The Cheeses You Should Avoid Buying For A Better Charcuterie Board

Who hasn't, nearing a party's end, seen their painstakingly prepared (and certainly not cheap) charcuterie board reduced to a weird, mangled mess? We're not sure what's worse; that, or noticing how all those expensive assembled ingredients have gone virtually untouched. It is a tale of two snacktacular failures. On the one hand, everybody wanted to take a stab at your cured meats (the actual charcuterie) and accompaniments, perhaps having to do so literally due to inadequate tools or unmanageable items. On the other, hardly anybody even tried! The trick is knowing what to buy to put on your charcuterie board to begin with.

For an average crowd with a median palate, you want to avoid any outliers. The meats are easy enough. Stick to the classics pâté, rillettes, prosciutto, and speck and nobody's complaining. Even if you have to ask the shop or deli personnel for recommendations, you probably won't go wrong. But the "cheese and" that often precedes "charcuterie" can be a little trickier for anyone other than dedicated fromagers. There's just too much variance between textures, aromas, and pungency, making this one of the few culinary occasions when sticking to the basics is your best bet. That means skipping any overly stinky or super strong-flavored cheeses.

Basic does not necessarily have to be boring, in the landscape of charcuterie board ingredients. A great spread should have at least three options in both meat and cheese categories, plus your stray fruit, condiment, and cornichon selections. And the appearance of plenty is always exciting. All the cheese in creation still vastly outnumbers that calculation, of course, but you can still narrow it down simply to soft, semi-soft, and semi-hard, while avoiding the extremes. That means save the runny, ripened Camembert for some other occasion when you aren't as worried about presentation, and set aside the Parmesan for grating. It's also best to avoid anything super fragrant that will overpower the rest of the collection.

In terms of safe picks, start your spectrum on the softer side with chèvre, a must-have cheese for charcuterie boards, which spreads easily but holds its shape for the length of an average fête. Then, firm up with a nice, creamy feta. And don't get any more rigid than a Gruyère. The rest, which might not perform as well in large groups with disparate slicing skills, will be better applied to your next mac and cheese, pasta, or simply served to a party of one.