Entertaining guests can be quite a difficult task, but entertaining during the holiday period is even more stressful; especially around Christmas time. With the festive season approaching, Dave Mellor, Cheese Barista from Warrnambool Cheese & Butter has ideas on how to spruce up a well-practiced offering to keep guests satisfied and occupied: the cheese platter.
1. Remember that everyone has different tastes – so mix it up!
Everyone has different preferences when it comes to wine, and it’s the same when it comes to cheese! The ideal platter has a mix of hard cheddar, a creamy cheese such as brie or camembert, and a cheese flavoured with pepper or chilli to spice things up. When plating up, it’s as much about flavour as it is about texture and contrast.
Wine preferences vary between the generations – and so do cheeses. Younger people will probably prefer milder cheese that is matured for a shorter period, while the older generations have more mature tastebuds through trial, so they are looking for stronger flavours. To keep both the young and mature palates happy, make sure you include tasty and creamy cheeses, as well as vintage cheddars.
It is quite common to have a cheese platter at the end of a meal, but another common end of meal staple is a coffee. Try not to match these because coffee will reduce your tastebuds sensitivity so you will not get the true flavour of the cheeses.
You can tell a good vintage cheese by the colour and texture of the surface. For a cheddar, look for white markings, a sign of calcium lactate which indicates a very mature cheese with an exceptional flavour. Alternatively, for a Colby (cow’s milk cheese), look for a richer colour which shows the cheese would have a nice smooth, creamy texture.
5. Don’t forget your accompaniments, but choose carefully!
Australia take note – we’re doing it all wrong! While I personally love to eat cheese on its own, for the majority of cheese eaters, habit and a lack of cheese knowledge leads them to accompany a square of cheese with all sorts of accompaniments! Whilst this is not totally taboo, it’s important to ensure that whatever you’re using as the vehicle to get the cheese into your mouth doesn’t over power it but balances out the flavour. Did you know? Quince paste was actually invested as a palate cleanser between courses of cheese, similar to a mint sorbet so popular in French degustation. However, the modern use of quince paste is great to have with your cheese, particularly as Australian cheese tends to have quite a savoury flavour.
6. Behind every good cheese, there’s a good wine!
It’s the festive season, so you’re likely to be enjoying a tipple with your cheese. My rule of thumb is that cheddar, vintage or tasty cheeses go well with a glass of red wine as the flavours balance each other out, while creamy cheeses such as camembert or brie suit a sweet dessert wine, as it cuts through the freshness of the cheese.
If you’re feeling adventurous or looking for something fresh, try a slice of brie with the crisp flavour of an Appletini, a gouda with a San Francisco Sangaree, a cheddar with a Star Gazer or a Chevre with a Cool Melon Mint… The options are endless.
Pairing wine with cheese can be very scary due to the large amount of variety and choice within both categories but here are a couple of tips to help ensure you achieve the best pairing. Stick to these guidelines below and become a master of pairing.
Cheddars: When looking to partner full flavoured cheddar, stick to the red wines, particularly the more balanced varieties; I tend to lean more towards a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Soft cheese: Soft cheeses such as camembert and brie have very fresh, mild, creamy flavours. To help cut through this freshness and create a balanced flavour try and stick to sweet desert wines such as botrytis.
Blue Cheese: With the strong musty flavours of a blue you really want something with depth of flavour. My tip would be to lean away from standard wines and move towards the fortified wines such as sherry and port, these drink will help ad a rounded finish the blue cheese.
Ever wondered why your cheese can sometimes take on a flavour similar to last night’s dinner? That’s probably because you stored it in glad wrap. Cheese is composed of living cultures and is a high fat, so it is prone to absorbing the flavours and aromas of other food in the fridge. To avoid this, keep your cheese wrapped preferably in wax paper and stored in a container separately from other cheese.
Most people would assume that you should take your cheese out of the fridge and onto a platter when you’re about to serve it. However, in order to taste the full flavour of the cheese, it’s actually best served at room temperature. So make sure you take your cheese out of the fridge 30 mins prior to serving. A good tip is to cover the cheese in a damp kitchen towel to prevent the cheese drying out. It’s also one less thing to have to worry about when your friends arrive!
Cheese doesn’t have to be served before the main meal. In fact, I prefer to have cheese after dinner with a glass of wine and good conversation. Cheese has a high fat content, so if you have it before your meal you’re likely to be too full to finish. Which, for many chefs, is the height of insult!
For the cheese lovers who are sampling every variety on your platter, make sure you include some slices of apple in your spread or celery . Apples and celery act as a great palate cleanser, and ensures that the flavours of the different cheeses don’t compete against each other. Quince paste also serves this purpose, but as discovered, people now enjoy it as a cheese accompaniment so I say, let them have their cheese and eat it too!
When putting together a cheese board, to be served before or after dinner, try and limit your selection to no more than five different cheeses. Allow for 20 to 30 grams of each cheese per person. For a party of eight, that’s roughly 200 grams of each cheese which means your guests will end with a total of 100 to130 grams each. Add fresh fruit and nuts to the platter for a visually appealing look and be adventurous with your serving boards; there are many varieties such as wood, marble or glass.
12. What sort of knives should I use?
To cut a wedge of cheese from a wheel, use a large sharp cook’s knife. Score the cheese rind or wax first and then gently rock the knife from front-to-back, applying pressure to evenly cut through the body of the cheese. For serving, try and use cheese knives, which are very handy to cut and extract a piece of cheese whilst preventing the cheese from sticking. Marinated cheeses in oil can be served with a small fork or spoon. Remember to provide a separate cheese knife or utensil for each cheese, and encourage guests not to mix the knives to avoid mixing cheese flavours.