char·cu·te·rie | \ (ˌ)shär-ˌkü-tə-ˈrē
: a delicatessen specializing in dressed meats and meat dishes
also : the products sold in such a shop
Now that I’ve gotten the hard part out of the way it’s time to make a charcuterie board. Actually, that may be even harder since you now have to decide how big or small to make it. I was having a smaller gathering with only about 8 people so I wasn’t planning on making a huge one, but wanted to make sure it had enough to fill up my friends (including 1 who is a vegetarian).
To make this easy for myself I grouped what I wanted to have on my plate in 5 different groups. You will also need some type of plate or board to put all your items on (I got mine at Target!).
Ingredients for A Charcuterie Board
Meats
- Salami
- Bacon
- Prosciutto
- Pepperoni
Cheeses
Use a variety of hard and soft cheeses – and leave them in different shapes as you arrange them on the board
- Cheddar
- Pepperjack
- Colby
- Swiss
Breads/Crackers
- Ritz
- Triscuits
- Baguette
Spreads
- Olive Oil
- Jams/jellies
- Fig spread
Other Items
Here is where you can get creative to fill in the rest of your board
- Fruits
- Sliced veggies
- Nuts
- Olives
Once you have everything you need you, arrange it on the board in an appealing way. Make sure foods of similar colors and shapes aren’t next to each other. To do this I made sure I had my meats spread out and then placed the dips in small bowls to go between and then laid out the rest of the food around to make it as “pretty” as possible.
Honestly, slap some meat and cheese on a tray and you can call it a charcuterie board. But if you want to impress, follow the steps above and wow your friends the next time you have them over!
