There are a few important facts about brie cheese you should understand before making any purchase. Brie does age and ripen, so the assumption must be made that you know how to identify a brie that is not too ripe or under ripe.
Firstly Brie stops aging the second you slice it. What this means is that if it isn’t ripe, in other words it has been bought and used too soon, or hasn’t been aged properly it will not improve from that moment. Indeed your brie will begin to deteriorate, so it needs eaten up pretty quickly. Mind you if you are looking for an excuse to be a piglet, you have now got it.
You can buy brie canned. This isn’t to be recommended, because you will have no idea how old it is, how ripe or unripe it is. The risks far outweigh the benefits, so as a general rule of thumb don’t buy canned brie.
There are other points about purchasing and storing brie that are well worth noting. Quite surprisingly a ripe, but must be uncut brie can be frozen for as long as six months. You should always bring brie to room temperature before it is eaten. If you can’t get any brie then you can use the same quantity of Camembert although you need to remember it has a stronger aroma and stronger flavour than the equivalent quantity of brie.
Brie is extremely elegant because of the soft really gooey middle. It goes extremely well with fresh fruit or in a fondue, it is difficult to get it wrong. Indeed you can use brie equally well with vegetables or meat, and in sauces where its rich fruity flavour shines through.
In terms of what to drink with brie, then champagne, a full bodied chardonnay or a German dessert wine would be a great choice for a great cheese. You will want to ensure only the best quality of brie cheeses, and also the nicest wines to drink with your brie recipe