So you have company coming over, you bought a charcuterie board or tray but you really aren’t sure where to go from there when it comes to shopping for and then assembling what you hope will be a stunning array of munchies worthy of praise from Gordon Ramsay himself. Have no fear, it’s not as daunting a task as you might think and it can actually be fun!
What you will need (this is a comprehensive list but you don’t need everything on it):
- A board or tray to hold the deliciousness
- Meats – a variety of salami, summer sausage, kielbasa, pepperoni, chorizo, etc.
- Cheeses – you will want at least 3 varieties and mostly stronger cheeses such as a sharp cheddar, pecorino, brie, swiss etc. but some spreadable cheeses or a cheeseball would not be out of place
- Olives, pickles and marinated vegetables
- Nuts – almonds, pistachios and cashews are all wonderful choices
- Fruit – grapes, berries, cherries, apple slices etc.
- Dried Fruit – apricots, prunes, mango, cranberries
- Crackers, melba toast or crostini
- A jam or jelly – red pepper jelly or currant jelly are two of my favourites
- Small ramekins or dishes to hold things like the berries and jam so they don’t roll off the board, get it all sticky and gooey and so they don’t sog your crackers/crispy items
- A spreader for any spreadable cheese, a small spoon for the jelly, and a fork or something to serve the olives with
Prepping the board
Start with the cheese. You will want the cheese to be in a variety of shapes – chunks of harder cheeses like the pecorino, cubes for the cheddar or swiss, a cheeseball is a cheeseball so round for that! Spread them out in different areas around the board.
The meats can be arranged in groups, salami slices can be turned into a rose if you like (here’s a link to an easy way to make a salami rose on Youtube https://youtu.be/EwbSmK_r4Pk?si=CGAIlSjojp_5FrGC), cut in half or left whole and just arranged in a line or circle, be creative with it. Pepperoni can be cut into chunks and left in a pile, the kielbasa and chorizo can be sliced and arranged however you’d like.
Next add the fruit. While it’s certainly acceptable to add your berries directly to the tray, as I indicated above, I prefer the small, round, wet items be separated from crispy ones, so I usually place them in a small bowl or ramekin on the board. Grapes, because they are usually left on the stems can go right on the board but try to dry them as much as possible and keep them closer to the cheeses and meats than the crackers.
Pickles, olives, marinated veggies should be in some sort of small dishes scattered around the surface of the board.
Now you can see how full or empty your board is and can do any rearranging you may want to and then go to town filling in the empty spaces with dried fruit, nuts and your crackers.
Some people like to add wrapped candies or chocolates to their boards for visual appeal (and let’s face it eating pleasure too), so feel free to throw some into the mix,
Initially it can be very intimidating to put together a beautiful charcuterie board but when you get right down to it, it’s not that hard and given how tasty everything will be, no one is going to complain about your presentation so have some fun with it!
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