"When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?" George Carlin
The inspiration for this particular post, although I have thought about it from time to time, is one of The Smitten Kitchen's links to an article in Eater by Bettina Makalintal, which proposed that a cheeseboard featuring just one cheese was better than the traditional many.
Eater, being an American magazine, the two cheeses she featured were, of course, American - American artisanal cheeses of course. This one is "a bloomy rind cheese, a category that also includes Brie." I won't bother with it's name because I doubt you can get it here. Its just an example of wht she means. More apposite are her words about single cheese platters:
"the growing complexity of cheese boards has given me fromage fatigue. Grazing tables, with their ever-increasing gluttony, make my eyes glaze over and my hand clutch my wallet. You want me to buy all that in this economy? I’d also argue that when there’s too much of everything, we, as eaters, tend to appreciate each component less. So if maximalism and minimalism happen in cycles, each a response to the other, perhaps we’re due for a more streamlined approach to cheese."
And just a brief reference to cost here. She is right in that, even though the idea of the single cheese presentation means we are talking about artisan and expensive cheeses, actually when you add up the cost of all the stuff on your standard cheese platter it's probably at least the same, possibly even more.
Perhaps the first thing to note about the cheeseboard is that it exists at all in the anglo culture in which we live. We never ate cheese as a course of a meal at home in my childhood, and I don't think it was just me. We ate cheese of course, and wonderful cheese it was too. We'll forget about processed cheese slices here. The cheese we ate, was sliced with a wire off of a huge wheel of cheddar cheese in the grocer's shop down the road. I suppose later in life we graduated, if that's the right word here, to supermarket cheese. But we never ate it it at a main meal. It was mostly eaten with bread and butter at tea time - a snack after school. At university I would sometimes treat myself to a small loaf of warm bread and a hunk of cheese that I would eat in my room - sometimes with friends, but mostly I think not. It was a solitary guilty pleasure.
Eaten with butter you note. Is it only the English that eat bread with butter? Something I might investigate some time. Suffice to say here, that yes, I do like butter on my bread or biscuits to go with the cheese.
However, in France, I came across the tradition of a cheese course - after the main course, and the vegetable course - they were separate back then - and before dessert. No butter here - just cheese - usually camembert for them and Gruyère for me - and baguette. Just a tiny piece, but every day. And in restaurants they would come around with a trolley of some kind, loaded with cheese from which you could make a selection. As here at Paul Bocuse in Lyon. Not even the tiniest scrap of butter in sight.
Here in Australia, we sometimes serve cheese between the main and dessert, but more usually, I think, after dessert. Our friends tend to comment on our tradition of serving it between the two, as if it is not common. Or there is the cheese platter served either as a nibble before a meal - usually for a crowd - a barbecue perhaps - or after the main course, or indeed just as part of a feast of all sorts of stuff.
So the cheese platter - and I suppose that French cheese trolley is sort of a cheese platter - even at fine dining establishments like Paul Bocuse is not usually a decor thing. Today for everyone, however it often is. One, some or many cheeses? Other things and what would they be? Bread, biscuits ...?
The loaded cheese platter that my Eater writer talked about is this sort of thing I think. You almost have to look for the cheese amongst all the other things that are there. In fact I think there are only four different kinds of cheese on this one. I'm not quite sure how this kind of thing came to be. It's certainly something that is commonly touted in magazines and on the net - how to make the best ever cheese platter kind of thing. And they always add a plethora of other things, including dips and charcuterie. It's sort of a meal in itself. And certainly in the tradition of all those cultures which are into sharing, and small plates. Is it an Australian thing I wonder? I must ask my sister when she gets here, because I have a feeling that this sort of thing might not occur as often in England. It's a sort of mash up of Middle-Eastern mezze dishes and French restaurant cheese trolleys. Although there is of course the Ploughman's lunch which always has some cheese on it. Although the cheese is not generally the prime focus.
The above is one extreme. This might be an example of a middle-way - and more akin to our own approach I have to say. If I remember I sometimes add some fruit, and a chutney, with a choice of bread or biscuits. I never remember nuts for some reason, but dried fruit such as dates and apricots sometimes make an appearance.
A British cheese expert maintained that the Italians often serve panforte with cheese:
“It’s traditional in Italy and stunning served with cheeses. You get nuts and honey all in one mouthful. It is adding those little touches to your cheese plate that gets people talking and makes it really memorable." Alison Brien
Which sounds pretty logical. Whilst looking for a picture I did note that of the few that I found, most of the cheese featured was blue and most of the panforte chocolate. But maybe that was because it was prettier.
