Nothing says stylish home, stylish host like a perfectly arranged charcuterie board filled with samplings of cheeses, meats, fruits, and other tasty morsels. They make it easy to impress guests and are even easier to put together. To create a charcuterie board for your next soiree, try these ingredients, or choose your own in similar categories. Offer a combination of textures and flavors to keep it interesting (slice meats in different thicknesses, offer crackers and soft breads). Remember to complement salty with creamy and sweet with sour or tangy. And have fun!
PRO TIP: When setting up your board, remember the saying “we eat with our eyes first.” Make it beautiful and inviting! Use little ramekins to hold pickled onions, olives, and nuts. Infuse color throughout with your fruits and spreads. Fill in spaces on the board with crackers, seeds, and edible flowers. Slice some of the meats and leave others for guests to slice. Cut cheeses into wedges, squares, and cubes. If your board looks full and overflowing with amazingly tantalizing goodies, you’ve done it right!
Meats: spicy and mild varieties; 2-4 kinds
Thinly sliced: prosciutto
Hard: salami
Creamy: pates
Spicy: sausages
Sliceable: galantines
Cheeses: hard and soft; mix milk types; 4-5 kinds, including at least one extremely bold typ
Soft: pecorino, Camembert, Gorgonzola
Firm: Gouda, Gruyere, edam, halloumi
Hard: manchego, Parmigiano, Romano, Emmenthal
Sharp: cheddar, blue, Asiago
Intense: Stilton, schloss, Roquefort
Mild: Jarlsberg, Havarti, Muenster
Spreadable: mascarpone, chevre, and sheep and goat’s milk cheeses
Breads/crackers: mix textures and grains; 2-3 types
Sliced baguette
Wheat crackers
Rice crackers
Flavored bread sticks
Rye or pumpernickel rounds
Fruits: sliced into easily manageable bites; include tart and sweet; 3 or more
Figs
Apples
Pears
Grapes
Berries
Dried fruits
Spreads: 2-4
Fruit jams
Mustards
Hummus
Tapenade
Honey
Extras:
Nuts
Edible flowers
Olives
Roasted chickpeas
Dark chocolate
Olive oil
Sea salt
Seeds