While many appetizers require serious preparation, a cheese plate is not only classic but offers the familiar, the not-so-familiar and the unique to your guests. Follow these directions to knock it out of the park.
Variety is the spice of life
The key to a cheese plate is (no surprise here) the cheese. This is the heart of the experience, and while almost everyone loves cheese, it's important to pick a variety so you're sure to please a large crowd.
Start with a hard cheese, like parmesan, manchego or another variety. Then add a soft cheese, like a brie or a spreadable cheese, that can be served with a knife.
Finally, try adding one or two more with unique flavors. Try a smoked cheese, a bleu cheese or a fragrant cheese with honey or lavendar incorporated. Making sure you have a variety of flavors and textures to please every palate.
It's important to consider the texture of your cheese when you consider how to serve them. When dealing with a soft cheese, serve it with a cheese knife so that guests can spread on a cracker or piece of fruit. With hard cheeses, slice them into cracker-friendly pieces for easy serving. When in doubt, slicing is crowd-friendly, since guests don't want to hack into a wedge of cheese while everyone's waiting to get a bite.
Match with crackers and snacks
It's traditional to serve cheese with crackers, and that's usually a safe move. Try water crackers with a sharp cheddar, or pair hearty whole-wheat crackers with a smoked cheese for a heavier bite. If you have more than one kind of cheese, you should also offer more than one kind of cracker, but let people experiment in mixing them all up. You can also offer another crunchy snack, like Chex mix or Gardetto's, too, to incorporate a new flavor and an easy finger food.
Complement by adding another layer
Offering some different flavors, like sweet (grapes or strawberries), salty (pistachios or cashews), chocolatey (try several kinds of chocolate!) or even a sour candy (depending on what you're drinking!) Wine pairs well with fruits, nuts and chocolate.
Display and enjoy
A cheese tray can be arranged in myriad ways, but usually it's a good idea to mix all these ingredients together on one platter (if you've got one large enough!) Try placing small bowls for nuts and chocolate or fruit among bunches of grapes, rolls of crackers and wedges of cheese. You can either pass the tray among guests, or place it in a central location, which will keep guests circulating and conversation flowing.
