If a person fell in love with cheese, then this is forever.
Do you like cheese? I am very!!! Rather, to say very much is to say nothing. There is some magic in it, something attractive…. And there are a huge number of such cheese lovers. It is because of such fans that the cheese plate has become so popular on holiday tables. There are, in principle, certain canons of its formation, rules. And in this article we have collected for you all the best and most useful in order for you to offer the most unforgettable cheese platter on the festive table.
First, look at the photo of the cheese plate. And below we will discuss all the nuances of its preparation and describe all its ingredients.
Council number 1.
You need to be very careful when choosing cheeses. It should be an assortment. Choose hard and soft cheeses. But there must be at least 1 cheese on the plate, which will be 100% known to all guests. Ideally, of course, there should be those cheeses that you like on the plate, so that you can safely advertise your masterpiece. But don't be afraid to suggest adventurous options as well.
Council number 2
For each cheese, you need to make a small stylish label with the name of the cheese. It is not difficult, but it will greatly help your guests, firstly, to determine the choice of cheese that they will eat, and secondly, it will help them find out the name of the new cheese that they tasted and liked.
Council number 3
Accompanying is required! Cheese is eaten with something! You must choose the most optimal set of products with which these cheeses will be great to eat. These can be: crackers (on which cheese can be placed), small baguette slices, fruits (especially grapes), sauces and of course wine.
Sauces can be served in small stylish bowls with a small spoon. And It will be delicious.
Tip # 4
Show an example! Not everyone knows or not everyone decides on completely unexpected combinations of cheese and ... .Let's see how our model plate at the beginning of the row shows the combinations that the hostess suggests (or suggests) for cheese: cracker + avocado + goat cheese or cracker + mustard + cheese ...
Council number 5
Don't chop all the cheese. If you expect a cheese platter to be featured all the time at your party, don't chop all the cheese. He has the ability to weather, and this will ruin not only the appearance, but also alienate your guests. It is best to gradually trim the cheese onto a plate.
A very successful version of ST: the main component for the cheese is sauces:, honey, .... Although this plate has one big drawback: there is practically no place to cut the cheese and this is very bad. The board on which cheese is usually cut is busy and there is no way to cut the cheese.
Therefore, from this photo, I would take only 1 idea: small plates of sauces in front of the plate.
Of course, this ST needs to be additionally supplemented: around the round plate with cheese, you need to put fruits, breads and sauces ...
But the very idea of \u200b\u200blaying out cheeses concentrated on a round plate and with signs is great.
Beautiful and correct ST. Thinly sliced \u200b\u200bbalyk or ham goes very well with cheese. But when laying out the balyk, it is necessary to lay out not just crackers or crispbread, but precisely pieces of bread or loaf. The bread here is not ordinary, but delicious yeast-free.
Figs for cheese, and even with grapes - just wonderful!
Classic ST, with wine! Pay attention to Parmesan - it is served with a special knife that can be used to cut this very hard cheese.
Cherry is great, peach with cheese is great!
But with nuts, it is clearly messy - unpeeled nuts are here only for decoration. Nuts must be served peeled and with such an assortment of cheese, you can lay out several types of nuts.
A very original cheese plate for the New Year's table. Cheese plate in the form of a Christmas tree. The cheese is simply diced and shifted with grapes. Of course, the basic canons of laying out ST are not kept here, but how original and how beautiful. And perhaps one of the main goals of festive tables - to surprise and please the eye - is definitely achieved here for sure!
Very good serving on rimmed trays. There is cheese, both cut into convenient little pieces and an uncut piece of the same cheese. Conveniently, the “substrate” for the cheese is laid out in a separate tray: dry bread, pieces of buns, crackers ...
As for fruits, I want to draw your attention to tangerines - cheese + tangerines \u003d delicious!
And here are 2 more interesting ideas for decoration. The 2 photos immediately below this text are interesting in that the cheese is cut with curly cutting and laid out in a beautiful slide. Perhaps you will like this idea and use it. Recommend!
