- Repeat after me, charcuterie. This is basically the art
of making an assembling of meat and cheese platter and I'm gonna show you how to make one that'll impress everyone. (upbeat music) Hey everybody, it's Natasha
of natashaskitchen.com and today I'm gonna teach you how to make the ultimate cheese board. This is a crowd pleaser and
it's easier than you think. So, let's get started. You'll need something to
serve your charcuterie on. You can use either a serving platter or a rimmed baking sheet. Also a cutting board works really well or you can put several cutting
boards together depending on how big of a board you want to make. If you can get your hands on one, the fancy charcuterie boards
are really pretty for serving and I especially love
these with a rimmed border so that nothing rolls off. Charcuterie is basically a way of arranging cured meats and cheeses and all the good things together. I like to start with
putting out my cheeses and you want a combination
of hard cheeses. Manchego is very popular. Also I like a white
Vermont cheddar cheese. It's a simple cheese
that has great flavor. Then you want some softer cheeses. During the holidays it's
fun to get a goat cheese that's either blueberry
or cranberry-flavored. Also some mozzarella balls and I love these fresh,
marinated mozzarella balls. You also want some
soft, spreadable cheeses and brie is one of my
all-time favorite cheeses. Another favorite of mine is the soft, spreadable
triple cream cheese. This is perfect for crackers or toasts. It's super creamy, buttery and satisfying. You want to cut up your hard cheeses so that they're easy to grab and serve. For the Manchego, this
is a fun way to serve it. Slice it into triangles. Then arrange them in opposite directions. This is simple to do but the presentation is
beautiful on a cheeseboard. Now we're gonna quickly dice
up our white cheddar cheese. Remember you want different textures and sizes for a prettier presentation. I like to put the cheeses down first. So, transfer your prepared
cheese onto your serving board. Here's a great styling tip. To make your board more
visually appealing, you want to work in odd numbers. So I like to have either
three cheeses or five cheeses. Place those around your board, keeping in mind that you're gonna fill all of those empty spaces with meats, fruit, and
all the accoutrements. If you're adding something to your board like the mozzarella balls with a lot of liquid or that can get messy, it's a great idea to
put them into a ramekin. For the cured meats, I love getting a multi-pack
like this because it's easier and usually less expensive. I got this at Costco and it has two types of salami, coppa and
my favorite prosciutto. For a prettier presentation
you want to fold the meat in a variety of ways. For the large circle slices, you can fold them into
tulips or triangle shapes. So fold them in half, then
fold them in half again. Also arrange them as a deck of cards, that way you can layer them easily onto your serving board. For the salami, you can
also just fold them in half and layer them as a deck of cards, keeping them fanned out
light and not compacted. And those peppered salami
look really pretty folded into the tulip shape. Once your meats are all
folded and arranged, you can transfer them
to the serving platter. Layer the meats around your cheeses. If you are using a board that
doesn't have a rim to it, keep in mind you want to
arrange your meats, cheeses and things that don't roll easily at the borders of your platter. The last meat to go on is the prosciutto and I love arranging it in ribbons. It's a great way to keep the meat light and fill up the space. This was just 12 ounces of cured meats but it's amazing how fanning them out and arranging them like this makes the platter look so full and abundant. Once your cheese and cured meats are on, it's time to add the accoutrements. And accoutrements are
basically everything else that pairs well with meat and cheese. If something needs to be
served in a separate dish, I like to put those down
first so I can gauge my space. We're gonna start out
with our salty things. I have some green olives here
and some Kalamata olives. Just make sure that they're pitted so no one breaks their
teeth on your cheeseboard. We're also gonna add some tiny pickles. You can either use baby
dills or buy some gherkins. The gherkins are quite
a bit more expensive. I find the baby dills work great. You also want to arrange things so that they're easy to grab and serve. So when placing the pickles, I like to stack them vertically. You'll also be able to fit way more into the ramekin this way
and they'll look really cute. Arrange things on your platter based on what pairs really well together. For example, I will always have a pot of honey next to my brie cheese. Another condiment that's
really fun is a fruit spread and I have a fig and
strawberry spread here. Our board is filling up nicely, but wait, there's more. We're gonna add color
with some fresh fruit. Apple is an inexpensive
and delicious pairing with most any kind of cheese
and I love to slice it thinly, then shape it into a heart shape which looks really cute on a cheeseboard. You can do this with any
color apple or try this with pears or even persimmon. For the best flavor, it's great to use fruit that's in season. We're also gonna add
