The word charcuterie refers to cold cooked, cured, or smoked meats; so, technically speaking, a traditional charcuterie board is just a meat platter. But as these communal boards have gotten more popular for entertaining at home, the definition has expanded to include abundant displays of meats, cheeses, dried and fresh fruits and vegetables, toasted nuts and briny olives, plus complementary condiments like honeys, jams, jellies, chutneys, mustards and more!
A beautiful charcuterie board is a statement piece and a time-saver, since it typically requires little to no cooking. It only takes a few minutes to assemble (really!) and I promise you don’t need to be an expert food stylist. Plus, you can make it ahead of time and pop it in your fridge until right before serving, and a charcuterie board can be left out for grazing for up to 2 hours.
Unlike so other many recipes, the key to a good charcuterie board is doing what you want. Choose all your favorite ingredients and whatever you think your guests will love. There are no wrong answers. But if you need a little guidance, this how-to is for you.
How Much Food Do I Need on My Charcuterie Board?
It’s important to remember that your board is an appetizer, not a main course (unless you are serving it on its own — we’ll get to that below), so you don’t need a half or quarter pound of meat per person, as you would serve for an entree.
Meats: Two to three slices of meat, or approximately 2 to 3 ounces per person should satisfy your guests ahead of the rest of the meal. Per-pound prices might give you sticker shock, but many are best sliced wafer thin, so a few ounces go a long way. If you’re serving 8 – 10 people, you will need 1 – 1 1/2 lbs of meat, and you’ll want to pick at least one from each category (more on that below) .
Cheeses: It’s usually sliced a little thicker, so 3 ounces of cheese per person or 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 pounds in total for 8-10 people (roughly 3 medium-size hunks) should do the trick.
Extras: The more the better! My number one complaint about meat and cheese platters at restaurants is that they often don’t give you enough bread. Don’t make this mistake. You’ll want at least one cracker or piece of bread for every slice of meat. Extras — pickles, spreads, nuts, fruits — should all be plentiful. It’s OK if they out-number your meats and cheeses, since your guests may want to play with different flavor combos in each bite. It would not be unreasonable to serve 5-10 handfuls or small vessels of extras.
If you want to serve your board as the main dish, add a little extra of everything and think about adding a salad and a heartier cured meat, like a grilled kielbasa or other smoked sausage.
The Best Meats for a Charcuterie Board
There are as many types of cured meats in the world as there are stars in the sky (well, almost). Curing is an ancient method to preserve protein for later consumption, and the many various regions and cultures around the world have their own styles of charcuterie — even unique breeds of livestock from which the meats are made. Here are a few of the major groups you should pull from:
Dry-Cured Pork: Thin-sliced, fatty and salty, dry-cured pork is a must. Serrano ham, prosciutto, country ham, Iberico ham, capicola and speck are all readily available. Look for meat that is pink or red in hue (not brown or gray) with fat that is white (not transparent or opalescent). You can get it prepackaged or sliced fresh from the deli.
Bresaola: Like prosciutto, bresaola is also dried and cured, but instead of pork, it’s usually made from beef top round, lending it a deeper flavor and more toothsome texture. Look for thin slices, a deep reddish color, and a texture that is not overly dry or cracked.
Salami: Salami is possibly the most versatile and varied. It’s an aged sausage made from ground meat seasoned with a variety of herbs, spices and alliums, then dried and fermented in several styles (like soppressata, finocchiona, Genoa). Smaller salami is best served in thicker slices, while larger ones are best shaved thin. It should be vibrant in color when sliced, and if you decide to allow guests to cleave off their own, make sure it’s not too hard to cut.
Other Fun Additions: Mortadella is a cooked Italian sausage similar to American bologna, sometimes studded with pistachios. It’s very tender, without the chew of other cured meats. And you might also delve into meat spreads, rillettes and patés. Rillettes (meat slow-cooked in fat until it reaches a spreadable consistency) and patés (finely ground meat fortified with ingredients like sauterne, truffles, and spices) make are decadent layered on crostini with mustard and pickles. ‘Nduja is a spicy Italian meat spread — great on a crisp cracker topped with a piece of sharp cheese.
Choose one meat from each category — for example, a nice variety might include prosciutto, capicola, bresaola, soppressata, and mortadella. You can buy an equal amount of each or play with proportions if you enjoy one more than the other.
Check out what’s available at your local market and keep your eyes open for sales. Sliced meats are best served within 5 days and stay freshest wrapped in deli paper.
Martha Tinkler
The Best Cheeses for a Charcuterie Board
The cheese is here to complement the meat. Assemble some contrasting textures and flavors: a soft, mild cheese is not going to be the best with soft, mild mortadella, so choose a firm or hard variety of cheese instead. Salamis work well with creamy companions, and prosciutto benefits from burrata or brie.
Soft Cheeses: Brie, Camembert, triple-cream, burrata, goat cheese, fresh ricotta, Gorgonzola dolce. These spreadable cheeses lend tons of flavor and buttery texture. Don’t feel like you must commit to a whole wheel of Brie or Camembert: a slice will often suffice. An oozy Brie with honey and a slice of speck? Heaven!
