The Anatomy of a Perfect Cheeseboard (2024)

The Anatomy of a Perfect Cheeseboard

welcome to cheeseboard 101! not to toot my own horn, but I do consider myself somewhat of a cheese board connoisseur. I’ve spent years perfecting the science of how to make the perfect cheeseboard and the holiday season is cheese’s time to shine!

This post is sponsored by ALDI. As always, all opinions are mine. Thank you for continuing to support the brands that help make Broma possible!

How to make the perfect cheeseboard

I think we can all agree that few things are better than a cheeseboard. The combination of flavors and textures…I mean cheese boards are one of my favorite food groups. They’re versatile, perfect for a crowd, and downright delicious. But I get it– making cheese boards can be overwhelming! How many cheeses do you need? Meats? What type of crackers?! Eeek!

Luckily, I’ve been honing the craft of cheese board-ing for years and I have it down to a science. Allow me to introduce the 3, 3, 3, 3, rule for making cheese boards. Simply choose 3 meats, 3 cheeses, 3 starches, and 3 accompaniments for the perfect board every time.

What do you need to make the most gorgeous cheese board?

Entertaining–especially around the holidays can be STRESSFUL. From running around getting gifts, prepping the house, and cooking, the last thing I want to do is add any more stress with running around to a bunch of different stores. Which is why I love ALDI and am SO honored to be part of their Charcuterie Board of Directors AKA my favorite group of cheeseboard connoisseurs. I’m here to give you allllll the tips and tricks, high quality charcuterie product recommendations, and styling tips you need to make the ultimate holiday cheese board.

You can find everything you’ll need for this gorgeous cheese board, along with all your entertaining needs under one roof at fabulous prices. No need to go to any specialty stores for high quality cheeses, meets and accoutrements–ALDI has an AMAZING (and affordable) line of charcuterie products that are *chef’s kiss.* Plus it doesn’t hurt that they also have some pretty stellar hidden gems for your home, like the gorgeous Crofton Marble Cheeseboard we shot this baby on. Next time you’r at ALDI, keep an eye out for all of their exciting charcuterie products and ALDI Finds!

You can feel free to use whatever meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, etc. that you prefer, but I’ve put together some examples here to give you a starting point. Here’s your suggested shopping list!

• 3 Meats: I like to use a combination of different meats so there is something for everyone. I love the Priano Prosciutto, Simms Sliced Hard Salami, and Appleton Farms Sliced Italian Dry Salami.
• 3 Cheeses: It goes without saying that you’re going to need some showstopping cheeses. For this board I went with the Emporium Selection Aged Reserve White Cheddar, Emporium Selection Brie Cheese Round, and Emporium Selection Stilton. The cheddar is perfectly sharp and buttery; the brie is rich and creamy; and the stilton is salty and nutty. The combination of these three is perfect–and you can’t beat the prices at ALDI.
• 3 Starches: I love to use a mixture of different crackers and breads for the ultimate variety. I love the Savoritz crackers–they’re crunchy, salty and come in so many different varieties.
• 3 Accompaniments: I like to use a combination of flavors to give the board diversity. You can use whatever you prefer, but I like to do one fruit, one nut, and one sweet treat. This ensures there’s something for everyone!
  • Fruit: Apples, pears, grapes…really whatever fruit is in season will do. We went for a pear to pair (hah) nicely with the sharp cheddar and buttery crackers.
  • Nuts: I always like to include a nut because they’re easy to snack on and are also perfect for filling up any small or odd shaped spaces left on your cheese board.
  • Something Sweet: I like to add a little something sweet to my cheese boards. It can be a nice break from all those salty savory flavors. We used Moser Roth Fine Dark Collection 70% Cocoa here, but chocolate covered almonds, dried apricots or dates would be delicious too.

A cheese board that’s tantalizingly tasty AND gorgeous? Heck yeah! Get you a board that can do both. I’ll break it down step by step further down, but I swear by these tips and tricks. Here are your cheese board rules:

• Follow that 3,3,3,3 rule: Creating an abundant cheeseboard is all about variety! Pick 3 cheeses, 3 meats, 3 starches, and 3 accoutrements for best results.
• Lean into repetition: One of the keys to creating an inviting and Instagram-able cheeseboard is having things show up more than once. Create multiple piles of the same cracker. But, if you are having an item show up more than once, make sure you arrange it in the same way to further the repetition and create cohesion in your board! For example, if the cheddar cheese is cut into triangles on part of the board, you should also have it in triangles wherever else it appears.
• Don’t let the same things touch each other. Now that you’re adding in many different aspects to your board and things are starting to fill up, keep in mind that you never want the same things touching each other. Especially when it comes to meats which can be similar hues, make sure you’re breaking up items of the same color and tone!
• Stick to a color story. Especially for holiday boards, I like to stick to a seasonal color palette. This will help everything look more cohesive and tie the board together!

How to make the ultimate cheese board

It may seem self-explanatory, but I strongly believe that putting together a visually stunning and delicious cheese board is an *art.* The order you put your ingredients on the board will create a balanced, abundant, inviting board. And I’ve outlined it all for you below!

1. Place your cheeses on your board. Pick from both hard and soft cheeses and cut your cheeses into different shapes. You can leave some of them as whole blocks, crumble them, cut into triangles, put a soft cheese (we love ricotta) in a bowl and drizzle it with some olive oil…the possibilities are endless. Get creative and mix it up!
2. Place your crackers around your cheese. After cheese, comes crackers. Just like your cheeses, choose crackers that are different shapes, sizes, and colors to create variety. We love a seedy cracker, a longer, flatter cracker, and something square 🙂 When you’re placing the crackers on your board have fun arranging them: create a fan, arrange them totally straight and stacked, toss them in a pile… have fun with it!
3. Place your meats. Again, have your meats appear more than once on the board. We love to create prosciutto roses to give a fun shape with dimension and make fans out of salami.
4. Place your accouterments to fill in all the gaps. Now it’s time for your pears, dried apricots, olives, chocolate etc. Go ham on all the fun, fancy things like grapes, salted almonds and tasty Italian olives. Try to choose a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes to keep it visually interesting and dynamic! Cut up some of your accoutrements and leave some whole! We love to slice apples thinly or break up bunches of grapes and leave whole olives and pickles.
5. Enjoy your cheeseboard…and snap a few pics before you devour it. Camera eats first, bbs.

Happy cheese boarding, friends!

XXX

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