Tuesday, June 7, 2011

How to Assemble a Cheese Platter

There are no hard and fast rules for assembling a cheese platter.  Old School says to have a variety of textures & tastes, at minimum a soft cheese like Brie, a hard cheese like Comte, and a blue cheese.   If you happen to live in an area where you have local cheese, God bless you, that would absolutely be my first bet.  If you have a few people over for dinner, it would be good to set out a small wedge of the three standards, though that can get boring after a few dinners, so feel free to mix it up. 

While we are not in France, you can still find good cheese at places like Trader Joe’s and dress them up a bit.  Here is a large $3 roll of plain goat cheese, which I rolled in finely chopped chives and baby thyme from my garden~

IMG_7607

For the presentation, you can put your cheese on a wood bread board (my preference), or for fancier meals find something else, even a nice platter, plate or two will do. For our family parties, I use a marble pastry slab; it helps to space the cheese out as much as you can.  I always put something under the cheese; you can use those paper leaves you see for sale, but I find the real deal is much better; these are grape leaves from the garden; find something food-safe from your own garden if possible; it sets the cheese off and looks infinitely more appetizing, doesn’t it?~

IMG_7608

Labeling each cheese is important; first, because guests want to know what they are eating, and two, because you won’t have to stand around and answer the questions of “what’s that cheese again?”  It works well for my family because they can educate themselves and tell me which cheese, exactly, they liked.  If the cheese comes with any kind of pretty label, you can use that.  Or simple hand-written paper fold-overs; I sometimes use place-card holders.  This weekend I used fresh bay leaves (food-safe, again) from the garden with a white Sharpie~

IMG_7609

I arrange the pieces in a counter-clockwise fashion, starting with the mildest (goat cheese) and ending with the strongest, which will always be the Blue.  Not that anyone follows that order, but it’s the way it’s done. In the middle-range we have soft cheeses like this one, Delice de Bourgogne, which I am happy can now be found at both Trader Joes and Costco~

IMG_7610

Above all, I try to find cheese that I know the crowd will like. For smaller gatherings, my family will enjoy a nice creamy Gorgonzola, every time.  It’s good if the cheese is relevant to the meal; I hosted the graduation dinner last year, which was Italian themed, and we had all Italian cheese; see that post HERE.  This weekend, for another graduation, my sister hosted, but I did the cheese tray.  I included Irish Cheddar for the graduate and his Irish Grandpapa~

IMG_7611

As this was the only starter, I opted for two kinds of blue, as they have a full “taste” and would go well with people who were starting to drink.

IMG_7612
I finished with a small wedge of Roquefort~

IMG_7613

Add whatever you want to the cheese plateau, on the side, in dishes or in the middle of the cheeses if the fruit can stay apart from the cheese.  Olives, fresh figs, nuts or dried fruits all work well.  This time I used soft dried fruits and raw almonds from the Corona del Mar market; here dried cherries~

IMG_7614

very soft and delicious dried plums here, and also a few dried apricots~

IMG_7615

Set out one knife for each cheese. You can use spreaders, fancy butter knives, or even regular case knives.  Cheese knives make great gifts, high or low, if someone you love is also in love with cheese.  I gifted a boxed sterling silver French cheese knife to Anne & Dan last year for their wedding; it was very well received.  For this party of 100 people, I brought two inexpensive Mis en Demeure knives from Paris, but I left the sterling at home and used whatever I could find at Sis’ house.  If each cheese has its own knife, there is not as much mixing of flavors~

IMG_7616

To go with the cheese, I use various thin crackers if I want the guests to eat light; bread if I want the crowd to fill up or cut the alcohol.  In this basket I used sourdough on the left, Poilane “au levain” bread at center, and raisin walnut at right, of course on an vintage Metis dishtowel.  A second basket was full of thinly sliced baguette.

IMG_7617

Aim for bread that is bite-size.  Whether it’s fruit or bread, think about if you want to put a piece that big in your mouth and eat it.  This is how I have taught my nieces to cut the pieces just a little smaller, not in hunks.   No one wants to chaw on a great big hunk of bread at a party, it is not attractive~ so set your guests up to eat daintily.  Keep the pieces manageable, especially if it’s cocktail hour~

IMG_7618

I will be very Americaine here and say that this whole tray was $40 worth of cheese from Trader Joe’s.  The bread was $35. This is before the knives were added, and as the guests were circling ravenously~

IMG_7606

A short while later, this is what was left.  You can call it a hash, but I call it a success~ an hour later, everything was picked off this tray.  I got the count right, and that was what I hoped for~

IMG_7624

Cheese trays are a great way to introduce new cheeses to your guests, and they can provide a nice variation to the meal.  We tend to like cheese for an appetizer in the U.S.  Nothing wrong with that; go with what works for your and your guests.

My favorite place to find cheese in the U.S. are Trader Joe’s for basics, The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills is also very good and they can ship anywhere in the U.S.; just ring up Dominic and tell him what you want and he can pull it together for you.  If you happen to be in the San Francisco area, be sure to stop by the Cheese Board in Berkeley.  Amazing.  In New York you have Fairway and Zabar’s of course, as well as others; there are lots of great places for cheese in NYC but I liked to shop at Fairway.  When R and I used to visit his folks in Madison we used to visit some of the local dairies, and I loved tasting the fresh cheese curds.  Ah such good memories.

Later this week I will tell you about the cheeses that we ate while in France last month.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful platter! I love the marble idea!!!!!!I do miss Trader Joes so much!!!!Sigh! Yes I agree, looks like a success!!!!!!!Maryanne ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrea this is just a beautiful presentation I love you choices of delish cheeses!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  3. Andrea, this is a beautiful presentation! I love what you did with the goat cheese and especially the bay leaves as labels. I don't have grape leaves in my yard, but I have some oak leaf hydrangea that looks similar. I need to find out if they're food safe. Thanks for a simple cheese tutorial that even I could understand!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love cheese. Sometimes it becomes the meal with apples and some dried meats and bread! Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Andrea, this is really an amazingly inspiring post. Aesthetically over the top and gastronomically gorgeous. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Andrea, great information on cheeses, presentation and especially like how you used the leaves to identify the cheese. Trader Joes is my favorite...

    Thanks,

    Sheila in S.F.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sweet merciful heavens that looks good. I'm not a blue cheese fan, but I love all the others! Your display is gorgeous.
    Indy and I are going to Paris in a week and a half and I can't wait to order cheese platters at the restaurants because I know they will delight me. Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the white sharpie tip!

    I have found a few nice cheeses at Fresh and Easy as well.

    Love me some cheese!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love cheese and this reminds me that I need to put together a cheese plate for this weekend. Lovin the bay leaf labels ~ clever!

    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  10. Andrea,
    Cheese plates are one of my favorite tasty things to serve at StoneGable. I am very grateful for your wonderful selections and advice on cheese! I love the idea of the goat cheese rolled in fresh herbs!
    And your leaf tags are very creative.
    Next time you have a cheese plate please invite me!
    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete
  11. I never knew cheese could be so pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have enjoyed my Saturday reading many of your back posts. Pinned several delightful photos. Thank you for all I have learned and enjoyed today.

    ReplyDelete