defensive walls have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

Pre-History and Roman era. Bellinzona 

has always occupied an important geographic location in the Alps. To the south, the Po valley is accessible by a lowland route down the valley of the Ticino river and by Lake Maggiore. … The town that grew up around the fortifications was known as Bilitio.

The fight over the Region

Under the control of the Visconti, trade flourished, and the city of Bellinzona grew. Even when an alternative route over the Alps, the Schöllenen bridge opened, traffic in the St. Gotthard increased to the highest levels ever.^[7] During the second half of the 14th century, a long wall, known as the Murata, was built across the entire valley of the Ticino, of which the bottom is about one kilometer wide at Bellinzona. This wall allowed Milan to protect and tax the trade route over the St. Gotthard Pass.^[4] While the city was controlled by Milan through the Visconti after 1340, the Visconti did not have a formal title and feudal rights until 1396, when they were granted by King Wenceslaus. However, the orderly growth of Bellinzona was threatened in 1402 when Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti died. In 1403, Bellinzona was taken under the control of Alberto di Sacco of Val Mesolcina. He held Bellinzona until 1419, when it was taken over by Uri and Obwalden, which had expanded into the Leventina Valley. Milan attacked the city three years later in 1422, after an offer to buy the city was rejected by the Swiss Confederation. The troops from Uri and Obwalden were quickly driven from the city and later defeated at the Battle of Arbedo on June 30, 1422. This defeat discouraged the expansionist intentions of Uri and its allies towards Lake Maggiore for a time.

My visit to Castelgrande

revealed a beautiful restaurant within the walls of the castle, nestled away in, what seemed like a wine cellar, was the restaurant which was connected to a larger restaurant towards the courtyard of the castle, during the summer, guests can enjoy food and beverages sitting in the open courtyard of the castle. The views over the entire Po valley are breathtaking.

Highlights

• Three castles – the medieval fortifications, with the castles of Castelgrande, Castello di Montebello, and Castello di Sasso Corbaro, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

° Villa Dei Cedri – a municipal art gallery with Swiss and Italian paintings from the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as contemporary art. There is a particular focus on artists from the local area.

• Old Town – in the area around the Piazza Nosetto, Via del Teatro, and Piazza del Governo, the Old Town boasts a wealth of beautiful merchants’ houses, stone gateways, balconies with wrought iron railings, and inn signs from a bygone era.
• Teatro Sociale – inspired by La Scala in Milan, the building is in the typically Italian Classical style and is the only theatre in Switzerland to have been preserved from the 19th century.
• Modern architecture in Bellinzona – in the Castelgrande, the architect Aurelio Galfetti has cleverly integrated a boldly designed restaurant, while the Convento delle Agostiniane on the Monte Carasso has been converted into a modern training center by the architect Luigi Suozzi.

When you visit Switzerland or the North of Italy, I recommend you put this site on your bucket list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castles_of_Bellinzona

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/bellinzona.html