What should be in a Simple Charcuterie Board for Beginners?

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.

  1. Add your cheeses spaced around your board.
  2. Add your salami or other meat in a few different places.
  3. Place bowls of olives or honey or jam down the middle.
  4. Add crackers and vegetables in large open spaces.
  5. 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. 

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