Cheese board

aaabbbb

Have a dinner party coming up soon and I want to include a cheese board as a starter. Thing is I've never done this before and have no real idea how to go about it.

So just wondering if anyone could be able to give me some advice in relation to what cheeses to use , where to get them ( cheap enough) and what kinds of bread/crackers to use and where to get these also ?

Also any advice on where to get cheap enough meats and what types as an accompaniment would be really appreciated !

dee_mc

I would aim for 3 different cheeses and 2 or 3 different meats, plus olives, grapes, maybe figs or apple slices, celery for blue cheese, toasted walnuts, and some rustic looking crackers or fresh crusty bread.
Usually you'd have a hard chees, a soft or semi-soft cheese, and a blue cheese.
If you don't know how much your guests love cheese, make sure at least one of these is fairly mild flavoured!
I'd go for St Tola Goat's cheese (semi soft), or a boilie (the garlic one is nice), or a brie or camembert type (lots of nice Irish versions available) for the soft cheese. Maybe a good mature cheddar or smoked cheddar for the hard cheese. And a Cashel or Crozier blue.
Prosciutto and salami should be enough on the meat side of things.
Don't serve too much cheese, because no matter how much you serve, it will be finished! About 75g of cheese per guest is loads.
IMO crusty bread is nicer than crackers, especially with softer cheeses, but Sheridan's crackers are lovely. They also do some really nice relishes etc and would advise you as to which relish would complement your cheeses.
I would usually use supermarket cheeses, especially Aldi ones, but for a really good blue try Sheridan's again. Tell them which other cheeses you're serving and they'll recommend a blue that will suit the intensity of the others.
I also like the cured meats you can get in Aldi, and they're really well priced, but maybe it would be worth getting a nice bit of chorizo cut especially too.
Think of the fruit etc as a garnish, the cheeses and meats should be the main event!
Most importantly, store the cheeses separately as they will exchange flavours pretty quickly, and remove them all from the fridge around an hour before serving to let the flavours develop. I would cut hard cheese into slices but leave the softer ones whole for the sake of appearances

aaabbbb

Great thanks a million ! I'm actually a bit clueless so you've been really helpful ! Now off to the supermarket with me.... :pac: