Why You Need A Fork For Perfectly Cut Cheese Slices

All hosts have been plagued with making the ultimate party food: A charcuterie board. While the concept is quite simple and involves filling a serving platter with a complementary selection of food, there is one crucial part that often poses challenges, and that is the cheese. Charcuterie boards present cheese in a variety of different shapes and sizes, however, to be the most aesthetically pleasing and to deliver the best taste, it is important that the cheese is sliced in a uniform manner and isn't too thick or too thin. This may tempt some to buy a pre-sliced block of cheese rather than slicing the cheese themselves. But there is no need to! With this simple hack using a fork, you can easily cut a block of cheese into consistent square slices.

A simple way to slice a block of cheese is by using a fork to create a guide for cutting evenly sliced pieces. The standard fork has four tines with an equal amount of space between them. The tines are used to pick up food items by spearing them. However, the tines can also be used as a special tool to measure the distance between the cheese slices when cutting given their foolproof design. This hack will leave you with perfect cheese slices that can be used to decorate a charcuterie board for a group, to simply serve on a plate with a handful of crackers, or even to make a flavorful grilled cheese sandwich.

Once you have a serving dish, a fork, a sharp knife, and a block of cheese, you are ready to test out this brilliant hack. All you have to do is lightly press the sharp ends of the fork tines against the long edge of a block of cheese. Doing so will leave evenly spaced indentations that can serve as a guide for each cheese slice. Continue pressing the tines down the block until you have reached the desired amount of cheese you would like to serve. 

When repeating the step, you want to line the first tine with your last indent to ensure that there is a uniform space between the groups of markings. When you are done, line your sharp knife with the indents as you slice the cheese. This will leave you with cheese slices that are not too thick or too thin and are consistent. Now the cheese is ready to be added to your charcuterie board along with your grapes, crackers, meats, and frozen pickles. 

The hack is best used on semi-hard cheeses like cheddar, Gouda, Havarti, Swiss, and Gruyère. These cheeses are firm and will not crumble like a hard cheese or be spreadable like a soft cheese. It also works best on a cheese block that is a rectangle or square, as the tines can only accommodate part of the circular shape. With this hack, you will be building charcuterie boards to impress in no time.