But this mini-plate is just a masterpiece. Look at this idea, each plate doesn't include all the CT components you need, but it is beautifully presented. Do you see chocolate bars by the way? It's delicious. After all, salty cheese + sweet coffee is delicious.
How to make a cheese platter correctly? How to cut cheese to preserve its full flavor? Which wine to choose? The correspondent of the information portal figured out all the intricacies of serving various types of cheeses.
Before proceeding to consider the basic rules for serving cheese, you need to understand its main types.
This type of cheese is more like cottage cheese in consistency. During the preparation process, fresh cheeses are practically not pressed or pressed, which allows them to remain soft and tender. Soft cheeses include mozzarella, mascarpone, ricotta, feta.
Cheese of this type is distinguished by the presence of a hard crust and yellow filling. They need 1 year to ripen, during which they acquire a unique aroma. This is both sweetish Maasdam cheese with large holes and Dutch yellow Gouda.
These cheeses are easily distinguished by their light crust. The classic representative is Parmesan, which is distinguished by a sharp, piquant taste and fragility. Although no less tasty, Swiss Gruyere and Emmental are not so common in our country.
The name of this type of cheese speaks for itself. These are royal brie cheese and tender Camembert with a moldy crust and incredibly tender filling.
This is an amazing type of cheese with a reddish crust, the taste of which is varied and varies from soft tender to very spicy. These include Norman livaro, spicy cheese with a pungent münster smell, aromatic golden marual.
True connoisseurs of cheese, having once tasted this French cheese with a green-blue mold, will never be able to change it. This statement is as true as the fact that more than half of people do not understand how it can be eaten at all.
We are used to treating processed cheeses as a low-quality product made from substandard raw materials. But if you look well, you can find such a delicious variety as the Swiss Shabziger, which is made from cow's milk with the addition of clover. This cheese has a salty-sour taste and is often used as a sauce. Or, for example, Saint Julien, Aper Shire - delicious processed cheeses with nuts.
In a more generalized form, the classification of cheeses is as follows:
When buying cheeses for a cheese plate, pay special attention to the selection of different types of product. It is customary to use at least 5 types of cheeses, which are laid out on one plate clockwise according to the degree of increase in astringency - from neutral to savory.
Cow, sheep and goat cheese will be combined very well on one plate. Also, when laying out, you need to take into account the degree of maturity and the country of origin.
First you need to put soft cheeses with a washed crust, then pressed from raw milk, and then savory cheeses with a blue mold.
Don't forget that measure is also important when it comes to cheese plate layout. Don't turn the cheese plate into a cheese vinaigrette.
In addition to cheese, you can put fruit (apple, grapes, melon, cherry), herbs, honey, jam on the plate. It all depends on the drinks offered.
remember, that taking cheese with your hands is a sign of bad taste. It is imperative to serve along with the cheese the appropriate cutlery, which varies depending on the type and consistency of the cheese and corresponds to the number of types served.
The device for soft cheeses resembles a large fork with which you can break off and chop a piece. Pickled cheeses are cut with a knife, shaped like an ax, but with holes in the blade. Hard and semi-hard cheeses are cut with a massive knife.
If you decide to give preference to cheese at the buffet table, you must first put soft cheese on your plate with a special fork, then with blue mold, then cheese from the middle of the plate - and only after that you can take some kind of addition to them.
A glass of wine will be a great addition to the cheese.
In this case, cheese should be washed down with wine, and not snacked on wine with cheese.
Depending on the type of cheese, it is necessary to select the wine accompaniment. For example, semi-sweet, light dry wines, sherry are ideal for soft varieties. For blue cheeses - strong dessert wine.
There is a little trick when it comes to choosing wine - choose the country of the wine producer the same as that of the cheese.
A cheese platter is effective, tasty and simple. At least it seems so.In fact, there are certain rules for the formation of the cheese plate. What varieties must be present on it? What sauces are cheeses combined with? How should they be arranged?
