cuisine

CHARCUTERIE BOARDS ARE all the rage for holiday parties of all kinds, and dietary restrictions are no excuse to leave this beautiful snack centerpiece out of your spread. Three Columbus cheese and cured meat experts explain how anyone can get in on the trend.

John Reese, culinary director at Black Radish Creamery, says there are many routes to take for a classic charcuterie board. He stresses that using quality ingredients and talking to experts will lead to the best results.

“If you’re going to put the money down, you should buy cheese that’s handled correctly,” Reese says. “Talk to cheesemongers about what will go with the evening.”

Going to a cut-to-order cheese counter such as Black Radish’s gives customers the opportunity to discuss their plans with experts and create the best pairings, Reese says. If steak is on the menu, they may recommend a bleu cheese pairing. If it is a more formal event, it’s best to avoid messier cheese or preserve spreads.

In addition to quality and context, Reese says variety is a vital factor in a successful board. This includes variety in textures, tastes and colors, as people always eat with their eyes first.

The layout of the board is also important. Symmetry can add visual appeal, but it’s better to go completely random if perfect symmetry can’t be achieved. Adding cheese curds to the outside of the board can preserve your creation if kids are in attendance.

Reese says it’s important to have one component go either the whole way or the majority of the way across the board. This creates a visual flow that is very appealing. Flowers also add visual appeal, but nothing inedible should be included on the board.

Reese details a classic charcuterie board with Spanish influence: Manchego, chorizo, Iberico ham, sheep or goat’s milk

Going Over Board

Pescatarian

• Feta, pepper drop and olive antipasto • Havarti cheese with dill • Smoked Atlantic salmon • Sesame smoked ahi tuna • Shrimp salsa • Cracker assortment • Candied pecans • Dried apricots

Local experts weigh in on the best path to a successful charcuterie spread

Vegan

• Herbed tahini sauce • Boursin dairy free garlic and herbs dip • Seeds and grains crispbread • Cauliflower crisps snacks • Bell peppers • Cherry tomatoes • Raspberries • Strawberries • Clementines • Golden berries (cape gooseberries) • Organic tri-color carrots • Green and red grapes • Cornichons • Shishito peppers • Blackberries • Kiwi

cheese with Spanish origin, Marcona almonds and Valencia oranges, served with tapas as hors d’oeuvres or included on the board. He recommends about 3-4 ounces of cheese per person.

If pescatarians are on the invite list, Jacob Canary, executive chef at Marcella’s Short North, can make recommendations. Marcella’s house-cured salmon is a tasty centerpiece for a Mediterranean-inspired board, Canary says.

Canary recommends the salmon be paired with arugula salad, heirloom tomatoes, quality olives and orange slices. He agrees with the sentiment that visual components are vital, which can be achieved with different jams and jellies.

“What I like most is when you can get different colors in there,” he says.

In 2021, there are plenty of opportunities to include vegans as well. There’s a whole world of plant-based meat and cheese products with no shortage of flavor.

Carl Underwood, founder and owner of Vida’s Plant Based Butcher, opened the business with the goal of providing locally sourced, artisan, vegan meats and cheeses to Columbus.

“Every day, we’re still growing and trying to make every product better,” Underwood says.

With a wide variety of products including mozzarella; bleu cheese; pepper jack; cheddar; dill, strawberry, and mountain blackberry havarti; prosciutto; smoked turkey and ham; and pepperoni, the ultimate charcuterie board is completely possible without a single animal product. CS

Emily Lutz is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.

Marcella’s Short North

Visit www.CitySceneColumbus.com for details on the board pictured on the cover.

Festive Evolution

What do oranges, aluminum and Jell-O have in common?

By Tess Wells

ALTHOUGH HOLIDAYS IN the modern era go hand-in-hand with gifted Apple products and photos taken on everything but film, tradition and history can still hold a place in the festivities.

Since the 19th century, when Christmas trees began to gain popularity, Christmas in particular has grown more and more commercialized, with many familiar and unfamiliar holiday happenings beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

One practice, which has been largely phased out in place of other stocking stuffers, was the gifting of oranges in stockings. During the Great Depression, many families still felt compelled to give gifts, even if more expensive items weren’t feasible. So they would instead give oranges, which were hard to come by in the winter, especially in colder climates.

These sweet treats are also linked to the legend of Saint Nicholas, who, it is said, gave three bags of gold to a man who did not have enough money to pay his daughters’ dowries. These balls of gold were tossed down the chimney and landed in the daughters’ stockings, later represented in the 19th century by oranges.

A holiday tradition that has come and gone more recently also happens to be fruity, but with a little more jiggle. Enter here the Jell-O salad.

The sweet, packaged Jell-O people know and love today rose to popularity at the beginning of the 20th century, but really began to find its place in the American home after World War II. Women who had previously been helping in war efforts returned to their kitchens, and JellO was seen as a way to pour the creativity and energy they had brought to the workforce into the home.

Often served alongside an elaborate Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, Jell-O salads served a multitude of purposes, from a vessel for leftovers to an expression of culinary creativity. Although dishes such as the famous ‘perfection salad’ – a recipe that morphed slightly from its conception in 1905, eventually consisting of limeflavored gelatin and shredded vegetables – and other treats that involved dumping pre-packaged and canned foods into a mold were popular for decades, the tradition has largely faded since the turn of the century.

Traditions regarding other, inedible holiday cornerstones have been everchanging as well. Aluminum trees being were all the rage for several years until being killed by A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965. Because an aluminum tree wasn’t enough, decorations such as tinsel and fake snow were made popular around the same time. CS