I picked up making charcuterie boards as a hobby. Here are some tips and tricks I've learned over the past few years.
Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.
- Tools/basic equipment
- Wooden, glass cutting board, serving tray
- Small condiment bowls or ramekins
- Mini tongs (I get the mini 4 inch bamboo ones on Amazon)
- Mini wooden spoons (I get the 4 inch square-ish ones or the 4 inch curved ones on Amazon)
- Cheese knives
- Sharp knives (used to cut the cheese)
- Wire cheese knife
- Base of a board
- Fruits: apples, grapes, strawberries
- Veggies: baby carrots, snap peas, broccoli, olives, pickles
- Cheeses: cheddar, goat, gouda, mozzarella
- Meats: pepperoni, sliced turkey, salami
- Dips and spreads: honey, hummus, ranch dressing, peanut butter, fruit jam, salsa
- Savory snacks: crackers, pretzels, bagel chips, chips, nuts, popcorn
- Sweet snacks: dried fruit, yogurt-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered almonds, mini cookies
- Basic Tips (Based on my personal opinion)
- 3, 3, 3 rule
- 3 cheeses (soft, hard, blue/spreadable)
- 3 meats
- 3 accompaniments (jams, fruit, nuts, crackers)
- My go to is: cheddar, brie, flavored cheese, prosciutto, pepperoni, salami, green and red grapes, small jar of jam (bacon or fig), cornichons, and 2 types of crackers.
- Place any bowls first, and then the largest items on the board and work your way down to the smallest items.
- If you run out of room on the board, put the crackers in a bowl off to the side.
- If it's not meant to be eaten, then do not add it to the board.
- I try to have everything cut on the board. People aren't as likely to cut the cheese if it's not cut. Having everything already cut makes it easier for people to grab and go. It also prevents me from having to use different cheese knives and I can stick with my disposable stuff.
- Tips from the professionals (I own numerous charcuterie books and streamlined what they said)
- Divide the number of people in half to get the number of types cheese for the board
- Smaller crowds: 3-4 Cheeses
- Larger crowds: 4-5 cheeses
- If it’s an appetizer/snacking board: 1 ounce of cheese per person
- If it’s for a main meal, 1/5 ounces of cheese per person
- Types of cheeses
- Hard cheese: chunks of parmesan, aged gouda, asiago
- Firm cheese: gruyere, comte, manchego, colby, cheddar
- Semi-soft cheese: havarti, butterkäse, muenster
- Soft cheese: burrata, mascarpone, stracchino
- Blue cheese: gorgonzola, dunbarton blue, marbled blue jack
- Crumbly cheese: feta, goat cheese
- My favorites: Caramelized onion cheddar, cow-milk brie, unexpected cheddar cheese, blueberry vanilla goat cheese, mozzarella, sharp cheddar
- Cuts of cheese:
- Soft creamy cheese: Cut into wedges
- Logs: slice and layout
- Crumbly: Rough cuts
- Hard cheeses: Triangles
- Blocks of cheese: Rough cube cuts or triangle slices and then fan out the triangle slices
- If you use boursin like cheese, a butter knife or something similar will work. Keep fruits away from this cheese, they will clash since the cheese tends to spread.
- Meats:
- Prosciutto
- Salami
- Chorizo
- Pâté
- Capicola
- Bresaola
- Soppressata
- Mortadella
- My favorites: Pepperoni, peppered salami, prosciutto, salami sticks, mini beef jerky snacks/sticks
- Meat styling: https://food52.com/blog/26761-how-to-style-charcuterie
- Accompaniments - Sweet
- Fresh and Dried Fruits: Grapes, apple slices, pear slices, figs, berries, apricots, dates
- Spreads and Jams: Fig jam, quince paste, honey, hot honey, fruit preserves
- Sweets: Dark chocolate, raspberries with dark or white chocolate chips in the center, candied pecans, maple-glazed walnuts
- Accompaniments - Savory
- Crackers and Bread: Artisanal crackers, baguette slices, grilled bread, pita chips, bagel chips, pretzels, table crackers
- Nuts: Almonds, walnuts, pecans, marcona almonds, cashews
- Spreads and Jams: Bacon jam, tomato jam, grainy mustard, spinach dip, hummus
- Pickles and Olives: Cornichons, Gherkins, mixed olives, olive tapenade
- Veggies: Cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, sliced bell peppers
- Other tips
- Use the disposable plastic containers used for shot glasses or kids snacks (1 oz or 2 oz).
- Put any fruit or side that bleeds juice into these small plastic containers.
- I always put mini pickle, olives, raspberries and blackberries into these containers.
- Use the snack sized prepackaged portions. Then you don't have to worry about the extra going to waste. I use this for mini beef snacks, dried fruit, nuts.
- Discount cheese bin: It's the cheese scraps/end pieces from the cheese the deli slices and packages themselves. You can find a good variety at a cheap cost.
- I have all my cheese precut for guest to grab stuff easier. It also means I don't have to bring my cheese knives with me.
- I almost always bring the mini disposable tongs and spoons. This tends to work great for guest.
- If you are cutting a cheese and it sticks to the knife, then make those cuts more rustic/rough.
- To prevent the cheese from sticking to the knife, you should use a wire cheese knife. It helps.
- If someone has a gluten allergy, I avoid blue cheese and put all gluten crackers in a bowl on the side.
- if someone has a dairy allergy, I do a small board to the side, include a boursin dairy free cheese and do the rest of the meats, dairy free accompaniments on the board.
- For small jams, I tend to buy them in sets. It gives me variety and it's cheaper in the long run.
- I'm personally against rosemary sprigs, or flowers on my boards.
- For honeycomb, I don't really use it. It's more expensive for the big block. If you want to use it, it goes great on top of brie.
- Some grocery stores has
- cheese sticks wrapped in pepperoni or prosciutto
- meat and cheese pinwheels
- charcuterie pinwheels
- flavored dips
- prepackaged cheese or meat combo platters. I can find a meat trio in one package.
- get thicker cuts of cheese slices from the deli counter
Edit: - I found the link to the article for the styling of the meats.
Edit #2: link to the different boards I’ve made. https://imgur.com/a/UrR1RrS