The cheese platter is considered a classic French appetizer and a kind of national gastronomic specialty. Initially, it was served as a dessert or as an appetizer to strong alcohol. Because of this, the dish was considered masculine. Now the cheese platter is more of an appetizer before the main course.
There are many variations of the cheese plate. It is believed that the seasonality of the varieties should be considered. In the classic version, cheeses of six flavors should be present on the plate: fresh, neutral, pronounced, spicy and very spicy (pungency is expressed in the richness of the taste). Also, cheeses can be classified according to their hardness and taste.
Fresh and soft: ricotta, mozzarella, feta
Soft with a pronounced taste: brie, camembert
Semi-soft: gouda, edam
Hard: maasdam, emmental
Hard, pronounced: Parmesan, Gruyere
Sharp with mold: gorgonzola, dorblue, roquefort
According to the rules of etiquette, there must be at least five types of cheese on the cheese plate.
Fruits, nuts, sauces add additional flavors to each type of cheese, helping it to open up better.
Pears and grapes are ideal for soft cheeses. The versatile companion fruit is the fig.
Blue cheeses should be accompanied by honey or jam without fruit pieces.
Add dried fruits to spicy varieties: dates, raisins, dried apricots, prunes.
Nuts go well with any type of cheese. Walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts are best. It is also worth adding to the plate greens with a pronounced taste: arugula, cilantro and mint.
Finally, a basket of bread is usually served with the cheese plate - it is better if the bread is crispy. For example, a fresh crusty baguette, toast, breadsticks, or a thin cracker. They should be neutral to taste.
The cheese is spread on a thick wooden or stone board, arranging the varieties in a circle depending on the intensity of the taste: for example, soft cheese should not lie next to the spicy ones, as they will quickly absorb their taste. Place fruits, nuts and sauces in the center of the board. The fruit should be wiped dry so that the water does not spoil the taste and texture of the cheese. Bread is served separately, in some cases spread along the edge of the plate.
There are two opinions about cheese slicing. First, the cheeses should be put in large pieces, so that everyone can cut a piece for themselves. Second: the cheeses need to be cut into small portions. This method is much more convenient. It is better to cut soft cheeses into triangles, hard ones into slices.
You can stick a few wooden or plastic skewers into the cheeses, attach dessert forks and a few knives in case someone wants to try a small slice.
The cheeses should be taken out of the refrigerator an hour before serving - so they have time to warm up to room temperature and reveal their taste and aroma properties.
Each type of cheese goes with a certain wine. In order not to buy several types of drink, choose the universal option - light wines with fruit flavors.
Before serving, check the expiration date of the cheese, carefully remove the protective film and wax. Enjoy your meal!
Photo: FSerega / Getty Images, nschatzi / Getty Images, milosradinovic / Getty Images, Education Images / Contributor / Getty Images
Composition: one hard cheese + one soft cheese + one unusual cheese.
Innings: on simple toasted toast, croutons, fruit chips.
Additives: one sweet food + one salty food + one sweet sauce + one salty sauce.
But this benchmark does not mean that a great cheese platter will not come from fewer varieties. Let's take a look at how to make this treat from one, two and three types of cheese in order.
The secret of a single cheese dish is simple: choose either cheese - everyone's favorite, or a special cheese. If you have access to such products, according to the canon, the following varieties can be included in the cheese plate.
The cheeses everyone likes: spicy English cheddar or soft French brie, cheeses like parmesan.
Special cheeses: spicy blue cheese or smelly but delicious Taleggio (semi-soft Italian cheese with a crust).
For the right cheese plate of two varieties, you need one hard and one soft cheese. Here are the top picks in these categories.
Hard cheeses: cheddar, gouda, dubliner, edam, parmesan and Spanish manchego cheese.
Soft cheeses: Italian burrata cheese (creamy "cousin" of mozzarella), delicate camembert with a mushroom flavor, fruity taleggio, ricotta (which is easy to make at home), brie.
pixabay.com Three cheeses are perfect. You will need hard and soft cheese, which we talked about above, as well as some kind of cheese with a twist.
