This Safeway special was the cheapest non-generic Brie that I could find at the grocery store. I promise to upscale my Cheeses of the Week if the economy improves, but at this point, I didn’t want to rub it in anyone’s face that I still had a job and had nothing better to do than eat snobby French cheese.
Anyway, it was noticeably firm right from when I picked it up, and then I left it sitting in my fridge for a couple of days (okay, maybe a week or more) past the “best before” date on the package before I finally took it over to Amy’s house and unwrapped it for her and her mom and her stepdad. I did examine it closely for mold, etc., and it was perfectly fine — besides, those “best before” dates are kind of scams, anyway.
But, I suspect that it was slightly less soft and less moist than it may have been had we consumed it while it was fresher.
At any rate, we put it on a plate with some Triscuits and a drink called an Orange Dream that Amy’s stepdad had mixed up. I think it had rum and Cointreau and orange juice in it, with a dash of bitters, and it was a surprisingly refreshing— though boozy — accompaniment to a Brie.
Later, we also tried it with an Argentinean Malbec and although that was pretty good as well, I have to say the high acidity of the Orange Dream helped break down the Brie in an excellent and bracing way.
Like many Bries, Amy commented that this one was pretty salty, and the Triscuits might overdo that aspect of it. However, the saving grace of the Triscuits was that they can withstand the heat of the microwave or the broiler very, very well, no matter what you put on them. I was the only one to try it, and I did make a bit of a mess in the microwave (which I cleaned up!) because I was too lazy to use a plate, but five seconds on high turned a very mediocre Brie-on-Triscuit into a melty delight — softening and warming the cheese really brought out a lot from this otherwise-ordinary Brie.
As you can see by the discolouration under the rind, this was a very firm Brie — and it was that way when I bought it, I didn’t leave it in the fridge for that long.
If you’re looking for a cheap Brie that you want to use in a melty appetizer or hors d’œuvre recipe — perhaps a recipe that you’re afraid you will mess up, and don’t want to waste a very expensive cheese — then I could wholeheartedly recommend this cheese. It’s affordable, and the heat brings out the best in it.
But if you’re just looking for a simple cut-it-and-eat-it snack, there are better values out there.
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