Food Matters - Creating a Perfect Grazing Board

In Episode 29 of Food Matters well-renowned Chef, TV Cook, and Food Media Broadcaster Aisling Larkin tells us all about creating a Grazing Board / Cheeseboard Food Matters is brought to you thanks to Jack Molloy & Son Craft Butchers, Barrack Street, Waterford.

Creating a Perfect Grazing Board / Cheeseboard

Cheese boards are the pick and mix of the adult world …. versatile, aesthetic, delicious and social. Cheese boards are all about a moment, a moment of relaxation and discernment. A great cheese board begins with great cheese so in order to support local, support our heritage, our dairy culture, to bring money to our local economies and to cut down on air miles and be sustainable I am building this cheese board from Irish cheeses. I think there are over 50 artisan cheese makers in Ireland dotted al around the country so if you are out and about on your holidays this summer on a little staycation grab some local cheese and have a gorgeous cheese board for lunch.

But When ?? Cheese board before or after dessert It’s important to remember that cheese is not an appetizer in France, but it may be offered at an apéro (apéritif). An apéro is a casual social gathering where drinks and snacks are served. Cheese is eaten in moderation in France. Its quality as opposed to quantity. Eating a little high-quality cheese after your main meal will allow you to feel more satisfied, resulting in eating less cheese.

By the nature of eating it would make sense to keep going with the savoury and then go to dessert and coffee and petit fours but I am going to tell you my favourite is dessert first and then cheese… this means I can relax, kick the heels off, stretch and get ready for a long lingering sit down at a table, with good company, good wine and good cheese. At this point you know that you're in for the duration. It will begin with free-ranging and highly lubricated conversation In my humble opinion cheese first' means joylessness and restraint;

Base : wooden board, slate, marble slab • Choose a decent-sized cheeseboard board that will comfortably hold your cheeses and have room for some decorative touches. • A cheese board brings a certain air of occasion, all be it a sense of relaxed occasion to the eating experience. • Use fruit like sprigs of grapes or whole/halved fresh figs and fresh green foliage for decoration. • The Spanish love the combination of dried fruit and nuts with cheese, which can also be quiet rustic and colourful. Semi-dried apricots and dried apple or pear pieces make a good choice.

Cheese : • Quality, Artisan, local, a story • Odd number of cheeses 3, 5, 7 • Hard, Semi hard / semi soft, soft, blue, surprise • Hard - cheddar, parmigiana, Cheddar, Gruyere, Emmental If you always buy cheddar, try a French Comté instead. It’s delicious, smooth, nutty. Also Comté is the perfect champagne cheese. • Semi hard - gouda, edam, Emmental • Semi soft - manchego, gorgonzola, gorgonzola, roquefort • Soft Cheese - Camembert, brie, feta, gorgonzola, mozzarella, blue • Stinky Cheese - what is it .. Something stinky Or, to use the technical term, washed-rind cheese. Wetting cheese with brine or booze as it matures encourages flavour-enhancing bacteria, a colourful (usually orange or red) rind and an occasionally overpowering pong. Hard continental types include gruyère, comté and raclette; soft include époisses de bourgogne, munster, reblochon and taleggio. You’ve probably heard of Stinking Bishop, a pasteurised and veggie-friendly cow’s milk cheese from Charles Martell in Gloucestershire. Created in 1994, it’s washed in perry made from local pears. Newer kids on the block include Hampshire Cheeses’ Winslade, modelled on the Alpine Vacherin Mont d’Or, a fatty cow’s milk cheese. It is a lovely, indulgent cheese that can be served with a spoon…… • The rind …. Hard cheese - don’t eat the rind, soft cheese - eat the rind • You want cheese of various shapes and sizes - rounds, barrel, squares, triangles, never a slice in sight. • C