The Big Mistake Everyone Makes When Preparing A Charcuterie Board

Charcuterie boards are both trendy and delicious, and they're rather easy to put together. You have your delicious bread, fruits, and cheese, plus any other goodies you want to snack on. We all crave cheese and want to eat it every day, right? Charcuterie boards are easily one of the most customizable dishes in the world, but you can also run into some mistakes when preparing them.

The first thing you can do if you want to make a good charcuterie board is research. Look up photos of boards to reference, and research which ingredients you want to use before you purchase them. Don't be afraid to ask questions, either. Bon Appétit explains that cheesemongers and other food industry professionals are always happy to answer questions — they want to help you have the best food experience. Because of this, they can be invaluable resources for choosing the right cheeses for your charcuterie boards and helping you pair those cheeses with breads, olives, meats, and other complementary foods. The biggest mistake is going into the charcuterie board process without a plan of attack, so you'll want to prepare ahead of time.

Bon Appétit also explains a couple of other mistakes people are making. On one hand, you shouldn't be cutting cheese or other foods on the charcuterie board itself. This damages the board's overall appearance and destroys the effort you put into it. Instead, cut the cheeses and everything else ahead of time, and neatly place them all on the board to be grabbed with ease. In that same vein of preparing things correctly, you need to understand which parts of the board should be refrigerated and which should be kept at room temperature. Don't refrigerate the entire charcuterie board. Knowing which items are better cold and which are better at room temperature will enhance the overall experience.

According to Food & Wine, part of preparing is understanding variety and how much you should have. They warn against having too much variety or too little variety within your cheeses and other items. If there is too much, people will be overwhelmed, and if there is too little, people will be bored. Knowing your audience will help you make the best decisions for variety. At the same time, you have to learn variety for different occasions. Even if you find a good variety of foods, you can't serve the same charcuterie board every time. Instead, you'll want to constantly shift your variety so that each board is a new experience.

Overall, charcuterie boards should be fun, delicious, and easy, but they do require a little bit of thought. Have fun with it, and everyone will have fun with you!