Hello! Welcome back to the blog. How are you going today?
In today's blog, we're going to explore how I make my Charcuterie Boards (with a little bit of rustic magic sprinkled in there). But first, what IS a Charcuterie Board? Well, I'm glad you asked. According to Wikipedia, a Charcuterie Board is a grazing board or appetizer filled with meats and cheeses (+ fruits/preserved food/bread, etc) that is either served on a wooden board (often just a standard chopping board) or a stone slab (gah, the word slab just gave me the ICK gross). Anyway, there's an amazing history about it if you wanna check out the wiki page. However, today's blog isn't a history lesson, it's more of a tips and tricks for making your own Charcuterie Magic when you're just a basic foodie like me.
And yes, I know I call myself a foodie and do have guests over every so often and I always make Charcuterie Boards. I find it a lot easier than cooking a full meal when you've got like 10+ guests coming over. I also love making little ones for date nights for Luke and me + we kinda started our own tradition where every Christmas evening we make a Charcuterie Board for dinner (and no, it's not a replacement meal, it's about grazing + being so full from a massive Christmas lunch that all you want to do is graze). Food is something that has always brought me so much joy. I don't really know the historical reasons why but maybe it's because my late Nana used to bake with me every so often, OR just watching Dad make tomato sauces and relishes, or if getting diagnosed with IBS in my early 20s led me down the path of experimenting more with food. I don't know, but there's a multitude of reasons and I love eating. I don't know what I'd do without food. It brings people together and makes people happy and satisfied and I just want to share that with the world. Food is love, food is life.
I made a whole YT video on how I construct my own rustic Charcuterie Board and in the video, I'm definitely having a bit of a terrible hair day but that's okay (curly hair problems when you live in place with high humidity). I'll post the final video at the end of this blog so you can check that out too. I'd also love it if you subscribed to my channel as well. I want to put a lot more effort into my videos and content this year. Whenever I set myself a goal, I am probably WAY too determined to get to it (probably to a detriment but oh well).
Anyway, here are my top tips for crafting your very own Charcuterie Magic!!
Quality, Quality, Quality: If you can and have the means to do so, I highly recommend using the highest quality products that you can and making use of what's in season in your area. For example, it's summer in Melbourne right now so the fruits we can get are berries, cherries, and mangos, and watermelon. But if it was winter, grapes would be in season (and they would be a lot more affordable).
CURED MEATS: If you're adding meats to your Charcuterie board, stick to cured meats like prosciutto, chorizo, salami, etc. I also find that these are what get eaten first at a party so make sure you get a multi-pack for the best value. Also, pro tip: if you have vego mates, make sure there's a board for them without any meat that hasn't been contaminated (it will make them feel seen). The same goes for if you've got coeliacs coming over.
ALL ABOUT CHEESE: Well, I think this one is obvious because who would have a Charcuterie Board without cheese? Well, vegans. But, you can get vegan cheese so ya know. But you want to have a range of cheeses. If your board is small, stick to three different types of cheeses (both hard and soft as well as different shapes). You can cut cheeses up to make it more visually aesthetic too. I love making sure I've got some standard cheeses like a Cheddar, Red Leicester, Brie/Camembert, and then after using standard cheeses like that, I go for more interesting flavours so sometimes I'll get a "salt and vinegar cheddar" or a "chilli cheddar" or even a "jalapeno". Having Blue Cheese is also cool but it does depend on your crowd.
COLOUR THEORY: Let's talk about colour. Colour is SOOO important when making a Charcuterie Board because you want it to look aesthetic and visually appealing so that your guests want to dig in immediately (it's also nice to get some compliments sometimes too ;)). But think about what colours go together, what colours won't go together and where to place certain foods in doing so.
Work in Odd Numbers: For some reason, using odd numbers (even if you would prefer to have even), works better visually so if you want, use 3 cheeses, 3 meats, 5 fruits etc. Don't ask, just obey (that's a joke BTW).
Balance, Balance, Balance: When it comes to food, what's ultimately the most important thing? Balance of flavours and let me tell you what's important for a Charcuterie Board, that's balance. You want to have a range of flavours ranging from salty, tangy, savoury, and sweet and you want these flavour notes to also be accompanied by different textures. It's about the experience for the people eating this board - think about how their senses are going to be pleased - all the way from when they walk into the door and see the board, to smelling it, to grabbing their first bite and then that crunch or feeling in their mouth.
CRACKERS & BREAD: Okie, this one should have probably been up a lot further in this list but get a range of gourmet feeling crackers along with a few cheaper alternatives. I like to use Country Cheese crackers, a few breadsticks, and a bunch of other random crackers. I often will put out bread too (because a lot of the time people are drinking while grazing on their Charcuterie Boards so having something substantial to soak up the alcohol is important). Jeez, I didn't realise how much thought actually goes into these things until you start writing a blog post about it.
Don't forget the condiments, spreads, relish, quince etc: These are great for dipping bread and crackers into. I will often just go for things like a normal fruit quince paste, sweet chilli relish, beetroot relish, and just a selection of dips too.
Experiment with shapes and heights: I think this one is kinda self-explanatory but you can do whatever you like with this, have some items fanned out (e.g., how in my video I cut some of the cheeses and not others), pile some items on top of each other, and have some things arranged in rows.
Serve at room temperature: I think this one kinda goes without saying because once your product is out of the fridge, it very quickly gets to room temperature but this is probably the most important for cheeses because it will bring out their flavour more and just give it an enhanced taste once you take that first bite. Also, sidenote, make sure your guests eat the cheese within 2 hours - that's the safest option before it starts to go bad.
Add a personalised touch: You want people to know it's your Charcuterie Board and you want people coming back for more in the future right? And to take it even further, you probably want people talking about your boards, especially if you're interested in making a career out of it. You want a Charcuterie Board that has all the things you would expect on it BUT you also want it to have your own signature and uniqueness to it. I think my personal touch is getting flavours that are a bit out there and also sometimes adding in something different. For example, it's not often you'd see some sauerkraut on a board, but that's what I did the other day. Another idea would be to have a homemade relish. The options are endless, you just want to make it yours.
Use both fresh and dried fruits: This one is a bit harder for me because dried fruits tend to trigger IBS symptoms a lot more, but having a mix of both is really good. You an also take this one step further and add in nuts and seeds if you like (but only do that if you're 1000% sure that no one has a nut allergy).
A few other random tips!
If you're making one for a date night or a small group of friends, just use what's in your pantry (we don't like food waste) - I do this often for Luke and I and we've still got so many crackers we need to use up.
Invest in some ramekins for things like relish or any sort of wet ingredient. Ramekins are perfect for olives or pickles.
Always make your Charcuterie Board as close to your guests coming as possible.
Garnish with herbs.
Offer wine pairing with some if the cheeses (there's plenty of amazing websites that can help you become a wine connoisseur in no time). I don't think I've actually ever used one before, but now writing about it, I want to. I've just found this cool "one" that you might find interesting for wine and cheese pairing.
Use different cutting styles (e.g., could do cubes or circles etc.)
Use stylish AF utensils - I will put out toothpicks for olives, and paper plates because who wants to break all their actual plates, and serviettes, and tend to use cheese-cutting knives from all my kits I have (trust me, it works).
And replenish thoughtfully - when you see something getting low, add in a bit more if you can.
Here's the video I made! I hope you enjoyed this blog post and enjoy the video even more. Go on and get out there to make your very own Charcuterie Magic!
Thanks so much!
Much love,
Ash xx
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