What should be in a Simple Charcuterie Board for Beginners?
Best Cheese for Charcuterie
I’m sure there are rules somewhere about this, but my opinion is: put cheese on your cheese tray that you like to eat.
- Sharp Cheddar – I love a nice sharp cheddar. My favorite brands are Collier and Wyke Farms.
- Parmesan
- Gouda or Gruyere (optional) – It’s one of the only specialty cheeses lots of kids like.
- Medium Cheddar is important to have if you’re having kids.
- Brie or Goat cheese (or something soft and spreadable). You can even put stronger cheese, like blue cheese, if you want it.
I like to try and cut each cheese in a different way (cheese cubes, cheese slices, some wedges, etc) so they’re distinguishable. I also love mixing hard cheese and soft cheeses.
Meat for a Simple Cheese Board:
Again, this is like the cheese: use what you like. Here are my suggestions:
- Salami, for me, is a must. It’s often the only meat I put on my charcuterie tray, because it’s a universal meat. I often use regular salami and peppercorn/chilli salami on my trays (one for the adults and one for kids).
- If you want to be a little fancier, try prosciutto, mortadella, or Crudo.
- You can use thinly sliced meats or stick salami that you cut into chunks.
Vegetables and Fresh Fruit
I always like to add a few kinds of raw vegetables to my charcuterie. My two favorites are carrots and cucumber, but snap peas or celery go well also. Cheese and grapes go well together, so I usually ad a few bunches of grapes as garnish.
Best Crackers for Charcuterie
The cheese and meat are the backbone of the tray. I always add them to the board first. Then I add my vegetables. Then, think about the following:
Crackers. Crackers and cheese are important. Just get about 2-3 different kinds of crackers, but you don’t need to put a ton on there. Adults are weird and don’t eat tons of carbs with their meat and cheese.
Other Ingredients on a Simple Cheese Platter
Other items to add to your board:
- Olives and/or mini pickles, for a salty bite. I love a mix of green and black olives.
- Nuts! My favorite to use are Marcona Almonds but mixed nuts, almonds, cashews – anything works
- Honey – I love drizzling honey on my cheese!
- Jam or mustard or other dips
- Chocolate – chocolate and cheese pair well together. Get a dark chocolate bar and just break pieces to fill in the board.
- Dried Fruits go great on charcuterie platters too
How to assemble a cheese board:
That’s everything that goes into one of my easy cheese boards. My rule of thumb is that it should seem messy but it’s really not.
- Add your cheeses spaced around your board.
- Add your salami or other meat in a few different places.
- Place bowls of olives or honey or jam down the middle.
- Add crackers and vegetables in large open spaces.
- Place bunches of grapes, nuts, and chocolate in all the cracks.
It really is SO easy to make this on your own. You’ll never buy a cheese plate from the grocery again! Believe me, serve this cheese tray as an appetizer and people will be wowed.
