Cheese and charcuterie board
- Preparation 20 min
- Servings 8
- Freezing I do not suggest
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🧀 Hosting without the stress
A cocktail hour, a party, a dinner that gets decided at four in the afternoon. I make boards like this all the time. You buy, you slice two or three things, you arrange, and you are done. Nothing goes in the oven.
A catered board costs you double. Build your own and you pick every single cheese yourself, for eight people, for less money.
🐍 The snake trick
I never dump everything in a pile. Small bowls go down first, nuts in one, olives in the other. Then a line of dry sausage, cut off by a cheese, then crackers, then another cheese further down. It crosses the board instead of filling it.
The cheeses are my dividers. So is the meat. That is what makes a board look composed when it really took twenty minutes.
🎄 Holiday season, and the rest of the year
December is when everybody goes looking for this, and it makes sense: the board comes together while guests are taking off their coats. Do not save it for the holidays though. A Tuesday night in July on the patio works just as well.
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🧭 Build it as a snake, never as a pile
This is the one thing that separates a decent board from a board people photograph. Small bowls first, nuts in one, olives in the other. They will not move again, and everything else gets built around them.
Then I start a line of dry sausage in one corner, break it with a cheese, add crackers, drop another cheese further along, slide meat in between. It travels across the board instead of piling up.
The part that matters: never put all the cheeses on the same side. They are my dividers, and so is the charcuterie. That is what makes it look like somebody thought about it.
🔖 Little cheese signs
Cut the cheese name off its label and pin it on top with a toothpick. Guests know what they are eating and nobody has to ask.
🚩 The two things that ruin a board
Not enough variety. That is the first one. Three items is a corner store board. And if every cheese you buy is strong, half the room will not touch it: keep your big blue, but put two or three mild cheeses beside it.
The second one is bread. There is never enough. Buy one more baguette than you think you need.
🕐 Make it ahead
One to two hours, no more. Slice the sausages, fill the bowls, lay out the cheeses and the charcuterie, then the board goes in the fridge under plastic wrap.
Then pull the whole board out one hour before serving. Not just the cheese: the charcuterie and the pâté too. Cold food tastes like nothing. Bread gets sliced at the last minute, otherwise the slices dry out.
🍇 What you can add
Fresh figs cut in half, dried apricots, dates. A small jar of honey or onion jam for the strong cheeses. Green grapes if you want something fresh between two rich bites. Go with what you feel like, that is the fun part.
♻️ Next day leftovers
Split everything into bags or containers and put it back in the fridge, except the crackers, which will go soft. Then you have two options: a spicy grilled cheese with bacon and cheese curds using the odd ends, or you throw whatever is left into a classic cheese fondue. Blue cheese and tomme make a ridiculous fondue.
✅ What do I serve with my cheese and charcuterie board?
If the board is the meal, it stands on its own. If it opens a dinner, I put two or three warm bites around it so it is not all cold food: Boursin stuffed mushrooms with pecans, maple duck bites with apple and basil, or English muffin bites with black olives and cheese. A bowl of homemade guacamole at the end of the table does the job too, especially in summer.
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Ingredients
- 250 g Beemster cheese (or another aged gouda)
- 200 g Pied-De-Vent cheese (or another soft washed rind cheese)
- 400 g Tomme au cidre de pommes (or another firm cow’s milk tomme)
- 100 g Highland blue cheese (or another mild blue)
- 250 ml calabrese marinated olives
- 1 cup (250 ml) mixed nuts
- 130 g dry chorizo style sausage, thinly sliced
- 130 g dry red wine sausage, thinly sliced
- 200 g prosciutto, thinly sliced
- 200 g Bündnerfleisch (air dried smoked beef), thinly sliced
- 200 g duck liver pâté
- 150 g artisan crackers with fruit and nuts
- 1 or 2 fresh baguettes
- 1 or 2 black olive baguettes
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Preparation
- Take the whole board out of the fridge 1 hour before serving: the cheeses, the charcuterie and the pâté. Cold food tastes like nothing.
- Put the olives in one small bowl and the nuts in another, then set them on the board first. They give you your structure.
- Thinly slice both dry sausages and line them up next to the bowls.
- Take out your most amazing presentation plates and boards, then spread everything like a hungry ninja: one cheese at one end, another in the middle, the charcuterie in between. The cheeses and the meat act as dividers.
- Fill the gaps with the crackers and set the duck liver pâté beside them, with a small knife.
- Slice the baguettes right before serving, otherwise the slices dry out, and set them next to the board.
- Eat, drink and be merry!
Three cheeses, three meats, three accompaniments. As a starting point it is a great rule, and it keeps you from buying nine kinds of salami and forgetting the crackers. I do not count, though. I eyeball it and I always buy too much, which has never been a problem at a party.
Only strong cheeses. Not enough bread. Everything piled in the middle. Slicing the baguette an hour early so it dries out. And serving the whole thing straight from the fridge, which flattens every flavour you paid for.
Pick by texture, not by name: one soft washed rind, one firm tomme or aged gouda, one blue. Mine are a Pied-De-Vent, a tomme aged in apple cider and a Highland blue, all from Quebec, but any cheese counter can match those three textures.
One to two hours, covered, in the fridge. Any earlier and the charcuterie dries at the edges. Take the whole board out an hour before serving and slice the bread right before guests sit down.
A light red served cool and a dry saison, the two pairings on this page, and the evening takes care of itself. Add a warm bite or two if the board opens a dinner: Boursin stuffed mushrooms with pecans, or maple duck bites with apple and basil. Keep the leftovers for a classic cheese fondue the next day.
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