Who doesn’t love a cheese board?! Always guaranteed to impress your guests, especially if beautifully styled! But there are a few fromage faux pas which Williams Sonoma are kindly warning us about today. Read on for how to get your platter just perfect.
1. Taking cheese from fridge to table.
Cold cheese is never fun. Temper it for 30 to 40 minutes before the party starts (depending on how hot the room is). Why? You’ll get more of a bouquet from each bite and really notice the flavours.
2. Sticking with the basics.
We all have our tried-and-tested favourite tasting-plate foods but you can get a little more adventurous with cheese to stop the plate becoming predictable. Instead of plucking a generic cheddar off the shelf, try and pick up something a little more unusual from your farmers’ market or local producer.
3. Starting with a strong cheese.
Try to arrange your cheeses so people are tasting the more subtle cheese first. It’s been noted that people tend to eat cheese from left to right or go for the closest part of a cheeseboard first, working their way to the back. Start with the mildest, then work up to the most intense, so people’s palates aren’t exhausted.
4. Not having enough knives.
If you can have a separate small knife for each cheese, great, but this usually isn’t practical, so it’s okay to have a knife for soft items and another for firmer ones. For soft cheese, think about one with a thin knife edge so you don’t lose a tonne of gooey cheese to the knife. For example, pick a steak knife over a butter knife.
5. Skipping the sampling.
Taste everything you’re serving before guests arrive. Not only will you know everything works well together – you won’t miss out yourself!