If you are having a dinner party, one of the best ways to finish it off is by presenting a cheeseboard. You can’t simply stick any old cheese on there though as that shows no thought. Think of it as an ideal time to get your guests to try something exciting and take the opportunity to put together a fantastic cheese board.
There are several ways of putting your cheeseboard together, but they all involve selecting some sort of common theme.
The theme for your board can be anything from milk type to the style of cheese or the region it comes from. You could also select on the basis of the accompaniment such as cheeses that go with a Burgundy.
Think about what the rest of your meal is going to be and you may find that that leads you towards your theme.
For example, if you are having a French main and desert, it probably makes sense to continue your French theme through to your cheeseboard.
If you haven’t got an obvious theme yet and you really want to make a statement, why not try a smelly cheese board? Cheeses such as Stinking Bishop are pretty pungent, but they taste great. Your cheese selection will be the talk of the table.
There are of course other ways to be outstanding. An interesting way of presenting your board is to include a hot cheese selection which will cause the cheeses to have different properties if they are left cold. The cheeses will melt nicely, and your board will be that bit different from everyone else’s normal room temperature offerings. Remember to keep the cheeses separate though so that they can be tested individually.
Whatever you choose, a bold selection of cheeses is best. You shouldn’t just cater to the most delicate palette because your board will have no wow factor. Also, try and avoid the obvious cheeses so that your guests won’t be able to simply eat what they know. It will be a food adventure for them, and they will probably thank you for it.
If you choose to showcase just one cheese, you can present it with complementary and contradictory accompaniments, but make sure that if you go down this route that the main cheese will be appreciated by all of your guests because they will have no choice.
If in doubt, the best thing to do is to see your local cheesemonger for advice or buy a cheese board from a cheese supplier.
Organic cheeses can be bought from Godminster Vintage. They also sell beautiful wooden cheese boards in walnut, beech or elm.