Serving Cheese

Serve all cheeses at room temperature! Remove cheeses from the refrigerator at least an hour before serving. Hard cheeses take longer to reach room temperature. As a rustic peasant food, cheese displays well on wood, marble, or stone boards, surrounded by fruits (the simplest being a bunch of grapes), nuts, crusty bread, and wine. Try to avoid cubing or slicing in advance, and put out one cheese knife or cheese plane per cheese. For a big crowd, where self-service is key, you may pre-slice or pre-cube, but the cheese will dry out quickly and, as a display technique, it’s fairly “cheesy.” If you must pre-cut cheese, use a covered cheese dome.

Cheese Board / Cheese Course
Some basic things to consider when serving a cheese course:

1. As hors d’oeuvres, avoid sweet triple-crèmes (which are more for dessert), blues (too strong), or very aged cheese (also too strong). Stick to bloomy rinds, medium-washed rinds, or semi-softs.
2. Three to five cheeses are enough for any course. Less is more in this case.
3. After-dinner cheeses would typically start with a fresh cheese (e.g., chèvre) or bloomy rind (e.g., Camembert); then a semi-soft or medium cheese (e.g., Morbier or Cheddar); then a harder cheese (e.g., an aged Gouda); finally a blue (e.g., Roquefort).
4. A cheese plate is arranged in clockwise fashion with the first cheese at midnight on the plate.
5. It’s a good idea to vary the milk types, too! Try a sampling of goat, sheep, and cow’s milk cheeses.
6. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Start with what you like first, and work around from there.