Semi-Soft Cheeses: Drunken goat, fontina, Muenster, Roquefort, Havarti. These land in the sweet spot between soft and firm, and they are easy to slice on a board. They’re creamy, but not gooey, and are mild in firmness and flavor. Fontina is perfect to mellow out a thick slice of spicy salami.
Firm: Cheddar, Gouda, Gruyère, Stilton, Jarlsberg, Manchego. These cheeses can hold their own in flavor, and a slice will be stiff enough to top and eat without a cracker. Though still creamy like a semi-soft, the firm cheeses offer a little more funk and flavor. Grassy gruyere uplifts ribbony, salty prosciutto.
Hard: Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino-Romano, Asiago, Mimolette. These dry, salty, crystalized cheeses work well broken into hunks or pre-sliced and bring out the best in fatty cuts like soppressata or bresaola.
Cheese is usually sliced much thicker than meat, both by the store and by your guests, so you’ll need a little more than the meat. So pick one cheese from each category, but don’t sweat if you want fewer than four cheeses. Even if you only choose two, that just leaves more room for bread, grapes and other extras.
Bites for Stacking and Spreading
To ensure each bite is full of flavors, you’ll need something to keep it all together.
Bread: Try a baguette, toast points, flatbreads, Melba toast, crostini or toasted pita. I like to tear a baguette into chunks with craggy edges, perfect for oozy cheese and sticky spreads. And here’s a trick for making your baguette taste fresh and warm: spritz it with a tiny bit of water, then bake at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes. It will crisp slightly on the outside and be warm on the inside!
Crackers and Crisps: There are so many options out there, including gluten-free choices. But never underestimate the plain water cracker, or even the simple saltine. I also like fruit and nut crisps. If you’re feeling ambitious, you might throw in homemade favorites like cheese straws or a seedy option like these crackers.
Fresh Vegetables: These dippers add crunch and color and balance all the other carb-y options. Broccoli, bell peppers, celery, carrot and radishes are just a few of the myriad of vegetables that would happily join your board. Try a crisp red bell pepper with a creamy muenster and a bit of salami.
Don’t Forget the Extras
The meat and cheeses are the stars, but don’t skimp on the filler — this is where the board gets fun. Not only fruit, spreads, nuts and pickles usually cheaper than meats and cheeses, but they also satisfy hungry guests. They make the board last longer and keep people happily munching throughout the party.
Nuts: Spiced nuts, candied nuts, Marcona almonds, roasted nuts, nut brittle. I love to make a quick spiced nut or pick up some candied nuts at the store, but even plain roasted nuts are great, crunchy additions.
Fruit: Grapes, sliced apples and pears, dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried and fresh figs. Apples are delicious and are a great cracker substitute for almost any bite. Grapes are a favorite on a charcuterie board for a reason — they don’t oxidize, they are fine room temperature, and they love meat and cheese flavors. And don’t forget seasonal fruits; in late summer peaches and melon are a revelation with prosciutto and brie!
Spreads: Honey, mustard, fig jam, membrillo (quince paste), pepper jelly, sweet or savory chutneys, tapenades. The fun is in experimenting with flavor combos. My favorite tip is to add a pinch of red pepper flakes to honey for a sweet and spicy spread that goes well with almost every meat and cheese.
Pickled/Briny: Brined or oil-cured olives, cornichons, caper berries, marinated artichokes, roasted red peppers and pickled vegetables. These create delightful contrast to the fattier flavors. You can borrow from the Italian antipasto with artichokes and red peppers or dabble in a southern style with bread and butter pickles and pickled okra.
Pairing Wine with Cheese
Cheese can be broken into several different types and styles, with each paired best with specific types of wine. Some of the most common wines to drink with cheese are Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Cabernet, Viognier, and Zinfandel.
Pairing Wine with Cured Meats
Charcuterie is actually the term for the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products; over time, it’s come to include cheese, crackers, and the like. However, if you have a specific meat selection in mind, you may want a specific wine, as well. Some cured meats like salami and prosciutto are actually cured with red wine to add flavor to the meat.
Mild Charcuterie
If you’re new to charcuterie, or just prefer something light, mild, salty meats like prosciutto, mortadella summer sausage, or soppressata are big on flavor but mild in spice.
These meats will do well with acidic, fruity whites, or light to medium-bodied reds. Try a Riesling, Albariño, Grenache or Beaujolais.
Moderate Charcuterie
You broaden your range of wine options by going with more moderately-spiced meats. Pastrami, speck, chorizo, coppa and guanciale introduce more spice and flavor to your board.
Light, fruit-forward white wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc make good choices. For reds, you can choose something light and fruity, such as a Malbec, or if you’re feeling bold try a Zinfandel to match the bolder flavors of the meat.
Bold Charcuterie
If you want bold, superbly flavored meat with spice and complexity, black truffle salami, Jamón serrano, bresaola, or Jamón Ibérico de bellota will deliver what you are looking for.
These meats can stand up to full-bodied wine, and need a well-structured wine that can hold its own. Full-bodied reds, such as Syrah or Nebbiolo will make an ideal pairing with bold Charcuterie. For whites, chose a Chardonnay or Roussanne.
Sources: Martha Tinkler and Food Network Kitchen; vinocritic.com
Photo credit: Martha Tinkler
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