Check out this short educational video clip, where I share the basics of selecting cheese for making a platter at home for your next party.
When making a cheese platter, you want to make sure you have a mixture of different milk types, taste profiles and textures. I usually do a variety of 3-6 cheeses, depending on the size of your gathering and about 1.5 to 2 oz. per person. So keep in mind if you have more variety, the chunks will be smaller and if you have less variety, the chunks will be larger…or you can just go all out if you don’t mind having leftovers 😁. It’s good to include some crowd pleasers, but also great to introduce your friends to new cheese, so don’t be afraid to include a small slab of blue cheese or something funky. I also like to choose cheese from different countries or have a theme, such as all domestic cheeses.
When I make a platter with 4 varieties of cheese, I typically like to include a fresh or soft ripened goat cheese, something rich and creamy from cow milk, a semi hard cheese and something more aged. The goat cheese will have a bright, floral tanginess and a slightly chalky texture - I love a good classic French chèvre. For the buttery cow’s milk, I like to do a ripe mushroomy camembert or you can go straight buttery and do a triple-crème. When it comes to a semi hard cheese, I usually include a smooth and delicious sheep milk cheese from the Basque Country. For the harder aged cheese, I switch it up between an alpine style, aged gouda or a classic cheddar. Other styles that are great to include are washed rinds, which bring the funk and a briney blue. Feel free to switch up the milks between the textures and remember to try new things and have fun with it!