Everyone loves cheese, and it seems like people don’t love it more than our acne clients. They LOVE their cheese and it’s one of the hardest adjustments to make when embarking on a clear skin journey.
So, we wanted to put together a wonderful charcuterie board to help our cheese loving clients indulge with an amazing acne-safe cheese board that takes the cake.
Let’s Talk CHARCUTERIE!
Charcuterie is the culinary art of preparing meat products such as bacon, salami, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit. So why is charcuterie suddenly all the rage? Creating a charcuterie board is like coloring in a coloring book, but with food! And that’s why people love it!
As the saying goes, “Everything Old is New Again”.
Like many traditional foods that are making a comeback, charcuterie is a culinary art developed from necessity; it is the way meats were preserved long before the days of refrigeration. And just like pickles, fermented vegetables, home drafted beer, broth and kombucha, charcuterie has been revived and brought front and center by the traditional food movement. And in my humble opinion front and center is exactly where it deserves to be.
How to Make Your Own Charcuterie Board
The fabulous thing about serving charcuterie at your own party is that there are no rules!
You can keep it as simple as you like (just the cured meats maybe?) or dress it up with fresh or dried fruits, a variety of artisan breads and crackers, olives, spreads like honey, preserves or jams! You can also keep it budget friendly by setting out a small plate or go all out with a huge platter!
That said, arranging a platter is intimidating to some people. So here are some tips for making a beautiful charcuterie platter.
Choosing an Acne-Safe Cheese
The options for dairy-free cheeses has expanded exponentially over the past decade & you’re the lucky ones who get to benefit from all that trial & error previous generations had to endure! Here are the top picks for a delicious charcuterie board.
Oussau-Iraty — Sheep’s milk
This pressed, uncooked, raw sheep cheese has layers upon layers of lush flavor. It’s one of two sheep’s milk cheeses with AOC designation (the other is Roquefort), and you can really taste the sheepy funk. The flavor is mild yet hauntingly complex. Firm, smooth, sweet, and a little nutty.
Serve: Melts beautifully; grate over soup or pasta.
Roquefort — Sheep’s milk
This cheese is moist and breaks into little pieces easily. Genuine Roquefort is made from sheep’s milk, and after aging for 3–5 months, the cheese is creamy with a sharp, tangy, salty flavor.
Chèvre — Goat’s milk
Chèvre is simply French for goat, and a generic term for many goat’s milk cheeses. Some of the classics: Bucheron, Crottin de Chavignol, Pouligny Saint-Pierre, Chabichou du Poitou, Valençay. Sometimes coated with a sprinkle of ash, originally charcoal, to keep the cheese from drying out. Chèvre starts out mild and creamy, and becomes drier, firmer, flakier, and more acidic with age.
Serve: In salads, omelets, and on pizza.
Humboldt Fog — Goat milk
Humboldt Fog is a goat’s milk cheese made in California’s Humboldt County. Its name comes from the rolling fog that comes in from the ocean. Creamy and smooth, Humboldt Fog is dense and velvety, with a delicious tangy flavor that is great with fruits or on a cheese plate.
Old Goat Cheddar — Goat milk
Goat Cheddar Cheese is aged for 4 months. This allows a smooth texture with a mild flavor. It’s perfect for Taco Tuesday, Pizza Day or a tasty snack. Its buttery texture and mildly delicious flavor is an across the board cheese that will impress everyone.
Throw in a plant-based cheese, just for good measure
Charcuterie Board Must-Haves
My favorite mix on a board is pairing a crostini with a vegan smoked gouda cheese. Put a little bit of fig jam on there, add a candied pecan, put a pear or an apple in there and call it a day.
You really NEED to give this dairy-free cheese a try. It’s one of those life-changing recipes you can’t miss!
Choosing the Perfect Charcuterie Ingredients
The secret to an absolute out of this world charcuterie board is the flavors you choose. You need a balance of SWEET, SALTY, SAVORY AND SPICY to make the taste buds sing.
Every charcuterie platter should have a wonderful combination of flavors. When shopping keep in mind you need a sweet, salty, savory and spicy component to have a well-rounded board. The ‘sweetyou’re your platter can be provided by seasonal fruit. The cured meats, kalamata olives and lightly salted crackers and almonds or other nuts (no peanuts) will provide the ‘salty’ and of course the cheeses provide the savory!
So what to do for the spicy factor? Add a spicy cranberry jam on top of a round of soft goat cheese & yum!
Simple Mills Rosemary crackers are dairy free and soy free.
Simple Kneads Sourdough bread — free of all acne-triggers
How to Arrange Your Charcuterie Board
When assembling a charcuterie platter begin with some kind of greenery, most often lettuce, but during the holidays it’s fun to use sprigs of rosemary. Not only does rosemary look like pine needles but it smells great too. But nobody says you can only use it during the holidays. If you arrange a platter too symmetrically I think it loses a little of its charm, so I like to use an odd number of whatever greenery I choose and arrange them a little haphazardly. If you can, picture your platter like the face of a clock, placing the rosemary springs at 12:00, 2:00, 3:30, 7:00 and 10:00.
LAYER AND OVERFILL
After placing the greenery, choose something to place in the center of the platter. Generally, this is where you would go with the biggest food item. Then place plenty of rolled up cured meats like salami and prosciutto around the centerpiece. The key to a beautiful charcuterie display is to overfill the platter so it looks plentiful and opulent. Letting some of the ingredients ‘spill over’ is a nice touch too.
USE SMALL BOWLS TO CREATE INTEREST
To add interest – place a few small round bowls filled with items like olives, nuts or seeds on the platter and then fill in any empty gaps on the platter with lots of cheeses, seasonal fruits and finally nuts and crackers!
Final Touches & Charcuterie Thoughts
Creating a charcuterie board is great because once you assemble it, the work is done. Your lucky guests serve themselves and they will be quite content waiting for any meal as they snack on crackers topped with charcuterie, gourmet cheeses and fruit!
Keeping it simple is the best advice when it comes to creating a charcuterie board. You can’t go wrong with good quality food & the love you put into creating it.
Do you have questions about what role your diet has been playing in your life? Are you ready to achieve the clear skin you deserve? Schedule an initial consultation today & let us help you get started on YOUR clear skin journey.
Cheers to clear!
Rene
