How to build the perfect cheeseboard
Everything you wanted to know about putting together a cheeseboard but were too intimidated to ask, with expert guidance from Patricia Michelson of La Fromagerie, London
Produced by Natalie Whittle. Filmed by Petros Gioumpasis. Edited by Oliver McGuirk.
Transcript
You can enable subtitles (captions) in the video player
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There are a few ways around the cheeseboard. I like to follow the route from my mild to strong. Some of you might find the choice a bit intimidating. To make it easier, I'm going to share some of our secrets. I'm going to put together a selection of cheese that will give you the best possible taste profile for your board.
Keep your cheeses wrapped in wax paper. Half an hour or so before you're having dinner, take the cheeses out of the fridge and place them on your board. Start with something fresh and light, say a goat's cheese for instance. It will refresh the palate and make it ready for all the other flavours to follow.
Remember, it's all about progression of flavour. And something like a Camembert, for instance, a great earthy, mushroomy, rustic flavour coming through. It's a great one to follow after a fresh start.
We've reached cheese number three. For me, five cheeses are an ideal number for a cheese selection. At this point, we want to change the texture. A hard cheese. A Gruyere, for instance, is a perfect follow-on from those soft cheeses.
Following our hard cheese, which was nutty and fruity, we want to have something a little bit more pungent, such as an Epoisses. I know that there are aromatic. They have the most amazing flavour and they have a richness to them which is just perfect.
Now we reach the grand finale and it has to be a blue cheese. Those lovely, salty, sharp, and metallic tastes are all perfect to finish off your cheeseboard.
There are many myths and stories about how moulds began. One of them is the rock fall that comes from southwest France. The farmer had a white cheese in his pocket and it mingled with some of the old mouldy bread crumbs from the previous day. They infiltrated the cheese and created the blue moulds.
So we'll start off with the goat. I like to place my cheeses from left to right. Mildest to the left, strongest to the right. After that, we will go for a beautiful Saint-Marcellin, and that's from the Rhone-Alpes. Follow with the hard cheese. The Vacherin, lovely and sticky. And then finally, our blue.
For cheeses like this, I would always cut into sections. Your harder cheese cutting down like this. And for the blue. For the Vacherin, you cut into little quarters. To serve with it, grapes are always lovely. Some nice biscuits. And there you have it, a perfect selection. Five amazing cheeses that will give you the best possible taste profile for your board.
Once you've got a little bit more confidence about putting together your cheeseboard, try a few other interesting cheeses with other flavours. Have fun.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
