Culinary pursuits … and beer, of course

A reason to swing by Cricket Hill on Friday: good beer and good food, and cooking with good beer. Toss in music, too. This should be a great time (starts around 5 p.m.).

Some explanation first …

This isn’t an official Cricket Hill function, but rather the Fairfield brewery has made its parking lot available for the Cricket Cookout. The event is the brainchild of longtime Cricket Hill Brewing friend and Web entrepreneur Roj Prasad, who in addition to running his business, Web Epoch Interactive and handling the brewery's Web site, is a serious devotee to grilling and cooking. Roj also has a blog on the topic, Culinary Pursuit, where you’ll find restaurant reviews, cooking tips and some recaps of Roj’s own kitchen adventures.

But Roj wants to take his cooking passion to a new platform. That’s where the Cricket Cookout comes in, as the launch vehicle for a show also called Culinary Pursuit. With a video crew taping him Friday for a production that will go on YouTube, Roj will be cooking up plenty of chicken, using Cricket Hill beers – Col. Blides Cask Ale, American Ale, Hopnotic IPA, Paymaster Porter and East Coast Lager. Look for the birds to come out succulent, via rotisserie or beer can style. (There will also be some wings, shish kebabs and shrimp on the barbie.)

Roj plans to turn the camera on other cooks, too, and hopes to attract the interest of giants in the game, such as the Food Channel, to reach a wider audience. He’s lined up some sponsors for his event, including Viking, which has ponied up a pair of 53-inch grills (Roj calls ’em the Rolls Royce of grills).

It's all in the pursuit of good food paired with good beer.