Honey Butter Grilled Cheese with Creamy Chili Crisp Dip (Paired with a St. Germain Spritz!)
If you're not dipping your grilled cheese, you're not living.
I might be a bit too into this one. I devoured it SO FAST, and it was a magical experience.
The combination of gooey/salty cheese + sweet creamed honey + creamy/spicy dip is incredible on its own, but it rivals the worlds best pairings when followed up with a St. Germain Spritz!!
I originally planned to pair this one with Prosecco (because I was really craving a glass of bubbles and opened it before I actually knew what I was making), and it could have worked beautifully! But sadly, the one I opened was a teeny bit too dry (aka not sweet enough) for the honey-loaded grilled cheese.
Why? Because when the food is sweeter than the wine, it masks the wine’s flavour and amps up the perception of bitterness and acidity. In other words, it makes the wine taste worse.
Slightly sweeter Prosecco (which is called extra-dry — as confusing that is) would probably be awesome, but since that wasn’t the case I had to get creative!
Since it was lacking sweetness, I decided to add a sweet liqueur of some sort to make it a spritz. And if you’ve been here a while, you know I love a good spritz.
I always have a bunch of liqueurs on hand, and I knew it would between Lillet (with its lovely floral, orange, and honeyed flavours) or St. Germain (with its more intense elderflower/lychee vibes). Both would undoubtedly pair wonderfully, but the thought of lychee with chili crisp seemed PERFECT. It gives Asian fusion and I love it.
SO I added some St. Germain liqueur to my glass of Prosecco with some ice, topped it off with more bubbles, and that was that! Nothing fancy, but HOLY did it make a difference. The pairing went from “could be better” to A-FREAKING-MAZING. The flavour combo of honey + chili crisp + lychee was even better than I thought, and the contrast of the hot/gooey grilled cheese and mouthcoating creamy dip with the crisp cold spritz was everything.
You’re welcome. 😉
