Camembert is a soft and round French cheese with a pearly exterior that is popular for a cheese board or cheese tasting. Cheesy, delicious and gooey camembert dip is a fancy yet easy-to-make recipe that is impressive enough to serve your guest as a dinner party appetizer or over drinks.
The best thing is that you can make this cheesy delicacy at home in just 20 minutes. This means spending less time in kitchen and more time with your friends. It makes a stunning centrepiece to share with your pals and is usually served immediately out of the oven with freshly baked warm bread.
There are no rules when it comes to what kind of bread is served with this gooey cheese. However, French toasted baguette pieces are served with Camembert for dipping. There are some other delicious options, too, when it comes to what to dip in baked Camembert.
You can prepare these options in advance and take your dinner party to the next level. If you need some inspiration, read on to find out what the Cooked Best team found when looking for some great choices of what to dip in Camembert.
Key Takeaways
We recommend crusty baguette or homemade bread for a chewy, satisfying dip.
Try pickles for a tangy contrast that complements Camembert’s earthy flavors.
For crunch, pretzels, crudités, and fresh fruit offer a delightful texture variety.
What is Camembert?
Camembert is an oozy cheese made from pasteurized or raw cow’s milk. Creamy, earthy and soft, his white mould cheese has edible snowy-white bloomy rind. It has a mushroomy flavour with sweet tones and hints of caramelized butter. It is slightly stronger and sour in terms of taste and has a rounded aftertaste. It is closely related to soft and slightly-runny French cheese but has a slightly more intense character than it.
Depending on the type, this white cheese is made from either raw or pasteurized milk. However, French Camembert is made with raw cow’s milk, while In the USA, it is made from pasteurized milk.
During the coagulation, it is mixed with a yeast culture and then allows the culture to spread and develop before the curdling of the milk. It is cut into cubes and poured into moulds once the cow’s milk has formed a soft yet solid curd. Then Camembert is drained of whey and set to brine.
This cow’s milk cheese can be a great addition to charcuterie boards due to their creamy taste and somewhat tangy aftertaste. Whether mild or runny, it pairs perfectly with everything from sweet to savoury and fruity to vegetable flavouring. It also pairs well with French baguettes, sourdough bread and water crackers. Camembert comes whole and sells in the round wooden box.
So you can bake the whole cheese in the oven. That’s why baked Camembert is the primary choice to enjoy this creamy cheese in this way. Baked Camembert is usually served as a dinner starter and offers rich dipping for bread, biscuits, fruit and vegetables.
What Flavours work with Camembert?
Due to its buttery and earthy flavours, Camembert is one of the most luscious cheeses out there that can be paired with fruit flavouring, herbs, oils, vegetables, alcohol, and preserves. You need to take care of one thing here, don’t add too many flavours; otherwise, the pairings will overpower the Camembert.
Remember, the key aspect of introducing other flavours is to enhance the cheese, not overpower it! Let’s have a look at what flavours work with Camembert.
Fruity, acidic and sweet accompaniments:
The backed Camembert shines with fruity, acidic and sweet accompaniments. It goes well with fruits like grapes, dried cranberries, pears, apples, raisins and fresh figs. For a sweeter option, pair it with some honey or jam. You can even take it in the dessert direction with simple sweet accompaniments such as dark chocolate, and some add some depth of flavour to it with the candied walnuts.
Vegetable flavouring and savoury accompaniments
As fruity and sweet flavour profiles pair well with it, savoury accompaniments also amp up its mushroomy and earthy notes. Consider choosing cured meats, olives and sautéed mushrooms with savoury accompaniments. For vegetable flooring, it can ver served with roasted garlic, caramelized onion, roasted Brussels sprouts and chilli flakes. Some other options include salads, soup, or even pasta.
Fruit preserves or pickles accompaniments- acid profile
Fruit preserves and pickles are sweet with a bit of tanginess and pair perfectly with Camembert. Serve seasonal fruit preserves with cheese like cranberry chutney, raspberry and strawberry jam, apple chutney, cranberry jelly, fig jam, and apricot preserves. Pickled blueberries bring acidity to the drinks with friends.
Bright and acidic beverages
The rich and creamy flavour of cheese goes well with fresh fruit juice and alcohol. To offset the buttery flavour of Camembert, enjoy it with apple brandy, beer, white wine or whiskey. The pairing of acidic beverages with baked Camembert helps you achieve the balance of flavour.
