The Art Of Charcuterie

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

One of my favorite things to put together for a shower, for a party, or to make at home as a makeshift meal when I don’t feel like cooking, is a CHARCUTERIE PLATTER!

So easy and SO GOOD. Charcuterie sounds fancy and looks fancy, but it’s really very simple! And it is always a hit! Especially when paired with wine. Amiright?!

In researching the art of the perfect charcuterie platter, I learned that really the only “requirement” for such a board is prepared meats. (Charcuterie is actually the term that refers to the branch culinary art involving meat preparation! Now you know something new!)

Besides prepared meats, you can really put your own spin on things! So I guess the cat is out of the bag… There really is no art! But I will share with you my two favorite ways to make charcuterie platters, as well as my tips for making them extra pretty!

I like to always include a couple of cold sliced meats like salami, pepperoni, prosciutto, or whatever else sounds good at the time. I love to include one or two artisanal cheeses (which are actually really fun to shop for!)  Lastly, I always like to include some crackers or some thinly sliced toasted french bread.

From this point, depending the occasion, I like to decide whether I want to take my board in a sweet direction, or in a savory direction!

If sweet, I like to add in things like…

raw honey
a fruit preserve of some sort
fresh berries
dried fruit
praline pecans or other sweet nuts

When going the savory route, I add things like…

salted nuts
olives
some sort of savory spread, like olive salad or hummus
pickles
blanched veggies

For this particular platter in the photos, which I served to friends coming over, I made some black olive spread for my savory spread! It was extremely easy and seemed super fancy. Literally all I did was put a jar of strained black olives in the food processor, added a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and pureed it. See? Simple!

So sometimes when building a platter I’ll realize that I have relatively no color. If you’ve got two white cheeses, some reddish brown meat, some white bread, and some nuts, you’ve got a plate of neutrality. To amp that up, I love adding some fresh herbs! I think a pop of greenery is always appropriate! Basil and rosemary work well with sweet and savory, and mint works extra well with sweet!

I’ve also been known to add some berries to a savory platter to add some pretty color. And sometimes it’s fun to mix sweet and savory on the same platter, especially if it’s a really large platter where you have more room!

I’m personally a fan of using a big wooden chopping board for display (like this one or this one) and I love a pretty set of cheese knives! Anthro has the CUTEST selection!

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

Now that we have our platter in place, let’s talk about wine! One of my favorite wines that I have tried recently was an Austrian wine called Huber Gruner Veltliner, recommended to me by the guys at Colony Wine Market. In the summer, few things are more refreshing than a cold glass of white wine at the end of the day. The helpful staff up there told me about how great this particular bottle is because it pairs so nicely with food. (I specifically asked about how good it would be with a charcuterie board and they said that was a perfect pairing!) Sommeliers fell in love with this wine because of it’s ability to pair so well with a variety of foods and because it was new and interesting. Not your run-of-the-mill chardonnay! And I can easily get on board with their love of this refreshing bottle! I sincerely enjoyed it.

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

The art of the charcuterie platter (plus the perfect wine pairing!) // www.thehiveblog.com

If you’re looking for some weekend fun, I recommend getting your charcuterie and wine tasting on, then coming back and telling me what all you tried and how you liked it! 🙂

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! Thank you a million for stopping by today. Means the world! XO!

Supported by Colony Wine Market

2 Comments

  1. Mary Strat June 26, 2017 / 9:09 pm

    You know the way to my heart!

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