Obatzda

Method

1. 1Take the camembert and the butter out of the fridge a full hour before you start. Both have to be soft enough to give under a thumb, because cold cheese never blends smoothly and you will be left picking out lumps that refuse to break down. The cheese should also be properly ripe: the centre bulging rather than chalky, and smelling of more than milk. An underripe camembert makes a bland Obatzda and no amount of paprika fixes it.
2. 2Cut the camembert into rough 2 cm pieces, rind and all, drop them into a bowl with the soft butter and the cream cheese, and mash with a fork. Leave the rind in: it carries most of the smell and it is what the protected specification is built around. Stop while the mixture is still uneven, with pieces about the size of a pea still visible. Obatzda is a mashed spread, not a purée, and a food processor turns it into wallpaper paste in about four seconds.
3. 3Add the paprika, the ground caraway, the crushed garlic, the finely diced red onion and most of the chives, then the salt and pepper. Fold rather than beat, pressing the mixture against the side of the bowl. The colour will go from pale to a warm orange-pink as the paprika comes through; if it stays streaky, keep going for another minute.
4. 4Loosen it with the beer a spoonful at a time, until the spread just holds its shape on a knife. How much you need depends on how ripe the cheese was, so go slowly. Cover and chill for an hour, which firms it up and lets the caraway and garlic settle into the cheese.
5. 5Take it out twenty minutes before serving, because straight from the fridge it is too stiff to spread and half the smell is locked up. Pile the reserved onion rings and the rest of the chives on top and serve with pretzels, dark bread and, if you want the full beer-garden version, a plate of thinly sliced salted radish.