Creating Your Perfect Cheese Platter: After dinner you may serve cheese and biscuits or you may be entertaining a group with a fancy hors d’oeuvres wine and cheese function. Where do you start? Well with these helpful tips you are now able to create a wonderful spread of your own:
Picking your product:
You can have anything from 3 – 5 cheeses on a platter just remember that quality is more important than quantity.
Consider that each person will consume between 113 and 198 grams of cheese.
Select different textured cheeses. From hard to soft, goat’s milk, cows and sheep milk based cheeses. Here are a few options: Basque cheese (this may be served with quince jam); Philadelphia (this may be served with sweet chilli sauce); Chevre (goat cheese); Camembert; Brie; Blue; Roquefort; Basque cheese.
Remember that freshness is important so choose reputable suppliers.
Creating a formal introduction:
The cheeses should be served at room temperature so leave them to stand in a dry area for approximately 1hour (depending on the size of the cheese).
When placing the cheeses on the platter, position them clockwise from mildest to most pungent. Start with the mildest cheese closest to your guest and work your way around.
Shape the cheeses to your own individual preference to create a glamorous layout.
Serving suggestions:
Selected cheeses can be served with thinly sliced apples or pairs. Some sweet ideas would be to add figs, Sultana or golden raisins, dried apricots and blackberries this adds an exotic taste.
Present a range of nuts.
An optional finishing touch to your stylish presentation would be to have some side extras of Quince Paste or Plum Butter.
Honey can be drizzled over the pungent cheeses to give it a lovely compliment of sweetness.
Serve with fruit and nut crostini or thin slices of baguette. Remember that you don’t want to compete with the taste of the cheese so when selecting your crackers make sure that they have a neutral taste to highlight the cheeses .
Wines for the cheese:
It is advisable to pair the mild cheese with the lighter wines and the more potent cheese with a bolder wine. Beers, Ciders, Coffees and Liqueurs are also a great compliment for cheese.
You are sure to dazzle your guests with these simple but elegant touches to your cheese platter.
