Make a Cheese Board in 5 simple steps

Ingredients

A cheese platter should include a variety of cheeses (the number of different cheeses and the quantity will of course depend on the number of people you're planning to serve) and everything else you believe that pairs well with the selected cheeses.

Usually it includes cured meats (if it's a vegetarian cheese platter skip the meat), olives, sauces and spreads, vegetables, fruits (fresh or dried), nuts, crackers and bread.

Instructions - steps

Step 1: Find a board (or platter)

Step 2: Arrange the cheeses (in equal distances)

Step 3: Add the savory ingredients (cured meat, olives, spreads) among the cheeses

Step 4: Add the vegetables and fruit (including jams)

Step 5: Fill the gaps with nuts, crackers and bread sticks

Step 1: Find a board

Any dish with a flat surface, a tray or a large enough platter will do. You can also use a cutting board but I suggest washing it very thoroughly if you also use it to cut meat and other food.

If you don't have anything else, a baking tray is a good alternative!

In these photos I used a wood turntable I found in IKEA.

Step 2: Arrange the cheeses

What cheeses to put on the cheese board?

The kind you and your guests like!

When deciding what kind of cheese to choose for a cheese platter, you can follow a lot of different paths.

You can choose the cheeses according to their texture.

You can also decide what you'll serve according to their intensity (how strong they taste). If you follow this road you can choose 2-3 mild cheeses, 1-2 sharp and something funky.

However, my method for choosing cheese is slightly different, but you may find it agrees with you. So, I generally suggest to:

• Pick some safe choices everyone likes such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Cheddar, Gruyere, Gouda, Emmental.
• Pick something funky. This can be any kind of blue cheese, a cheese with herbs, an extra strong aged cheese.
• Pick something soft/creamy. My favorite in this category is a creamy goats cheese like chevre or feta.
• Pick something local (of course, a lot of the above choices can be local cheeses).

If you're interested about cheese, then you'll surely find the articles Most Common Types of Soft Cheese from homestratosphere.com and the 10 Types of Hard Cheese from cookedbest.com very useful!

Step 3: Add the savory ingredients

The third step is to arrange the savory ingredients among the cheeses.

The savory ingredients are usually:

• cured meats cut in very thin slices (like ham, prosciutto, Jamon Iberico, Brezaola, salami)
• spreads and dips (like hummus, Baba ganoush (Lebanese eggplant dip), bean dip, pesto, feta and spinach dip)
• green and black olives, pickles

Step 4: Add the vegetables and fruit

The fruit category includes fresh fruit, dried fruit and jams.

Small vegetables and fruit can be served whole, while the larger ones should be sliced or cut into sticks for easier serving.

Some suggestions are:

• Vegetables: cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers
• Fruit: grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, prunes, dried apricots, raisins, fig jam, blueberry jam or this easy homemade peach jam (no pectin, less sugar). All jams pair very well with blue cheese and goat cheese.

Step 5: Fill the gaps with nuts, crackers, pita chips and bread sticks

If you plan to make the cheese platter ahead of time it's best not to add the nuts and the crackers (and any other bread-like component) because they will attract moisture and get soft. So add all of these at the last moment.

Crackers, bread sticks, homemade pita bread ,fresh bread, walnuts, almonds, cashews, are all perfect.

How much cheese do you need?

I really don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this question.

It's all relevant. Are you making a cheese platter for a football team or your grandma and her friends?

Will you be having dinner before or not?

Usually, whenever I'm in doubt, I follow this rule: it's better to have leftovers than not enough food. So, keep some extra cheese available just in case you need to refill the board.

Having said that, a safe choice is to estimate 1-2 average slices of each cheese for every guest (but then again if you pick a lot of different cheeses, the you may just need one slice of each). The same goes for the rest of the components.

What if your guests are too many and you don't have a very big cheese board?

I don't think that a very big cheese board is convenient. If you have a lot of guests, it's preferable to just make 2 regular sized cheese boards rather an extra large one!

Cheese platter for 2 persons

For this platter for 2 persons I wanted to have 3 different cheeses (2 “safe” options and something creamy), so I chose some Cheddar, a few slices of Greek Graviera (similar to Gruyere) and a slice of a French goat cheese (Chevre).

I then added some sliced salami, a small bowl with blueberry jam (pairs perfectly with all the cheeses but especially with the blue cheese) some dried fruit and a few cherry tomatoes.

In the end, I filled the gaps with walnuts, breadsticks and crackers.

What is a charcuterie board vs cheese board?

The difference between a cheese board and a charcuterie board is the ingredients and their quantities.

A cheese board has a selection of cheeses, some complementary ingredients and maybe some meat products for variety.

A charcuterie board has mainly meat products (cured meats mostly) and other complementary ingredients (like cheese) in lesser quantities.

Some classic combinations:

• Sauvignon Blanc and Goat Cheese (or feta)
• Moscato d'Asti and Gorgonzola
• Champagne and Brie
• Chardonnay (or even a full-bodied fruity Syrah) and blue cheese
• Rose and mozzarela
• Pinot Noir or Beaujolais and Gruyere
• Cabernet Sauvignon and Aged Cheddar (or smoked Gouda)
• Tempranillo, Barolo, Amarone or Port and Parmigianno Reggiano
• Malbec and Gouda
• Red Sangria or white Sangria with everything!

Extra tips

• Serve the ingredients with moisture inside small bowls
• Work with even numbers, as they're more pleasing to the eye
• Have some cheese knives, toothpicks, small spoons and forks available.
• Let the cheese at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. This way the fat from the cheese becomes softer and the taste is more intense.