How To Build a Charcuterie Platter in 5 Easy Steps

Building a charcuterie platter is really quite simple. Charcuterie (shahr-cute-uh-ree) is a French word that refers to cured, smoked or cooked meats. When choosing meats I like to choose producers who are making charcuterie from humanely raised animals and who are using traditional methods. It just tastes better when food is produced in small batches using sustainable practices.  I suggest using a board made from a natural material like wood, stone or slate and garnishing it with fresh herbs. Natural materials highlight the natural beauty of the meats.
                                                     

How Much Meat to Buy?

Generally I would suggest about 2-3 oz per person if you are serving other food. If the charcuterie platter is the only thing to nibble on then double it to 4-6 oz per person.









Salami

Variety is the spice of life and the key to a well balanced charcuterie board is variety. Salami is made by grinding the meat and mixing in various herbs and spices. It is then placed in a casing and left to cure. Choose a mixture of salami's with different flavor profiles. A sweet soppressata and a spicy one or maybe a fennel based salami. Sometimes I'll include a small stick salami to vary the size.

Whole Muscle Meats
Next I would suggest two whole muscle meats. These include things like Prosciutto di Parma, Jamon Serrano, coppa which is cured pork shoulder, bresaola (air cured beef) or lomo, a cured pork loin. Typically I would choose one ham and one other like the coppa.

Pate is a must
Country style pate or rillettes add a nice texture change. Pate or terrines can be made from a variety of meats, typically pork, rabbit, duck, pheasant, chicken or anything that can be cooked down with herbs and spices. My favorite is duck rillettes, basically duck meat cooked slowly in its own fat then shredded and placed in a container.





Accompaniments
Cured meats are fatty and mouth coating so things like cornichons and olives provide acidity to help break up the fat. Grainy mustard is also required, especially with the pate. One of my other favorites on a charcuterie board is pickled fruits like raisins or figs. Last but not least you need plenty of good crusty bread to serve with it.

                                                                         
                                                                         

The Best Cheeses for Your Christmas Table

We are less than a week away from Christmas Eve and our shop is buzzing with activity. Between cheese platters, gift baskets and the opening of our second shop we haven't had a second to even breath. But finally today it feels like we have all our orders under control, the last of our shipping has been done and I got a chance to focus on some of the amazing cheeses in our case. With Christmas Eve only a few days away here are my picks for the best cheeses of the season and if I wasn't flying to the French Alps on Christmas Eve, what I would serve for my own celebration.

1. Harbison
Harbison is made on the farm by our friends at Jasper Hill in Vermont and this show stopping cheese has been spectacular this year.Its rich, gooey paste is slightly sweet and grassy, mushroomy and vegetal with a complexity that will leave you swooning. Harbison also makes a stunning presentation with its spruce bark wrapping and mottled blue and green molds on the bark. I suggest digging in with a spoon, grabbing the best baguette you can find and washing it down with a Belgian Saison, a craft cider or your favorite Pinot Noir.

2. Pleasant Ridge Reserve Extra Aged
I have always been a huge fan of this cheese no matter what its age but for the holidays Andy Hatch the cheesemaker and owner at Uplands Cheese Co. hooked us up with a few wheels of the longer aged variety. These 12-18 month wheels are full flavored, rich and buttery with flavors of nuts, fruit, herbs and almost an olive-y note. I think the finish rivals a great French Beaufort. Maybe I should pack a piece and test it against Beaufort when I'm in the Savoie later this week.

3.Stichelton
Christmas isn't Christmas without a good Stilton and our latest batch of the raw milk variety is showing as good as ever. These wheels are fudgy and moist with flavors of buttermilk up front, punchy blue, minerally spice in the middle and the LONGEST lingering flavor of barnyard, earthiness I've ever tasted. Truly spectacular and screaming for a vintage Port. Our friends at Harry's Wine & Liquor say the 2000 Graham's Vintage Port is the way to go. Add a jar of Harvest Song Preserved Walnuts and you will think you are in heaven. 

4. Brabander

I wanted to include Black Betty(the more aged version of the goat gouda Brabander and named for affineur and friend Betty Koster) as my pick but we sold the whole wheel in 2 days so we don't have any! Brabander however is equally worthy choice. It is younger than the Black Betty but still full of caramelly flavor and a creaminess that leaves you wanting more. 

