How to Charcuterie

In our house, whenever something exciting happens, we celebrate by making a charcuterie board. For us, this is more fun than going out to dinner because we bond over a new variety of ingredients that we are able to customize to our liking and we don’t even have to leave the house…and let’s be honest that has to be one of the best pluses!

What is charcuterie

Charcuterie is simply cured meats. Some examples of charcuterie today are bacon, sausage, ham, confit, and other pork products. A charcuterie board includes meats and other products to go along with it. They are commonly paired with wine and can be found at many wineries around the world.

How to make a charcuterie board

Everyone does charcuterie boards a little differently and that’s okay because it depends on your tastes and preferences. When making a charcuterie board with my family, there are some things we leave out that we don’t particularly like and there are some things we include that may not be common charcuterie board ingredients. However, It’s not always easy to predict what people’s preferences are when making a charcuterie board for a crowd. A good rule of thumb is to have 2-3 types of each food group in order to satisfy different tastes. I’m going to list the food groups that commonly go into creating a charcuterie board and specifically what we used for our board.

Meats

Hence the name, the charcuterie is the star of the show. Some meats that are commonly used are chorizo, salami, prosciutto, mortadella, and other cured meats.

What we used: Dry Italian hard salami & Calabrese spicy salami

Cheese

The cheese is also one of the most crucial parts. It is important to have a variety of different cheeses including both hard and soft kinds of cheese. There are too many cheese options to list but start by narrowing it down to cheeses you like and then select a few with varying textures. Some common types include aged cheddar, gouda, brie, goat cheese, gorgonzola, and so many other types.

What we used: Extra sharp white cheddar, gruyere, goat cheese, garlic/herb cream cheese spread.

Bread/crackers

The bread and crackers are pretty much the spoons of the board. This is what you will use to pile most of the other options on top of. A baguette is a good option that you can slice and bake with an olive oil drizzle for a crunchy bread. A plain cracker and a nut or seed cracker are a good combination. You can add pretzels if you plan to use mustard.

What we used: sliced baguette, seed crackers, wheat thins, and pretzels.

Fruit

The fruits can be either fresh or dried. Grapes, pears, dried cherries, dried apricots, and other dried fruits are all good options. This is usually the only sweet aspect so keep that in mind when deciding to use sweet or tart-tasting fruits.

What we used: grapes, dried apricots.

Nuts

Nuts to me are optional because they don’t necessarily pair well with anything, but they do add both salt and crunch which gives the board more balance. If using nuts, they should be either salted or candied. Some common types include almonds, candied pecans, and shelled pistachios.

What we used: salted almonds

Olives

It wouldn’t be a charcuterie board without olives…in my opinion. There are many different types of olives you can use and it’s pretty hard to go wrong. The ones that come stuffed with blue cheese or garlic might be a nice step up. Olives with pits have a firmer texture but it might be best to choose pitted olives if serving a crowd.

What we used: black olives, green olives.

Pickles

Pickles give the board a nice tanginess. Some common types include gherkins, baby dill, or really any other pickled vegetable.

What we used: baby dill pickles.

Dips/Spreads

Dips add spreads can add different textures throughout the board. Don’t forget to use the spreading knife. Some commonly used are olive oils, infused butter, jams, jellies, and mustard.

What we used: Fig jam, Tangy Carolina mustard.