Unusual cheeses: Norwegian brown brunost cheese, chocolate cheese, lavender and fennel cheese or Danish dill hawarty cheese. Also, smelly varieties can be attributed to cheeses with a twist: they are less original, but insanely tasty and always go with a bang. In general, it is best to contact the sellers in the cheese shop and say that you want to surprise your guests with something. They will be happy to help you with your choice.
If you can't get it, look for alternatives from the cheeses available in your area. Or take a different approach by grabbing a plate one at a time from the milk of different animals: cow, sheep, and goat.
When you've chosen cheeses, you might want to consider tasty additions. You will need something sweet, something salty, sweet and tangy sauces, as well as bread and crackers.
Apples, grapes, pears, blueberries, strawberries, any berries and fresh figs compensate for the rich salty taste of dairy products with sourness and refresh the palate.
Tart and sweet dried cherries, cranberries and dried apricots add a bright note to the taste of cheeses. Dried fruits are a good choice for a plate of several varieties, as they pair equally well with spicy and soft cream cheeses.
Instead of buying a single jar of olives, buy olives of different sizes and ripeness by weight. Just remove the bones first or do not forget to warn your guests about them.
pixabay.com The main pickles that can be offered for a cheese platter are gherkins. They have a pleasant sourness, and they look very cute.
Do not get carried away so that the cheese plate does not turn into a meat one. Pick one quality meat and let it set off the cheeses. If you are serving a lot of rich, salty or spicy cheeses, choose something calm, such as a good cooked sausage (ideally like an Italian mortadella). But the cheese plate will not be spoiled by spicy salami, rich meat or liver pate.
The cheese can be served with a mixture of nuts, candied walnuts, pistachios or almonds. Lovers of unusual tastes can be encouraged to experiment, for example, combining almonds with soy sauce and wasabi.
If you haven't tried cheese with honey yet, it's time to do it: they are made for each other. Jams and jellies will also create a wonderful sweet effect, especially those with a tart taste.
Cheese, as a rich-flavored fatty dairy product, needs acid, and grainy mustard can satisfy this need. You can also drizzle the cheese with lingering thick vinegar or pomegranate syrup.
These products are needed to "transport" the cheese into your mouth, and not distract from its taste. Small crunchy toasts, crackers or chips, including those made from fruits, will do the job.
A cheese platter has long since turned from a mysterious phrase into a rather shabby appetizer offered in almost all mid-range restaurants and cafes. Maybe it would not be so bad, if not for one "but": behind the line in the menu, indicating a cheese assortment of high-quality and expensive cheeses, anything can be hidden, and, as a rule, it is "anything you want ”Has nothing to do with what really should be called a cheese plate.
Let's figure it out? The first task is to find out what these words mean, the second is to understand the general principle of forming a cheese plate, try to assemble it at home on your own, fill your hand, and then invite your friends to amazing cheese parties, the equal of which is impossible to find!
So what is this cheese plate? Most often, we are talking about a way of serving assorted noble cheeses, beautifully, breathtakingly beautiful and appetizing laid out on a round or rectangular board made of hard wood. Sometimes a special flat porcelain tableware or a tray serves as a board, however, this is not a completely traditional option.
Do not confuse a board with slicing - the latter includes, as a rule, 3-4 types of cheese, cut into thin slices and beautifully served on a porcelain (earthenware, glass) plate, while we are talking about quite common sandwich varieties, which we most often and we buy in supermarkets.
So, let's look at the general principles.
2. The cheese plate is usually prepared in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap and hidden in the refrigerator. Before serving, the film, of course, is removed, the cheese is left on the table at room temperature - it is believed that the cheese aroma and bouquet are best revealed if the plate stands for about half an hour outside the refrigerator.
After the refrigerator, hold the cheeses for half an hour at room temperature and only then proceed to decorate the plate.
3. A cheese board is formed from five or more types of cheese. More is possible, less is no longer a plate, but just cheese in pieces, even if they are beautiful. However, moderation should be observed in the question of "more": if there are too many cheeses, you simply will not be able to arrange them on the board beautifully, neatly and freely.
