Houzz TV: Assemble an Artful and Delicious Cheese Platter
Create a cheese platter like a pro for your next home gathering
Brenna Malmberg
November 22, 2016
Food can be delicious and look great when it’s skillfully displayed. In this episode of Houzz TV, food expert Bibby Gignilliat shares how she assembles a cheese platter when she throws a party. “When I entertain, it’s just as important to make the food look as good as my interior home.”
Watch now: How to Assemble an Artful and Delicious Cheese Platter
1. Pick a Base
Gignilliat, CEO at Parties That Cook, likes to use a butcher block platter for her base. It comes in handy for cutting up ingredients and has a “rustic elegance,” she says.
If you use your platter for cutting, put the sliced ingredients on a plate or additional cutting board until you are ready to arrange your platter.
Browse rustic cutting boards in the Shop section
1. Pick a Base
Gignilliat, CEO at Parties That Cook, likes to use a butcher block platter for her base. It comes in handy for cutting up ingredients and has a “rustic elegance,” she says.
If you use your platter for cutting, put the sliced ingredients on a plate or additional cutting board until you are ready to arrange your platter.
Browse rustic cutting boards in the Shop section
2. Arrange the Components
Cheese. Gignilliat chose soft cheeses for her platter because they are easier for guests to cut. She places the wedges and rounds across the platter, with one in the middle and one on each end of her butcher block.
Quince paste. Next, she adds quince paste to the platter because of its sweet taste and interesting texture.
Colorful bowls. Small bowls group food together and add color to the platter. Gignilliat uses the bowls to hold sweet and salty snacks. She likes to nestle bowls together on the platter and then place one bowl on each end of the butcher block.
Meats. She sprinkles her cut meats throughout the platter. “I don’t want to have any set pattern,” she says.
Crackers. Crackers are tucked between the meats and cheeses throughout the platter. For guests who don’t eat gluten, Gignilliat fills a bowl with gluten-free crackers and puts it beside the platter.
Cheese. Gignilliat chose soft cheeses for her platter because they are easier for guests to cut. She places the wedges and rounds across the platter, with one in the middle and one on each end of her butcher block.
Quince paste. Next, she adds quince paste to the platter because of its sweet taste and interesting texture.
Colorful bowls. Small bowls group food together and add color to the platter. Gignilliat uses the bowls to hold sweet and salty snacks. She likes to nestle bowls together on the platter and then place one bowl on each end of the butcher block.
Meats. She sprinkles her cut meats throughout the platter. “I don’t want to have any set pattern,” she says.
Crackers. Crackers are tucked between the meats and cheeses throughout the platter. For guests who don’t eat gluten, Gignilliat fills a bowl with gluten-free crackers and puts it beside the platter.
3. Add Serving Utensils
Cheese knives. Gignilliat sticks a cheese knife in each cheese.
Spoons. A spoon goes in anything that needs to be dished onto plates.
Skewers. To enable guests to pick up other platter bites, she includes a bowl of small skewers or toothpicks.
Watch now: How to Assemble an Artful and Delicious Cheese Platter
Take a tour of Gignilliat’s garden, designed for entertaining
More: Make Your Checklist for Entertaining Season
Cheese knives. Gignilliat sticks a cheese knife in each cheese.
Spoons. A spoon goes in anything that needs to be dished onto plates.
Skewers. To enable guests to pick up other platter bites, she includes a bowl of small skewers or toothpicks.
Watch now: How to Assemble an Artful and Delicious Cheese Platter
Take a tour of Gignilliat’s garden, designed for entertaining
More: Make Your Checklist for Entertaining Season
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Yummy!
For those of you worried about Gluten Free or if you are vegan, here is my vegan platter with a lentil and pistachio dip. carrots, radish, fennel, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccolini, orange bell pepper, endive and radicchio, peapods.