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Five tips on making a better cheese plate |
There are few things as complex as cheese. It’s not that complicated to make, but the results are so varied that even people like Juliet Harbutt who spend their entire lives learning about cheese always have more to learn.
Harbutt was in Austin last week for a cheese tasting at Central Market, where her new collection of British cheeses is available. Fashion designers are better known for their collections than cheese experts like Harbutt, but it’s the same idea except that she didn’t make most of the cheeses. Of the thousands of British cheeses she’s tried, she picked 16 that would be available for sale in Central Market stores. Many of the cheeses haven’t been available in U.S. stores until now.
Her new book, “The World Cheese Book,” is a nicely illustrated guide to more than 750 cheeses, any of which would make a find addition to a cheese plate at your next party.
At a tasting last week, Harbutt led us through a tasting of her cheese collection and gave tips on how to recreate a similar experience at home.
1. Serve both red and white wine. Or beer. The adage that red wine goes with hard cheese and white with soft cheeses isn’t a good way to tell which goes with what. It’s not about being snobby, but rather serving wine that won’t get in the way of the cheese flavors. Some wines, particularly strong reds, will totally wipe out the flavor of the cheese, which defeats the purpose of serving the cheese. Beer, on the other hand, is an underappreciated accompaniment to wine, so feel free to skip wine altogether.
2. Serve cheese at room temperature. We’ve all heard this before, but many of us still take cheese out at the last minute before cutting up and arranging the plate. Remove from the fridge and unwrap cheese an hour before serving.
3. Buy cheese the day of or day before serving, and store in wax paper. Wax or parchment paper is a staple in most pantries, so when you get home from the store or cheese shop, remove cheese from plastic wrap and rewrap the cheese in wax paper. Tape the label that was stuck on the plastic to the new wrap so you can remember which cheese is which. “Every day, cheese has a new vintage,” Harbutt says, so it probably won’t taste the same as it tasted in the store, especially if you bought it a week earlier.
4. Don’t stress out about cheese selection. You could spend all day at the cheese counter, trying every cheese to find cheeses that precisely complement each other, or you can serve cheeses that you like. Pick out a handful of cheeses you want second of or, better yet, get guests involved by asking them to bring a cheese along a certain theme (country of origin, milk type, category or curious name, for instance).
5. Spiff up the cheeseboard with fruit, jam, nuts, bread, crackers or herbs, but remember that less is more. With both cheese and whatever you choose to serve with it, don’t overwhelm the plate with too many choices. Three cheeses and two accompaniments is plenty. Plan for a few ounces of cheese per person, which means you don’t need a $20 chunk of each cheese to satiate the crowd. Any reliable cheese store will cut a piece of cheese as small as you’d like, so don’t be afraid to ask for a fraction of a pound.
