Valentine's Charcuterie Board - Cheerful Choices (2024)

FAQs

What is the 3 3 3 3 rule for charcuterie board? ›

What is the 3-3-3-3 Rule for Charcuterie Boards? No matter the style of the wood charcuterie board, you can always follow the 3-3-3-3 rule. Every charcuterie board should have three meats, three cheeses, three starch options, and three accompaniments, such as fruit, nuts, or veggies.

Use small side dishes to elevate some foods and keep the board neater. Then, use fruit, nuts, and chocolate to fill in the extra spaces. For garnish, use fresh herbs like thyme to add extra decorations. You can also add small sides of sauces and jams.

Add savory and sweet accompaniments.

For example, mustard, briny foods and nuts near salami and sopresseta, and sharp cheeses like parmesan. Pair sweet accompaniments like fresh fruit, jams, and candied nuts, near the brie cheese or goat cheese. Cheddar cheese pairs well with savory and sweet.

Here's some of the best cheese for charcuterie boards: Hard cheese: chunks of parmesan, aged gouda, asiago. Firm cheese: gruyere, comte, manchego, colby, cheddar. Semi-soft cheese: havarti, butterkäse, muenster.

Divide your board into quadrants, and place one type of meat in the middle of each quadrant. There are different ways to place the charcuterie: You can shape slices into a rose-like shape, by rolling them like a cinnamon roll. Little clumps and swirls of cured hams are easy and fun.

Think of other items you can add to the board besides cookies. These might include bite-size cake pieces (store-bought or homemade), dried fruit, macarons, mini cupcakes, chocolate bars broken into small pieces, rolled wafers, small meringues, and even candy.

What's Included in These Boards? A typical charcuterie board consists of mainly meats and cheeses. But at many restaurants or house parties, it's common that these boards include bread, fruits, nuts, condiments such as honey or mustard, pickles, and olives.

Get creative with olives, antipasti, fresh fruit, nuts, spreads, crackers and more. Whether you're looking for game day bites, happy hour apps, picnic-friendly foods for 4th of July celebrations or just a colorful spread for more intimate gatherings, charcuterie caters to every occasion.

There are a few that I would stay away from eggplants, brussels sprouts, turnips, beets, zucchini and mushrooms. Many of these vegetables taste best when cooked, and Charcuterie boards generally don't include steamed or cooked veggies.

Valentine Charcuterie Board via The Curious Plate

Arrange a variety of red, pink and white savory and sweet treats for this board. It includes raspberries, brie cheese, cheese cut into little hearts with a heart cookie cutter, chocolates, popcorn, crackers, and prosciutto.

What dips go on a charcuterie board? ›

Good dips for a charcuterie board include hummus, guacamole, salsa, spinach and artichoke dip, baba ganoush, and tzatziki. Other options include various types of cheese dips, such as queso and pimento cheese, as well as fruit-based dips like strawberry cream cheese and honey cinnamon yogurt.

3 Starches: we like Taralli (a traditional Italian cracker almost like a small, circular breadstick), Artisan Crisps by Rustic Bakery, and baguettes from Gilles Baguettes. 3 Accompaniments: Cerignola olives, Marcona almonds, French cornichons.

I've found the following ratio works great: 4 types of cheese, 4 types of meat, 3 types of bread/crackers, 1 type of chocolate, 2-3 different nuts, 1 jam, 1 honey, and 1-2 types of olives.

Depending on the size of your board, you should have one each of cow, sheep, and goat options with soft rind, firm, and hard cheeses in the mix. Flavors should range between nutty and mild to funky and unique. Rule of thumb: 1 cow, 1 sheep, 1 goat; 1 soft, 1 firm, 1 hard.

One of my favorite styling techniques is the quarter-fold. This works for many different types of meats of various sizes. Take a slice, fold it directly in half, then in half again to make a rough equilateral triangle with one rounded edge. With these quarters you can create a variety of textures on the cheese board.