Sometimes I want to prepare a charcuterie board beforehand so that it takes the stress out of it, rather than a last-minute rush of activity. I thought I’d share a few tips about how I prepare and some tips and tricks in the presentation that I have picked up along the way.
Key Points:
- Preparation can alleviate last-minute stress when creating a charcuterie board; it emphasizes quality over quantity.
- Utilizing plastic wrap or compostable alternatives is recommended for preserving freshness.
- Tips for enhancing the board include arranging contrasting colors, utilizing folding techniques for cured meat, and slicing cheese beforehand.
- Preservation methods for cured meat and cheese include beeswax wraps and proper storage to maintain freshness.
Of course, this resource site Eat Cured Meat is all about making a few cured meats, but I still buy quality, ideally, local products to add to an epic and spectacular charcuterie board (well, in my eyes, it’s hopefully epic!).
I lean towards a charcuterie board (here is what to do with leftover charcuterie meats) that is a little bit more minimalist and highlights quality rather than chockablock full of every imaginable food (but we did that above, actually); that’s my approach most of the time.
You can either prepare the entire board or prepare the cured meat and cheese ahead of time up to 24 hours before, as long as the board is wrapped and refrigerated beforehand.
My inspiration comes from traditional and classic and often from what I’ve seen across Italian antipasti platters over the months and months we have spent in the country.
So I’ll give a quick answer and then discuss ideas around prepping in a bit more detail to hopefully give you a helping hand.
Maybe some ideas about how to change up your charcuterie board as well!
Charcuterie Board Preparation & Tips
The way you fold the pieces of cured meat makes a difference when you can prop them up and make them a little bit more three-dimensional rather than flat two-dimensional (I will get some videos below to show the techniques).
Having a few useful little storage and display items can also help organize your charcuterie board. I’ve dived into them below.
Wrapped, Cool – Preparation Complete
Two main things you need to do to make sure prepping goes well.
Keep it in a cool environment, like your fridge (mainly due to the cheese and cured meats). You also need to wrap or stop air or oxygen from drying everything out (kind of obvious, I know).
Every fridge runs at around 20 to 30% humidity, which basically will dry out anything very quickly. Apart from your vege box in the fridge, I doubt you’ll fit your charcuterie board in there!
The easiest way to wrap a charcuterie board (to help, I have a calculator for how much meat etc. per person I created) is using plastic wrap/clingfilm, sadly it’s made out of crude oil a.k.a. plastic which is something I like to try and minimize in the kitchen.
It’s a new thing, but you can get compostable/biodegradable plastic wrap, crazy I know! It’s made from PLA, which is a plant-based plastic alternative.
It’s unavoidable sometimes, but depending on the size of your charcuterie board, I’ll suggest some other useful ideas.
Preparing the Night Before
Cutting the cheese ahead of time is something I love to do. Then store in the below beeswax wraps or container – in the fridge. If I need to slice the cured meat and salami, the same applies.
Then, the next day all I really need to do is put the preserved and pickled bits and pieces together and fold up the meat.
Please put on the breed crackers and happy days; it’s ready!
TIP
Buying some decent extra-virgin olive oil, and putting a teaspoon of delicious quality balsamic vinegar makes an incredible little acidic dip for the bread.
You can put one together yourself, all I do is use some nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, or cashews. Add some dry cumin, coriander, and salt to taste and you’ve got the start of a dukkah.
Other additions to the dukkah:
- Smoked paprika
- pepper
- dried herbs like oregano or thyme
- a little sumac
You can just use plain extra-virgin olive oil and dip the bread into this before the dukkah coating if you haven’t tried this it is sublime.
Cheese Preservation Tip
For a charcuterie board cheese, here is a helpful way to store it.
One of my favorite eco-products is beeswax wraps. They naturally have antibacterial and antifungal properties they’re made from beeswax and some other natural resins/essential oils.
These are an alternative for salami or cheese – definitely great for vegetables, nuts etc.
Although meat is not so good to have contact with them, fresh meat is. Salami is better (read the instructions of course).
They are 100% fully compostable just like an apple core, I have had friends that worked in companies that make them. They really have to be made by hand which is cool in the mass-produced society we live in.
The only issue is that you don’t really get massive wraps to cover a whole medium or large-sized charcuterie board.
I highly recommend you give them a try. They are just an all-around better alternative, and they should last 6 to 9 months.
You just rinse them in lukewarm water to keep them reusable. (They make awesome cones for holding popcorn, and kids love sandwiches and snacks wrapped in them—because of the yummy beeswax scent!).
