Beer

You, me, and a wheel of brie.

With the fresh salmon season over, I was at a bit of a loss when Outdoor Gourmet invited me to take part of their grilling competition. What do you grill on a cedar plank if there’s no fresh salmon around? Turns out people grill a lot of things on planks, like cheese! Also, there’s other planks besides cedar! Upon opening the box from Outdoor Gourmet I had already learned so much.

I recently received another incredible package: a few home-brew bombers from my brother-in-law Erik. I love adding beer to recipes, it adds an earthy flavor that can enrich lots of cuisines. Using his Triton Pale seemed like a great way to put a little twist on a simple grilling recipe. Beer, wood-smoke, melted cheese….. this is sounding really tasty…. throw some fruit on there and I think we have ourselves a recipe.

Here’s what we used: a maple plank, a 22oz hoppy beer, a wheel of brie, honey, blueberries, and a charcoal grill.

Plank-grilled Blueberry Brie

1. Soak your Maple Fromagier Line Cheese Plank in a hoppy home-brew for 2-8 hours, the longer the better.

2. Start up your charcoal grill. Let the coals get nice and hot for optimal cheese melting.

3. When the grill is ready to go, get your cheese dressed: take the plank out of the beer, put the whole brie wheel on top (no need to cut off the rind). Spread honey on the top of the brie then stack as many blueberries as you can on top.

4. Pop it in the grill and let it roast for 20 minutes, the edges of the wheel will turn a caramel color.

5. Eat it hot! So delicious and did I mention melty?

I meant to get a photo of a slice taken out but we devoured it so quickly. I was busy making little sandwiches out of an apple, a slice of homemade culatello that our friend Heath brought over, and the blueberry brie. It was AMAZING! And so easy to make, well everything except the culatello….

The moral of the story is to try this easy yet sophisticated appetizer at your next dinner party. All you need is a plank, some beer, and a friend who cures meat.

The maple plank was donated to Life at Latitude by Outdoor Gourmet. I was not paid for this post and the opinions are my own.

The official beginning of Autumn in Alaska was yesterday at 12:44pm. Today I can almost smell snow in the air. This weekend we had our 3rd fire in the new wood stove, the one christened by a bottled of North Coast’s Barrel-aged Old Rasputin XV. When I noticed this specialty production of Jonah’s favorite beer was coming out, I alerted the Facebook page followers to keep an eye out in their area. I thought it would be a perfect Valentine’s Day present. Although it didn’t arrive in time for the “big day,” our friend Jonathan sent both this years and last years vintage. Jeewizz! They were not kidding about the bourbon barrel, this beer really packs a punch. I wish that we would have held this one in the cellar a little longer, let it mellow. Continue reading →