Charcuterie and Pastry Class

I am so excited about this Charcuterie and Pastry class! It combines two of my favorite hobbies, designing charcuterie and eating pastry. At first glance charcuterie and pastry may seem like a strange combination. In both designing your charcuterie board and in creating the perfect pastry, you are focused on the creation of the perfect bite. Whether that be by pairing bruschetta with burrata cheese and toasted sourdough, or through adding blueberries and a lemon glaze to your fresh from the oven danish, this class will teach you how to create those perfect bites, while also letting you taste each one along the way.

What is Charcuterie?

The French term Charcuterie is a term used to describe a type of cooking based on the preparation of cold cooked meats. A Charcuterie can also be a term used to describe a store that sells cold cuts. Unlike a typical butcher, the meats you would get from a charcuterie are ready to eat, making it more comparable to a deli.

But lately when referring to charcuterie, people are usually referring to Charcuterie boards. A Charcuterie board is an appetizer served on a type of board that includes different meats, cheeses, spreads and crackers. In the same family of charcuterie boards are grazing boards, or grazing tables. These have the same spread-like appearance as a charcuterie board, but with less strict qualifiers. Grazing tables may include desserts, kid friendly treats, and other unique foods that do not fall into the meat, cheese, bread category. I personally view the two interchangeably when planning events for larger groups, and throughout this article may use the terms interchangeably.

Things to avoid with your Charcuterie Board

There are a few key things to avoid when creating a charcuterie spread.

An Intimidating board:
- New spreads or funky colors you have never seen on cheese can cause panic even to the swankiest among us. You want to make sure that even at first glance your guest can picture the first bite they are going to take. An example of this would be putting your crostini right next to the bruschetta, or the carrot stick next to your hummus. Don’t make your guests have to work too hard to understand how to enjoy your board.

Form over Function:
- So much of charcuterie is making your food look beautiful. But when it comes to food, beautiful should also mean delicious looking. Make sure you choose a cheese that matches the flavors on your board, because the most interesting looking one might also be a very stinky option.
- Make sure you think about how your guests are going to create their bite. Do not include an uncut brie round and then also not have something to spread it with. This is why I would suggest cutting your cheeses and meats into bite sized pieces for your guests.
Lack of Flavor diversity:
- Whether your charcuterie board is for an appetizer, a light afternoon snack or a meal, you always want plenty of diversity in your options. In other words, instead of having all salty snacks on your board, also have hints of sweet throughout the board.
- In turn, if you are making a dessert board, you always want some salty to peak through the sweet. Think chocolate covered potato chips, chocolate peanuts, or pretzels dipped in a sweet spread.

How many people will my Charcuterie board feed?

This depends on what the purpose of your board is:

Appetizer, light snack:
- The rule of thumb for Charcuterie boards is to allow each person 3 oz. If you are like me, it seems impossible to picture three ounces of food. I simplify this equation by breaking my board into three categories. A typical board would be meat, cheese, extra (fruit, veggies, crackers). Therefore if you have 10 people you would want 10 ounces of meat, 10 ounces of cheese and 10 ounces of extras.
Meal:
- When needing enough for a meal, double this amount to 6 ounces. Use the same method to break each category into ounces.
For Mini Charcuterie Boards: Because we want each person to have plenty to fill their board with, while also snacking along the way, we will want to do at least 6 ounces per person.
- Most packaging does include the number of ounces of the items inside. Keep in mind one pound is 16 ounces. If ordering from a deli, you can ask for specific weights of your meats and cheeses. You can also ask for special cuts, such as cracker sized cuts of cheese or thinly sliced meat.

Key elements to a charcuterie board

Thrillers: This is basically the main course of the board. This could be a bowl of bruschetta, a salami rose, hummus or a cast iron full of baked brie.
Fillers: These items will accompany your thrillers. So if bruschetta is your thriller, then your filler will be crostini to eat the bruschetta on and maybe some burrata cheese to throw on the crostini as well.
- Common combos:
  - Hummus: Naan bread bites, pita chips, carrot sticks.
  - Baked brie: Butter crackers, Triscuits crackers, Baguette slices (crostini)
  - Bruschetta: Marinated Mozzarella, Burrata cheese, Crostini, Toasted Sourdough, Fresh basil
  - Salami Rose: Smoked Gouda, Muenster cheese, Cheddar, Butter crackers, Triscuits crackers.
Spillers: These are items that don’t directly pair with any items but add to the overall board. This can include fresh fruits, chocolates, candied nuts and dried fruits.

Bruschetta

During the Charcuterie and Pastry class we started by using these recipes to make bruschetta.

We toasted the sourdough bread in butter and paired it with Burrata Cheese. You also can pair this with marinated mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.

students making bruschetta in our charcuterie class

students in the charcuterie class making bruschetta

Baked Brie

We then moved to making baked Brie during the Charcuterie and Pastry class. To make baked brie, start by cutting the top section of the brie wheel off. We do this so that once the cheese is gooey and melty, we can dip right into it. Then bake the brie at 350 degrees F until it is bubbly on top.

After out of the oven you can top it however you please. We did one brie with a blackberry compote and honey, and a more savory option that included caramelized onions and bacon.

Butter Boards

This is such a fun section of the Charcuterie and Pastry class. This lovely new trend is both beautiful and delicious. We start by whipping our butter for at least 3 minutes. We do the same with our plain cream cheese. They you can add whatever you please to the butter. Raspberry Compote, Blackberry Compote, Lemon Curd, Cocoa, Strawberry Jam, the options go on. For the cream cheese we recommended pairing it with the lemon curd or the hot pepper jam.

After you have whipped your butter, stir in you flavoring to add to your butter or cream cheese.

To spread your butter/cream cheese use a cookie scoop to scoop out you butter in a perfect ball shape. The, use a knife or spatula to smear in one direction. I recommend having a variety of colors and flavors of butter on your board.

Your spread of butters is paired with our mini croissants and mini cream scones. Truly a great example of combining charcuterie with fresh pastry.