some fresh green grapes. Just be sure to cut those
into smaller portions before putting them on your platter. Now we're gonna add our fresh berries and we're using strawberries
and blueberries here. Use the fruits to fill up the spaces and keep them next to the
cheeses that they pair well with. And finally, to fill
in any leftover spots, we're gonna add the nuts. And I love the pairing of brie
cheese with nuts and honey, so we're gonna surround
the brie with some nuts. The color and taste of
pistachios is also fun, so I'm gonna add some
of those to the board. I also love to add a sweet
treat and that's gonna come in the form of some
dark chocolate squares. Cheese and chocolate
are actually a delicious and exciting combination. All right, all we have left is the toast and crackers and we are done. All right and this looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself. (laughs) Now you can use little toasts, so basically what I did
was I sliced up a baguette and then I brushed the both sides with olive oil, toasted them at 400 for about six minutes or just
until they're lightly golden. And that's all there is to it. It's a simple way to make
little toasts fancier. And you can also use water crackers. Or these artisan crackers
which are really pretty and look great on here, but you don't have to spend a ton of money to make it taste good and look good. So we're just gonna add these on. All right, aren't these fun? (laughs) Hey, also great tip, if someone at your event is gluten-free, it's always a nice idea to add a gluten-free option to the board. So we're just gonna stack these in here. And I like to put them where they fit. Like these crackers pair really well with this cheese or with this
cheese, the soft cheeses. So I'll stick a bunch of them in there. And then because I'm running out of room, I will probably just
serve a separate platter with the toasts and crackers. And let's see if we can
squeeze a few more in here. (laughs) It's getting tight. That's all we're gonna get in that spot. Okay and then also water crackers with the brie is such a
delicious combination. So to let people know, I do like to place them around the brie. There we go and then we're
just gonna put these toasts onto a separate serving dish. 'Cause these are really
good with the soft cheeses because you can use it as a spread and make little sandwiches with salami. It's so good. All right, beautiful. Now if you see any little gaps,
just feel free to fill those in with some more fruit, nuts,
whatever you have left over. A few more super important things to know when serving
your charcuterie board is you need little serving
utensils so that you don't have people putting their
hands all over the food. You don't want that. Well, I don't. So I like to have these little tiny forks and if you don't have
special serving utensils, just use little forks, little spoons, whatever you have in the drawer. And set those out to make it easy for people to get
whatever they want to get. Okay, and super important,
when you're serving your cheese make sure to always start
slicing it at least a little bit because the best way to make sure your cheese doesn't get eaten is if you don't start it. I don't know why, but people are hesitant
when you don't do it first. So I do love to pre-slice
the brie a little bit. Cut out. Okay and then we have these
fun little knife servers. So we'll put one here
into our soft cheese. Boom. Okay. And that's all there is to it. (laughs) I know it looks super complicated, but really you're just
putting things on a board. Start with the cheeses, then the meats, Then the fruits, nuts,
crackers, and voila. (laughs) It's easier than you think. And then you can just kind of mix things around to fit them all in
and it'll look stunning. I'm telling you. If you've never tried making one of these, you're in for a treat. We're gonna do a taste test and I'm just gonna do a taste test of my very favorite part of this which is brie with honey
and pecans or walnuts. They both work really well. So you just need a slice of brie and look at how soft this
cheese is, it is so good. We're gonna add a little bit of honey. Normally I would put many
slices on a plate for myself. It is so good. And then top that with
a nut or two or three and also a water cracker. (humming) I love that this is staring back at me. And that this is my job right now. (laughs) I'm thankful, for sure. Seriously, that combination is
just a match made in heaven. (laughs) It hits your taste buds
in all the right places. And, I don't know, I'm
drooling a little bit looking at this platter because I
don't know where to go next. I'm really excited. (laughs) It's seriously an epic cheeseboard. I mean, if you're hosting an event, sometimes this is all you need. This will feed quite a bit of people and you can make it as
inexpensive or expensive as you want depending
on what kind of cheese, what kind of meats you buy. Also, this is key. Buy fruits that are in season. They're gonna be less expensive and they're gonna taste
the best when you get them at the peak of freshness. I'm gonna go have a party with myself. Oh, if this graces your table for New Year's or any special
occasion, let me know. And we'll see you in our next video. Yum. Oh, it's got some weight to it. Mine.
(chuckles)