5. Petit Vaccarinus

This Swiss version of Vacherin Mont d'Or is a celebration in a box.  Petit Vaccarinus is made between October and March, when the cows are no longer grazing on high Alpine pasture and are in the barns eating hay instead of grass. Flavors are strong and include mushrooms,earth, peanuts and straw and the texture is pure silk. This cheese makes a stunning presentation and requires nothing more than a great white wine like a Pinot Gris or Gewurztraminer.

Cheesemaking at Cato Corner Farm

Last week I finally got to do something I have wanted to do since we opened the shop in 2009. I spent the day with one of my favorite cheesemakers, Mark Gillman of Cato Corner Farm making cheese. We have carried Mark's beautiful, delicious cheese since we opened our doors. He creates his cheese on his family farm in Colchester Connecticut from the milk of his small herd of Jersey cows. They milk just about forty five cows and turn the rich, pure raw milk into some of the country's best farmstead cheeses. When Mark extended the invitation I took advantage and cleared my schedule. Ever since I started on my new career in cheese I have done everything BUT actually make cheese. While studying for the Certified Cheese Professional Exam I focused a lot on the process and the factors that produce great cheese, I read as much as I could find to understand and fill in where I thought my knowledge was weak. My day with Mark brought it all to life and I could have saved myself a lot of reading had I visited sooner.

Mark suggested that I arrive on the farm after the morning milking and after the milk had been placed in the vat. That way I could avoid the waiting around while the cultures and rennet work their magic, turning the milk into curds and whey. I arrived around eleven o'clock and Mark warmly greeted me and said we were going to make Bridgid's Abbey today. We sell a lot of Bridgid's Abbey in the shop so I was excited. It is mild and milky with a pretty natural rind that begets a nutty, tangy flavor. We took a quick walk around the farm, poked our heads into the main barn and also watched as a few of the cows had their hooves trimmed. It was a cool Spring day and the grass and trees were bursting forth.

The cows had still not been turned out onto the pastures. Mark said they (the cows) were anxious to get out there but the grass wasn't quite ready. It needed some more time to grow and strengthen before the herd could have their first feast of the season. They were pretty much hanging around the barn and paddock munching on hay. Mark looked at his watch and we made our way to the cheese making room, located adjacent to the barn and behind their farm store.

We changed out of our farm clothes into clean clothes and put on long aprons, the obligatory hairnets and tall rubber boots. All this garb is necessary in cheesemaking to preserve a sterile, clean environment. The cheesemaking room is small and rustic and when I walked in the smell of fresh, sweet milk hung in the air. It was warm and pretty humid. We scrubbed in, sanitizing our hands and arms, scrubbing them with a brush then putting on two layers of gloves. We also washed the fronts of our aprons since we would be leaning over the vat. Mark gave me instructions to not touch anything except the vat. I followed orders carefully, fearful of messing up a whole batch of cheese! Mark checked the curd in the vat and determined it was time to cut it. We spent quite a bit of time cutting the curd until it was the perfect size. Then Mark rinsed it, which helps produce a sweeter, smoother cheese with less acidity. 

Next came the fun part. We scooped the curds into the molds and the the cheeses quickly began to take form as the curds quickly knitted together. We flipped the cheeses a few times and then they went into the press for about twenty minutes. We finished up by washing down and sanitizing all the equipement, vat and surfaces. Cheesemaking really is 85% cleaning. 

After we were done cleaning Mark took me on

a tour of his cheese caves. The room was amazing. Wall to wall cheese, aging gracefully on wooden shelves. The smell of ammonia was heavy in the air and we walked up and down the aisles inspecting the cheese. We tested an aging Bridgid's Abbey and it was sweet and creamy.


 After the tour Mark had some cheese that was ready to come out of the brining solution so I decided to finish my visit by checking out the barns and the cows on my own so he could finish up his day. I took some great pictures of "the girls" They are friendly, gentle animals and I couldn't help think about how lucky they were to live on such a beautiful farm and be so well taken care of. Unlike big commercial dairies these cows live quite the life and their health and happiness is paramount to the quality, flavor and nutrition of the milk they produce. I say it all the time, "happy animals make superior cheese."  

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