This recipe is from a trip that Fred took with Allison and her parents to the Czech Republic: “I was thirty, traveling in the back of an Opel minivan loaded with adults. The bottles of beer were always too small and the stops never frequent enough. This was back when I was ignoring a little gluten issue and drinking vast quantities of Czechvar/Budvar. Basically, this trip was like the Griswolds in Prague. “While visiting an old brewery’s beer garden, I noticed a ‘little things to eat with beer’ section of the menu. It was full of pickled herring, utopenec (pickled sausage), and cheese. We ordered them all, and when the cheese arrived, it was like a gathering of all of the cheese leftovers blended with beer. It was unsightly and completely delicious.” You will need four (4-ounce) cheese molds with holes or four Styrofoam coffee cups with holes poked in the bottoms and sides, plus four paper coffee filters to make the cheese.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　4 1/2 ounces (130 g) quark cheese

　　4 1/2 ounces (130 g) cream cheese

　　3 1/2 ounces (100 g) blue cheese

　　1/2 cup (125 ml) pilsner beer

　　1 teaspoon salt

　　1/2 clove garlic, finely minced

　　Hefty pinch of paprika

　　

ACCOMPANIMENTS

Rye bread slices panfried in butter and rubbed with a garlic clove

　　Pickled cherry or banana peppers

　　Sour Crudités (page 177)

　　

Step 1

Leave the cheeses at room temperature for about 1 hour.

　　

Step 2

In a small pot, warm the beer over medium heat and then remove from the heat.

　　

Step 3

In a food processor, combine the cheeses, beer, salt, garlic, and paprika and process until smooth and homogenous, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

　　

Step 4

If you are using Styrofoam cups (see note above), use a hot nail or small pointed knife blade to poke holes in each cup, spacing them every square inch (2.5 cm). You should have about 30 holes. Dampen the coffee filters, and line each perforated Styrofoam cup or drainage cup with a filter.

　　

Step 5

Divide the cheese mixture into 4 equal portions, and put a portion in each lined cup. Put the cups on a rimmed plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

　　

Step 6

Unmold the cheeses and place each portion on a plate. Serve with the rye bread, pickled peppers, and crudités.

　　Reprinted with permission from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan & Meredith Erickson, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.