Building a Cheese Plate

Building a great cheese plate requires a basic familiarity with the profiles of the cheeses offered and their capacity to be other food and drink. Of course, you can’t know every cheese—but that’s what cheesemongers are for. They wait behind their counter to find exactly the cheeses you need, based on your preferences and circumstances.

Before you head to your cheese market, think about what cheeses you already like—even if your experience with the vast array of cheeses is still limited.

When describing cheese, use vivid language that conveys the convergence of appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture. When creating a cheese plate, take into account milk type, rind type, age, country of origin, and aromatic and flavor profiles.

Order cheeses according to the intensity of flavor. Begin with fresh cheeses, move through bloomy-rind selections, showcase firmer natural-rind pieces, offer washed-rind cheeses, and finally finish with blue cheeses.

For maximum diversity, pair cheeses made from different milks, cheeses of different origins, and cheeses of varying intensity. For example, a plate of five cheeses might feature a goat’s milk cheese, a sheep’s milk cheese, and a mixed-milk cheese. It might also include a hard aged cheese, a bloomyrind cheese, a washed-rind cheese, and a fresh cheese. Finally, it could represent the cheese traditions of France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Such a cheese plate might be like the following (and yes, you can use this as a cheat sheet!):

Cheese Exploration Board

• Fresh goat’s milk cheese from California (goat, fresh, American)
• Robiola due latte from Italy (mixed cow and sheep, bloomy rind, Italian)
• Pont l’Evêque from France (cow’s milk, washed rind, French)
• Artisan pecorino from Italy (sheep’s milk, hard aged, Italian)
• Aged Gouda from the Netherlands (cow’s milk, hard aged, Dutch)

Another approach may focus on single-origin flights of cheese. For example, a cheese plate could highlight the styles and traditions of the United Kingdom, a country that produces more than seven hundred different named varieties, according to the Cheeses of the United Kingdom Board. Such a selection might be as follows:

Cheeses of the United Kingdom Board

• Caerphilly (cow’s milk, natural rind, acidic, smooth paste)
• Double Gloucester (cow’s milk, clothbound, creamy and nutty)
• Cheshire (cow’s milk, clothbound, firm and tangy)
• Extra mature Somerset Cheddar (cow’s milk, clothbound, crumbly with tangy and meaty notes)
• Stilton (cow’s milk, moist, buttery and mineral)

Another approach would be to focus on one particular class of cheese. For example, the extensive artisan and farmstead cheese offerings of the United States allows for a very particular list of selections that represent differences in milk type and cheese style:

United States Artisan and Farmstead Cheese Board

• Sequatchie Cove Walden (Tennessee) (cow’s milk, bloomy rind, creamy and mushroomy)
• Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog (California) (goat’s milk, bloomy rind, ash, milky and goaty)
• Jasper Hill Creamery Whitney (Vermont) (cow’s milk, semi-firm, sweet and nutty)
• Upland Cheese Company Pleasant Ridge Reserve (Wisconsin) (cow’s milk, washed rind, sweet and grassy)
• Lively Run Goat Dairy Blue Yonder (New York) (goat’s milk, blue cheese, creamy and piquant)

While the star of any cheese plate should be the cheese, accompaniments often add to the pleasure of cheese by providing an interactive and complimentary pairing with the cheese.

Traditionally, roasted nuts, fresh and dried fruits, honey, breads, and crackers accompany cheese well. Bloomy-rind cheese makes a mellow pairing with toasted walnuts and fresh fruit such as grapes, apples, and pears. Tomme- and Alpine-style cheeses also match well with toasted nuts and dried fruits, such as prunes and dried figs. Blue cheese pairs well with sweet concentrated foods, such as berry compotes, honey, and dried fruits.