Julia's Kitchen
How to make
the perfect charcuterie board
You may be asking yourself, what is charcuterie?
Charcuterie is a French word used to describe any of a variety of cold cooked or cured meats. When served on a board for entertaining, it’s often served along side cheese, sweet and savory spreads, crackers and/or bread.
What goes into the perfect charcuterie board?
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Meat: Easily the most important part of any
charcuterie board is the charcuterie itself. I like to offer a variety
on my boards, usually a few
cured meats
like prosciutto or salami, you can never go wrong with a chicken liver
pate and my personal favorite mortadella.
-
Cheese: Almost as vital to the board as meat is a
hand-selected variety of hard and soft
cheeses. If a cheese is very hard I like to pre-cut a decent amount for easy
access. For soft cheeses make sure to have a few cheese knives
(regular knives will do just fine) available for spreading.
-
Bread & Crackers: The type of bread or cracker that
you decide to serve is crucial, as it is the vessel on which your
meats & cheeses will be delivered to your mouth. You can truly never
go wrong with a French baguette - I like to cut the baguette into
toast points so my guests don’t have to deal with cutting and crumbs.
In terms of crackers it’s hard to go wrong- try not to get a cracker
that will overpower the flavors of the meats & cheeses.
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Dips & Spreads: A mix of sweet and savory is key
here. Mustard is a must, as is a sweet spread such as jam or honey.
You can never go wrong with an
olive tapenade
or artichoke spread.
-
Extras: A charcuterie board is not complete without a
few (or many) extras. For me, olives top the list, but other savory
snacks such as roasted nuts or cornichons and a few sweet bites such
as grapes or figs really balance out the perfect charcuterie
experience.
