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Charcuterie board
- Food For Sale
Charcuterie board
Cheese platter and Charcuterie board make a wonderful appetiser to entertain your guests. So, it is important to learn about the best cheeses to pair with cold cuts. It needs to pair with best wines too. Thus, they are not only delicious, they are stylish. In the beauty of foliage with comfortable temperatures, it is joyful to enjoy a classy Charcuterie board. The events with friends and family become memorable occasion. So, you can make your go-to set up a beautiful meat and cheese platter.
You need to be creative with your party tray ideas. Partner with the best wines, charcuterie, and cheese pairing. In fact, you should use a variety of wines. Cheese and meat trays are popular arrangements. Nowadays, supermarkets sell them during holiday and festive seasons. While many people know it as ‘meat and cheese platter’ or ‘meat cheese tray’ it is commonly known as Charcuterie Board.
Google search
Surprisingly, the most frequent questions in Google on the subject is what is a meat and cheese tray known as? So, it important for many people to know about such an arrangement. According to Wikipedia definition Charcuterie is a French term. It is a branch of cooking that devotes mainly to pork meat products. The original intention was a method to preserve meat before refrigeration was invented. So, nowadays, with increasing availability of cured meats, the name Charcuterie has become generic. It includes all types of preserved meats like bacon, ham, salami etc. These are commonly known as cold cuts too.
Thus far, if this name appears new to you, the proper pronunciation is ‘shahr-ku-tuh-ree’. Therefore in light of this information, Charcuterie Board here is a board with various cold cuts. Today, most Charcuterie Boards include various cheeses, dried fruits, nuts and crackers. They serve as appetisers.
Making cheese tray
Charcuterie and cheese board is much more than collecting a few pieces of cheese and cold cuts. While these are certainly acceptable, it is more of a form of art. In fact, a brilliant opportunity to feed the eyes of your guests. It happens before you satisfy their palates. So, keeping this in mind, choosing the correct combination is critical. The artist in you comes to pair the wine, cheese, cold cuts with crackers. Other accompaniments that may go with it takes a little imagination and planning. So, you need to master these skills and art to prepare fantastic meat and cheese tray for your guests.
You need to pick your cheese carefully. In a way we are luck nowadays. Most supermarkets have a specialist cheese section. The cheese varieties go beyond the usual provolone, cottage, mozzarella, and cheddar cheeses.
Setting the platter
Cheeses come in a range of tastes and textures. It is common practice to set up platter with odd numbers. Thus far, it creates the most visually appealing. So, choose a different texture for each type of cheese. You may want aged cheeses like Gouda, Sharp and Cheddar. Soft and creamy cheeses are Brie, Camembert, Burrata, and Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella. Choices for firm cheese are Parmigiano Reggiano, Manchego, and Gouda. Goat and Feta cheese are perfect crumbly type. Smoked cheeses are popular too. These include Smoked Gouda, Provolone, and Cheddar. Now you can finish off with blue cheeses.
Each type of cheese has its unique flavour and character. It will have its own texture and aroma. Your guests will love you for the variety.
Wines
Another important factor is when picking cheese is wine paring. Again, sticking with odd number wine is magic. For example you may choose Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Use full-bodied and richly flavour wines. Take pride in creating and curating wines. You may pair Aged Jack and smoked Gouda cheese with Shiraz. Brie is perfect with Chardonnay, crisp fruity flavour. Sauvignon Blanc with citrus note tastes best with soft cheese. So, with Pinot Noir, which is medium bodied, fresh sheep’s milk pairs the best. Cabernet is best with Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, and sharp cheeses.
Cold cuts and crackers
It is often a good idea to have equal number of cold cuts as cheeses. For example, when you use 3 types of cheeses, then use 3 types of meat. You may want to choose dry cured salami made of pork, or beef. These are mostly air dried. Another selection is prosciutto. It is Italian dry cured ham. It is best to include bite sized meats.
You need good quality crackers or bread to accompany this goodness. It brings out full flavour and taste. Crackers and bread play a key role. Luckily, most grocery stores offer a range of crackers and breads. So far, gourmet crackers are the best. They have a sweet and nutty taste.
