Perfect Charcuterie Board

Build your perfect CHARCUTERIE BOARD

Charcuterie boards have grown in holiday season popularity year after year, with new and fresh ideas for putting one together refreshing the base concept. These curated collections of well-crafted meats, cheeses, and side-adornments get back to food basics and help us appreciate the beauty in simple, delicious food. “Charcuterie” is a word that means “cooked flesh” in French and was used in the 15th century to describe shops that sold pork products preserved using ancient methods. Often, the peasantry frequented these shops, so they were associated with charcuterie for a long time. It wasn’t until relatively recent history that people from all walks of life became interested in charcuterie and putting together a beautiful board. Eating good cheeses and meats with specific wine pairings is a practice dating back to Ancient Rome, and today, you have the food-and-wine-pairing world at your fingertips. But if you need some help figuring out where to start, here is our guide for how to create the perfect charcuterie board!

Every charcuterie board begins with good cheeses. It is best to have hard and soft cheeses with varying sharpness levels and flavor profiles. You can organize these cheeses on one side on the board, moving from hard to soft, or separate them with hard cheeses on one side and soft on the other. Don’t forget to include the appropriate knives. Not sure which cheeses to select? We’ve chosen:

• Saint Andre Brie • Ponche Leon Manchego • La Bonne Vie Camembert • Sierra Nevada Bella Capra Chevre

For meats, you can get a variety of flavors and textures. These meats are easy to buy pre-cut. Just take them out of the package, fold them, and place them in rows in front of the cheeses. Try these:

• Creminelli Fine Meats Artisan Calabrese and Sopressa • Creminelli Fine Meats Artisan Prociutto

Every board needs a variety of meat-and-cheese vehicles. We are loving:

• Lesley Stowe Raincoast Crisps Cranberry and Hazelnut Crackers • Firehook Garlic Thyme Mediterranean Baked Crackers • Ines Rosales Spanish Sweet Olive Oil Tortas

The last piece of the puzzle is the flavorful extras such as:

• Mother’s Organic Nuts Selection • Organic Fruits Selection • Organic Olive Bar Selection • Fresh Organic Herbs