After they lose their stickiness (it’s a nice stickiness that doesn’t leave residue), you can scrunch them up and use them for firelighters when camping!
But some eco-friendly plastic wrap alternatives are out there, differently a good move for the planet (random fact, did you know wet wipes are actually made with plastic? It blew my mind hearing about this recently)
A better alternative is Wax Bee Wraps (but you do need a big one for a whole charcuterie board!)
Here are a few of my favorite bee wrap products, which are official guys supporting environmental protection.
I like ordering stuff from companies with a conscious, (ie, not Amazon if I can).
Here is a link to Bee’s Wrap – been around a long time, great product.
Using Quality, Home Grown if Possible
Even now I have a super small garden, we try our best to produce carrots, herbs, beetroot, and other bits and pieces throughout the year. Luckily the climate we are in means we can grow things just about all year round, it’s pretty mild.
Whether it’s curing meat or making something from your homegrown backyard, definitely takes it to the next level when you’ve done it yourself, based on all the positive feedback that I get.
Of course, for some people, this isn’t possible in the big city, but finding those local produce that are doing it on a small scale is probably a good place to start as well.
Or if you want to read about the above regular fridge meat curing, it takes 3-4 weeks, and can make some delicious HOMEMADE curing meats – here is a link to the page I wrote.
Contrasting Colors
Color on a charcuterie board is a big deal. One way to go is to use the red shades of the cured meat contrasting with the yellowish and golden colors of the cheese. From an Italian perspective, a little bit of green summer on the board and nearly got the Italian flag—salut! You just need the green olives!
There are so many ways you can do this yourself.
TIP
If you buy simple-brined olives, you can add a few fresh herbs and dried spices and leave them in the fridge for a day or two. Then, you’ve got a whole new angle of flavor!
Folding Cured Meat Techniques
It’s not hard to do just to slit to the middle of a larger piece of salami and fold it in.
Rolling up or overlapping slices of prosciutto is also pleasing to the eye.
Cheese Arrangement
Some people like to stick a whole block of cheese on a board and provide a cheese slicer. Nothing wrong with this, but I preferred to slice my cheese beforehand, making it easier for guests to get stuck in.
Ramakins for Preserved Condiments
Egg cups! They are another little option for a small condiment holder, but depending on your egg cup style, they can work!
Other ramekins for dipping extra-virgin olive oil, dukkah, or other contrasting chutneys and pickles are a good idea.
Whole Muscle Salumi & Dry Cured Salami
ie. Prosciutto, Braesola, Genoa, Picante (Modern name – Pepperoni)
Here are a few tips on prosciutto, it’s more than likely that you’re buying it from the deli and it’s already sliced up for you.
It’s good for five days, even a week. I’ve found it better to not put it in a container and may develop a slimiest on the outside, just keeping it under-wrapped in the deli paper works well.
Eventually, that dry fridge environment will have an effect on the sliced meat. It’s a bit different if you’ve got a whole bit of muscle; most guys will definitely not have a whole prosciutto leg or whole braesola!
But you might have a whole stick of salami; dry-cured salami quite often is quite fresh. Especially the mass-produced one, which has quite a soft touch to squish.
I like my dry-cured salami a bit firmer. Basically, it dries out a bit, and the flavor becomes a bit more intense.
You can do this with most dry-cured salami for sale, or you can take it out of plastic or paper. Let it sit in the fridge (wrapped with beeswax wrap or not.) In its casing, after a few weeks, it will be a little harder. Just try it, as it hardens a little.
If you’re buying from an artisan salami producer, then more often than not, it’s been drying for several months already.
As opposed to that tangy flavor where they use the acidity to speed up the process, a dry-cured salami made the traditional way does take a few months to put together.
Other Charcuterie Preparation
Rillettes and pates are all a bit different.
The rillette is preserved in fat; confit is similar in method.
But pates are a bit different – spreadable offal products more often than not a pates should be eaten sooner rather than later.
Just like fresh offal, it should be eaten fresh.
However, sometimes the fat layer on top is used to protect it from oxygen aging and deterioration.
Please note these are huge generalizations since there are people from all over the world reading this blog; I’m trying to give general advice covering what you’ll get in the Western world, but please take it with a grain of salt (this means it’s a generalization)
I hope this has helped a little!
Tom Mueller
For decades, immersed in studying, working, learning, and teaching the craft of meat curing, sharing the passion and showcasing the world of charcuterie and smoked meat. Read More