Back to the cheeseboard and the cheese which is, after all, the main event. So - how many, and what? Well I guess we tend to overdo it in this house, but mostly it depends on what we have in the fridge. There is always a variety, although we often have to go and buy some blue cheese and some brie, as these are not cheeses that we eat everyday. Are there rules? Well:
"The French have a tradition of serving only odd numbers of cheeses: three, five or seven. There’s another school of thought that you should arrange your cheeses in a clockwise direction from mildest to strongest."
I also saw somewhere, that there is a rule of three for those over the top platters - three cheeses, three meats, three kinds of bread or biscuits, three savoury things like olives ...
Which seems somewhat pedantic. Mostly it's aesthetics isn't it? I sometimes think that these days food is all about aesthetics - sometimes to the detriment of taste.
As I said, my inspiration was the Eater article which was going for the single cheese. If you were in Australia you might go for Australia's current champion Cheddar cheese from Pyengana Dairy. I see that in this picture they are presenting it with some red grapes, biscuits and - is that butter? I have no idea how much a whole wheel would cost, but even a large slice would do as a statement. Actually way back in time now, we often bought a whole wheel of cloth wrapped cheddar from Drouin at the Queen Vic Market, so that at least must have been affordable. I think it was a bit smaller than the one shown above. Below a couple of other examples of the single cheese approach, and you have to say it has impact:
Interestingly two of them feature biscuits of one kind or another, which one cheese guru maintained were not good as they somehow muted the taste of the cheese. Which I find a bit odd. Wouldn't bread do that too? Of course you could just eat the cheese on its own - and the French often do.
And what else do you accompany it with? Should you indeed? Various fruits are suggested, with some saying a particular type with a particular cheese - pear and cheddar I believe is a thing. In fact I remember dining in a long ago excellent Melbourne restaurant called John Smith where there was a cheese course with a selection of separate cheeses and its accompaniment. I think I had their cheddar and pear. Other traditional accompaniments might be olives, relishes, chutneys, nuts, or fruit pastes - although again, possibly the same cheese guru, said that quince and other fruit pastes were too overpowering or some such. So you would think that panforte might be too.
I suppose the main difference between the solo cheese and the choice of cheeses, besides appearance, is that if you are serving a single cheese, you have to think very carefully about what cheese to choose. Everybody's taste is different and you are never going to be able to please everyone, so unless you know all of your guests' taste in cheese very well it would probably pay to be less adventurous than you might be if you have a variety. Going with a blue cheese or a stinky washed rind cheese, might be a challenge for a some, for example, even if the cheese experts think they are the bees knees:
You can be braver with a choice if you have at least three cheeses I think. This sort of thing is probably the way to go, although slicing the cheese is taking a bit of a risk, if nobody chooses that cheese. But again the aesthetics are the real thing aren't they?
And speaking of aesthetics what about the board itself? Mostly of course, it's wood, these days and the availability and choice is almost infinite, across every single price range. But it could be ceramic, stone, or marble, or slate, even plastic. Anything flat really that you don't mind cutting on. Baking paper or greaseproof paper is trendy.
You will find endless advice on the net and in magazines - particularly at this party time season. Honestly I don't think it really matters all that much what you do. And I have to say that if you feed 'cheese board' into Google Images the predominant look is the over the top one. Single cheeses are rare and I suspect left for real gourmets, and restaurants. Anything goes really. You could even throw in a few Laughing cow triangles if you were feeling playful. Not sure about processed cheese slices though. Although the kids at a barbecue would probably go for it.
As to when - anytime at all, as an appetizer, after the main before dessert - or after dessert. And here was an interesting thought on that option:
“Sometimes, after a big meal, it’s best to save the cheeseboard for a few hours later,” Patricia Michelson
Then you can party on, and possibly dampen the effect of the alcohol.
The posh looking cheese at the top of the page by the way is an ad for the Coles Finest range. So maybe you don't have to go to a specialist cheese shop or even the deli section of the supermarket to get something pretty good - or at the very least, beautiful. I would also recommend Millel Australian Parmesan, and, of course, the Meredith Dairy Goat's cheese whether marinaded or not - also available in your local supermarket, because they are keen to raise the perception of their gourmet cheeses.
And don't do like my husband and look at the price per kilo - just pick and choose what's on special and what is in smaller pieces that don't cost too much, but which, nevertheless, look and taste good.
Just try and make it look superb.
BACK THEN
December 11
2023 - Nothing
2022 - Nothing
2021 - Nothing
2020 - Nothing
2019 - Making a nest
2018 - Tea, infusion or tisane
2017 - Nothing
2016 - Aiming for perfection
Well December is obviously a busy month. A time for things to actually happen. Like one son and family flying to the USA for a wintry summer holiday today. We shall miss them and ask ourselves why America, but they were excited.
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