42 of the Best Homemade Charcuterie Board Ingredients (2024)

FAQs

What should every charcuterie board have? ›

This includes cooked and cured meat products like hams, sausages, terrines, and pâtés. While traditionally that was the jest of it, these days a charcuterie board implies a spread of cured meats, cheeses, fresh fruits, spreads, crackers, and breads.

Plan for about 1-2 ounces of cheese per person. As with your meat selections, have your cheese sliced thin (at a 1-2 thickness) to make layering easier. If you'd like to incorporate cheese cubes, or have guests cut their own pieces, have those sliced at an 8-10 thickness.

A typical board would be meat, cheese, extra (fruit, veggies, crackers). Therefore if you have 50 people you would want 50 ounces of meat, 50 ounces of cheese and 50 ounces of extras. One pound of cheese, one pound of meat, and one pound of a combination of fruit, veggies and crackers= 16 people.

What is the 3-3-3-3 Rule for Charcuterie Boards? No matter the style of the wood charcuterie board, you can always follow the 3-3-3-3 rule. Every charcuterie board should have three meats, three cheeses, three starch options, and three accompaniments, such as fruit, nuts, or veggies.

There are a few that I would stay away from eggplants, brussels sprouts, turnips, beets, zucchini and mushrooms. Many of these vegetables taste best when cooked, and Charcuterie boards generally don't include steamed or cooked veggies.

The Best Meats for a Charcuterie Board

Dry-Cured Pork: Thin-sliced, fatty and salty, dry-cured pork is a must. Serrano ham, prosciutto, country ham, Iberico ham, capicola and speck are all readily available.

One of my favorite styling techniques is the quarter-fold. This works for many different types of meats of various sizes. Take a slice, fold it directly in half, then in half again to make a rough equilateral triangle with one rounded edge. With these quarters you can create a variety of textures on the cheese board.

Cashews: Creamy and buttery, cashews pair well with the tanginess of goat cheese and blue cheese. Walnuts: These dry, earthy nuts are excellent counterparts for sharper cheeses like aged cheddar or Gorgonzola. Pistachios: Salted or plain pistachios pair well with most cheeses due to their neutral taste.

What kind of pickles for charcuterie? ›

Those pickles are called cornichons (pronounced "KOR-nee-shons"), and they are exactly what they seem to be: tiny pickles, or, as the English call them, gherkins. Their tart, mildly sweet flavor makes them the ideal garnish to serve with classic charcuterie items such as pâtés, terrines, cured sausages, and the like.

The absolute basics of charcuterie are cold-cyt meats, cheese, and some sort of bread and/or cracker to go with them, and often some sort of fruit/fruit preserve or a pickle of some kind to add sweetness and brine. Nuts are also a valid inclusion, to add a texture change.

Often, chocolate or sweets are included, too. However, the simplest board will always have five key ingredients: fruit, nuts or olives, cheese, meat, and a carb like toasted bread or crackers.

A charcuterie board is a tray that includes cured meats, cheeses and a variety of sweet and savory bites as well (including miniature pickles, olives, fig spreads, apricot preserves, whole grain mustards, honeycomb, and more).

In general, a good charcuterie board will have 2-3 types of meat, 2-3 cheeses, 1-2 fruits, 1-2 crackers, nuts, bread, pickles, mustard and a dip or spread. The deliciousness of your board depends on the quality of your ingredients. Buy USDA Organic when possible and look for meats that are free from nitrates.