Brie Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:

The usual thing to do with brie – and a very good thing I must say – is to serve it “en Croute,” or in bread. This is a somewhat less vegetarian-friendly alternative, surrounding the wonderful smooth meltiness of brie with lightly-smoked chicken beast.

2 large chicken breasts, 1 wedge of 60% milkfat brie, herbage – in this case some nice fresh chives

Step 1:

Some apple wood twigs or chips. Put those in water right away so they have time to soak before smoking.

Step 2:

Chicken:

Step 3:

Make a vertical incision along the widest muscle of the breast, being sure to leave the underlying muscle intact. That lower muscle will hold our wonderful, melty brie in place during the cooking process.

Step 4:

Mince the chives finely.

Step 5:

Cut the brie into ~1 inch chunks. Leave the rind on; it’ll melt in and be completely inoffensive, I promise.

Step 6:

Mix those up in a bowl and grind on some black pepper.

Step 7:

Put the brie mix in the chicken breasts.

Not shown: sprinkle the stuffed breasts with hot Hungarian paprika for color and flavor. Our relatively low cooking temperature and indirect heat means spices on the outside of the meat won’t burn.

Step 8:

While I could use a real smoker and cook these at a very low temperature, I’ve chosen instead to modify the grill to act the same way – only hotter. First, put the soaked wood twigs/chips into the provided chip receptacle.

Step 9:

Set the left half of the grill to High heat, and the right half to Low. Put a pizza stone on the right side and the wood on the left. Now, wait for the smoke to start.

Step 10:

Once the smoking begins, put the stuffed breasts on the pizza stone, insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the largest breast, and close the lid. Reduce heat to ~250 F.

Step 11:

When the internal temperature of the meat approaches 130 degrees, crank up the heat to between 300 and 350. Cook to 175-180 degrees Fahrenheit internal temp, then open the lid and remove.

Step 12:

I know it’s becoming repetitive, but these really are Golden Brown and Delicious.

Step 13:

Garnish as you like. I did so simply with some sliced radishes and chives.

Step 14:

Close up of brie stuffed chicken.