4. When laying out cheeses on the board, you should remember that these are rather delicate and delicate products that easily absorb extraneous tastes and aromas, including cheese ones. It is for this reason that attention should be paid to ensure that the different varieties do not come into contact with each other.
5. Following an unspoken rule, the cheeses are laid out on a board (plate) in a circle, starting from the most tender and soft and gradually moving to more spicy and hard. At the very end of the conventional cheese "dial" are the most intense and bright varieties. At the same time, the issues of aesthetics should remain in the first, priority place: to arrange the cheeses so that it is both beautiful and correct is a great art.
6. An alternative way of laying out the cheeses is also allowed: hard cheeses are placed along the edges of the board, softer cheeses are placed next to the center, and so, gradually decreasing the flavor saturation, all prepared varieties are laid out, placing the most tender and delicate cheese in the center of the plate.
7. As a rule, round cheeses are cut into segments, all others - into cubes, cubes. This is done so that every gourmet can enjoy both the middle part, and the one that is closer to the crust, and the crust itself - it is known that the taste in each of the listed pieces is completely different, and it is definitely worth to feel it, taste and understand it. all places.
8. Hard types of cheese are best served on wooden plates - so they look completely harmonious and even slightly sloppy and brutal. You can lose your head! Soft varieties are usually served on porcelain or glass dishes, which, if desired, are placed on a wooden board and played out as part of the composition.
9. It is allowed to serve certain types of cheese without preliminary cutting - in this case, the board should be accompanied by a sufficient number of knives, one for each individual type. If your plate is lined with neatly chopped pieces, it is advisable to serve wooden sticks.
10. The issue of cheese "accompaniment" should be given no less attention: firstly, it is these additional products that help to shape the plate so that the pleasure of admiring it is no less than the satisfaction of tasting, and secondly, all types of cheese require different accompaniments, and, by the way, as a rule, this moment depends on the personal taste of each individual person.
It is believed that grapes and nuts are best suited to soft blue cheeses, while hard and rich ones require dates, dried apricots, raisins, avocados, however, there are no strict rules, therefore, it is worth approaching the task of choosing treats accompanying cheese rather seriously.
The accompaniment to the slicing is grapes, dried fruits, nuts, crackers, olives, fresh fruits. Pear goes well with cheeses. The raisins "sings" well. Almonds and cashews "behave harmoniously". Jams and marmalades, including not sweet ones, sound amazing. Sometimes it is worth combining cheeses with honey. Be sure to try figs sometime, perhaps this combination will become your favorite.
Bread is not offered, the taste of cheese is not hammered, the spirit is allowed to fully "unfold its wings" and present itself from the most advantageous side. Balsamic vinegar is considered quite controversial, however, it is a perfectly acceptable accompaniment to a cheese plate - in this matter it all depends on the individual taste of the board.
In addition, you can decorate a cheese plate with completely edible elements, which, nevertheless, are usually not eaten - herbs, mint, coffee beans. The cheese goes well with arugula and other spicy salads.
To get curly sliced \u200b\u200bcheese, special knives with a "wave" blade are used - ordinary cubes and rhombuses are especially attractive and presentable with their help.
Another simple yet effective way to serve cheese is to use cookie cutters to carve figurines from thin slices. Classic hearts, romantic stars, non-standard fish, autumn leaves - in fact, it is quite difficult to beat this way of serving cheeses, but the effort spent pays off.
Obviously, it is better to buy cheese for forming a plate not in supermarkets, but in small specialized stores - there they will advise you what to choose, and give you a taste, and guarantee the freshness and quality of the goods.
Buy cheeses in specialized shops - there you can taste them.
Cheese platters are a great treat at buffets. In addition, it is a great way to organize a themed party and spend a wonderful evening with friends - tasting cheese, drinking it with wine, eating fruits and nuts. Beautiful plates and heartfelt gatherings for you!
