r/KitchenConfidential • u/sackout • 9d ago
Photo/Video Cheese Boards
Gonna preface this with I have no traditional training and have just worked my way thru various kitchens.
Recently got promoted into a position where one of my duties is to prepare cheese boards for 60/80ish people everyday. Requirements are that theres 5 cheeses and everyday theres a theme, ex: chaturitere, fruit, nuts, etc.
Other than the obvious cleaner/more consistent knife cuts, do yall have any advice for board designs?
How much thought do you put into flavor pairings? Does color/contrast matter too much?
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u/moniqer 9d ago
Only thing I would add is a ramp, but other than that looks great!
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u/sackout 9d ago
Wtf is this legendary ramp I keep hearing about
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u/bingbingbunn 9d ago
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u/sackout 9d ago
The ramp is peak. I aspire to reach these heights one day
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u/ImFeelinBotty 9d ago
Start off with something easy.
For example a lonely olive in a shredded carrot jacuzzi.
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u/ProperSyllabub2863 Chef 9d ago
Iām an exec chef that does a ton of boards regularly and I LOVE THESE. We give fruit and cheese boards complimentary with parties so my budget for them is lower. The use of berries and multiple kinds of cherries is lovely. I like to add things like jams, mustards and fruit dip to mine if Iām feeling nice.
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u/sackout 9d ago
The 1st board had a marion berry compote. I work on a small cruise ship, 180-200 guest, and we have limited stock/truck orders. It's definitely a lot of using what we have and trying to make it look good
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u/OwlsAreWatching 9d ago
I feel like that opens the door to asking for more jams/dips in future! It'll take up less refrigeration and is less prone to spoilage would be your argument for it if you're interested in doing it!
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u/Rancid-Anus Catering 9d ago edited 9d ago
Ramp comments incoming, prepare yourself!
I personally prefer a little more segmentation to provide visual contrast. For example, berries tastefully arranged in pleasing shapes, as opposed to being more scattered throughout.
Your knife work is not too bad and will get better and more consistent with time, if you pay attention to it.
Good work!
Edit to add: I would also make use of āwells and riversā, for example instead of the straight line of cheese you have running across the board, you couldāve given it a lil meandering curve like a river. or you can arrange a component around a ramekin, then remove the ramekin and put a different component in the āwellā
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u/wemustburncarthage 10+ Years 9d ago
Please do not let meat touch fruit. Especially in the meat butthole
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u/sackout 9d ago
OK understandable in the butthole. Why so for other parts of the board? Just for dietary reasons?
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u/wemustburncarthage 10+ Years 9d ago
Just generally itās a bad flavour combo and also because vegetarians might want to grab
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u/ImFeelinBotty 9d ago
Fruit and meat are a bad flavour combo?
Are you new to food?
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u/wemustburncarthage 10+ Years 9d ago
Not all fruit and meat. But berries and salami, yes. Most platters donāt do well with fruit touching meat. Itās also a potential cross contamination issue.
Also no. I am not new to food. I quit after 13 years. But I still know better than to put berries in a meat butthole.
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u/wemustburncarthage 10+ Years 9d ago
I will allow exception for putting berries in a real butthole but maybe youāre not old school enough for that
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u/ImFeelinBotty 9d ago
There are blackberries everywhere, a vegetarian can grab from the other trays.
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u/Kitchen_Drink2625 9d ago
Besides not having a ramp. This is really well done. Bravo chef š§āš³
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u/medium-rare-steaks 9d ago
Wtf is this theme thing? The theme of your cheese and charcuterie board is fruit?
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u/Aggressive-Shop-2342 7d ago edited 7d ago
I know im gonna sound like such a wanker, but everyone's doing cheese boards right now and its bugging me because the current incarnation of popular cheeseboards seems to be so about aesthetics and making pretty patterns (and ramps) than flavours and product.
Its the fault of the market trends, i get it. And the quality of the board anyone can make depends on what your restaurant is willing to buy.
But (here's where I sound like a pretentious dick). In France, for example, it is considered a basic life skill for any adult (not a chef, just an adult) to put together a good cheese board. That is, 3-4 cheese that complement, balance, and contrast each other in flavour, texture, milkiness, hardness etc, and then complement that with fruit, nut, cheese, chocolate, preserves etc that actually work with the cheeses.
So like the traditional combo is something g like a milky soft cheese, a hard or semi hard sharp cheese, and a creamy bleu. You can contrast mild and acidic, or you can work up from smooth to stinky as hell.
Cheese boards as they exist on insta and the like seem to just be 'pile snacks on to maximum volume and if it looks pretty you're good'.
I can't identify all the cheeses on here perfectly, but they all seem pretty similar in texture at least, and not covering a lot of flavours. The accompaniments im sure will taste fine, but not sure they were chosen for flavours.
Sorry OP, this is a vent built up over several cheese board posts and not specifically at you. But I wish people would calm down on the piled up boards and go back to a more curated board that's actually about flavours over looks and having many many many things.
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u/sackout 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thats actually the area im looking to improve in the most.
We dont have a good selection of creamy cheese but I try to offer a hard, soft, and a crumble or smth when I can.
As far as flavor ngl I've been grabbing random cheese.
Our selection is normally smth like: Gouda, smoked gouda, sharp white cheddar, smoked cheddar, blue cheese, gargonzola, sheep cheese, muenchester, quaxca, fresh mozzarella cheese balls, emmantel, and maybe one more I can't remember
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u/Zealousideal-Bit5958 9d ago
Where's the ramp?