When you think about its pairing with beverages, consider something bright with a fizz. However, don’t forget that your drink should not bury the creamy and earthy flavour of the cheese, and cheese shouldn’t overpower your drink.
What Textures work with Camembert?
The texture of fresh camembert cheese is crumbled and bland. The young version of this Frech cheese has a sweet and milky taste. As it matures, it forms a white bloomy rind and smooth and runny interior, which it is known for. It has a chalky, soft-ripened, supple texture and goes well with a chewy, crunchy, liquid, soft, and firm texture.
Chewy
Camembert becomes a real treat when served with a chewy and crispy texture of crusty bread like baguette, sourdough bread and ciabatta.
Crunchy and crispy
Crackers offer a crunchy, flaky and crispy texture that is popular for being a great partner for creamy cheese like Camembert. Melba toast and tortilla chips are also great options to enjoy a crispy texture with creamy, rich cheese.
With a savoury, crunchy, and crispy texture, Camembert can also be a perfect contrast to crunchy caramelized nuts. You could toast the nuts before serving with this molten cheese.
Liquid
In terms of liquid pairing, consider serving it with beer, white wine, and apple brandy to offset its rich texture. For a truly indulgent meal, serve it with a glass of bubbly champagne.
Soft
If you want to enjoy something softer, fruit preserves and fresh homemade bread are the perfect options to enjoy Camembert. For a softer bite, it is worth taking the time to bake bread at home.
Options to dip in Camembert
What to dip in baked Camembert? There are various options to choose from when it comes to what to dip in Camembert. Whatever you choose to dip in Camembert, make sure to enjoy it and savour the experience.
Here are some delicious options to dip in Camembert to get you started!
Baguette or other homemade bread
Camembert is a French cheese, and its baked version goes perfectly with crusty bread of French origin. The chewy and crispy texture of this classic French bread with the creamy flavour of Camembert can be so satisfying. The best thing about baked Camembert is that you can jazz it up with some toppings like rosemary or thyme before enjoying it to the fullest with the baguette.
If you are not a fan of crusty bread, soft and warm homemade bread can also work well with this molten cheese. Dip your bread into the cheese or slather the molten cheese on top of a slice of bread. You can also try sourdough bread and toasted pitta with baked Camembert.
Pickles
The acidic profile of pickles perfectly complements the strong cheeses with an earthy flavour. Pickles have a salty, sour taste that works wonderfully with this dish.
When it comes to baked Camembert, you can bring out the rich flavour of this cheese with a few different pickles like gherkins, cornichons, onions and even mixed vegetables.
Toast points
Another flavorful dipping option is toast points which are easy to prepare and go well with Camembert. Add a bit of herb butter and garlic to jazz them up. If you want to impress your guest or give your friends an extra special treat, top toast points with crumbled slices of bacon.
Pretzels
The perfect dipping for gooey baked Camembert is pretzels that come with a chewy and crunchy texture. They not only add a great salty flavour to this cheese but also offer delicious contrast in textures. The soft and doughy pretzels are usually made with beer instead of water, topped with a sprinkle of rock salt to add a crunchy texture.
Crudités and Fresh Fruit
To add something crunchiness and sweetness, try fresh fruits and crudités for dipping into the molten cheese. The best thing is that you have plenty of options at hand such as celery, apples, carrots, peppers and cucumbers.
Chop them up, dip them in the cheese, and enjoy a crunchy bite with some creaminess. You can cut the vegetables in advance before serving but avoid cutting the apple as oxidation causes cut apple slices to brown.
Crackers
Homemade crackers are extra-crunchy and sure to be a hit when paired with creamy cheese like Camembert. The flaky and crispy texture of the crackers teams really well with baked Camembert, especially when you add some herbs and spices to its dough before baking. Also, you could add some flaked nuts and seeds to the dough to add extra crunchiness.
Andy
Ever since I started cooking I’ve been fascinated by how different people’s techniques are and how they best utilise the ingredients around them. Even the person living next door will have their own unique way of frying an egg or cooking a salmon fillet.
This fascination led me on a journey across the globe to discover the countless practices and traditions the world of cooking has to offer. I thought you’d enjoy and find value in sharing that journey with me so I created Cooked Best!