Nothing gets me more excited than a bomb ass charcuterie board and an epic photo op! I mean… how amazing does this look??
During the holidays, I have more people over than usual. And since “cooking + cleaning” for 8 people isn’t my idea of a good time, I prefer to make EPIC charcuterie boards (that I can also Instagram afterwards) and I get to spend more time with the people I love!
Now here are the basics for the ultimate holiday charcuterie board. No matter what size your finished board will be, make sure to have a mix of both sweet, savory and COLORFUL snacks.
Step 1: Choose your meats:
To make your life easier, get the Columbus charcuterie sampler… where you have mild meat and some with some heat! Columbus Craft Meats makes it really easy to get a delicious mix of cured meats!
- Calabrese is a zesty salame made with red bell peppers. Enjoy it with a hard cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Genoa is a mild salame seasoned with wine and garlic. Add a softer cheese, like fontina or fresh goat cheese for a different texture.
- Italian Dry is their San Francisco classic salame that pairs well with a hard sheep-milk cheese like pecorino romano. And it was actually cured by the San Francisco Fog!
- Sopressata brings flavors of sweet fennel and chili pepper. Combine with a harder cow cheese like Grana Padano.
Step 2: Add your accompaniments
- Cheese. My favorites and pictured above are an 18 month old Gouda, Brie, and an Wensleydale with cranberries somerdale. Um hello, can you say FESTIVE?! I’m drooling.
- Artisanal crackers or baguette; Toasted plain baguette, pita bread, water crackers and breadsticks. One of my favorites is the Raincoast crisps pictured above.
- Spreads: Mustard spreads, sweet and savory jams, and olive tapenades. My favorites include: fruit chutneys, fig jams, kalamata tapenades.
- Olives and pickled vegetables: these are always great additions and adds character to your photo.
- Fresh seasonal fruits are a must. Personally I love keeping it simple with berries. In the winter dried fruits including apricots and figs are always a hit and compliment the flavors of the meat and cheeses.
- Nuts. Walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, Marcona almonds, even candied nuts. You cannot go wrong here. My favorite are pistachios as they are quite mild.
Step 3: Now for the finale, let’s stage your IG pics!!
Tips:
- Find props before you start assembling your board. Find a board to put your salami on, buy some flowers, greenery, pine cones or even little white plates for olives!
- Begin to add everything to the board while making sure you have nice pops of color everywhere (ie: cranberries, oranges, nuts, pistachios, etc)
- Make sure you fill the space! For this particular shot, I like to make sure the frame is completely filled with cheese, meats, fruits and nuts. For any empty space, or the space surrounding my charcuterie board… I added tons greenery and flowers.
- Shoot by a window or somewhere with natural lighting! This type of photo will work best as an overhead shot.
- Tag me and @ColumbusCraftMeats in all of your customized charcuterie boards, I’d love to see what you guys come up with!
Cheers and happy holidays!
Cyn
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Columbus Craft Meats. As always, the opinions are all mine. I always keep it real for you guys.
6 Comments
I’m going to try to impress my friends and make this for our annual Christmas party! I’ll keep you posted
Amen to not cooking and cleaning for 8+ people. I feel you on that!
This makes me want to throw a party just to make a fancy charcuterie board! Love these ideas
These are great tips and photos, Cyn!
Thanks girl!! I hope I get to see you soon!
Do you have recommendations on what drinks I should pair with all these treats? :)