How to build the ultimate cheese board, according to Ina Garten and other chefs
Ina Garten (domestic goddess that she is) isn't the only pro who likes to serve a cheese board for entertaining. It's a go-to for many pro entertainers because people love it, it requires no cooking and yet it can wow a crowd.
Garten starts with fig leaves from her garden, but you can use fresh lemon Galax leaves from a florist or just leave the board bare. She likes to place a big bunch of grapes in the center and then the cheese, crackers and other goodies around it. Alternatively, you could snip off smaller bunches of grapes (that, say, one person might put on their plate) and scatter those on the board to start.
The experts at the New York City cheese mecca Murray's Cheese shared some other easy-to-follow guidelines. John Montez, the shop's training and curriculum manager, explains, "It's a good idea to stick with an odd number. Three or five cheeses with a range of flavors and textures will always make a pleasing arrangement."
"When arranging the board, soft cheeses should be put out as a whole piece with a spreader. Semi-firm cheeses look best sliced into triangles and fanned out. The best way to display hard cheeses is to put out the whole piece and use a knife to crumble off a few pieces to suggest to your guests to keep crumbling it. Beware of symmetry — lay out the cheeses artistically and organically, rather than rigidly."
"A good base assortment is a soft cheese like a brie or triple creme, a semi-firm cheese like a young gouda or Swiss Alpine and a hard cheese like an aged cheddar or Parmigiano Reggiano," advises Montez.
Dan Kluger chef and owner of the New York City restaurant Loring Place adds, "I always say, know your audience — I like blue cheese, I like stinky cheese, whereas my wife doesn't, so I have to keep that in mind. And as always, quality over quantity. Choose one amazing cheese over three mediocre ones."
Chef Curtis Stone of Gwen, a butcher shop and restaurant in Los Angeles, has another reminder: "A really important part of serving cheese is ensuring it's at the right temperature. You should take the cheese out of the refrigerator 45 minutes to an hour before placing it on your cheese board and serving.' He's got a point. No one wants a cold slab of Brie when you can indulge in the runny, gooey version, right?
You'll want to add fresh fruit (think grapes, pears or berries) or dried fruit (we like apricots, figs and sour cherries), and if you're serving this as a mini-meal, perhaps some charcuterie such as salami, prosciutto, smoked turkey or even sliced beef jerky sticks. Crackers or bread are also must-haves.
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Method #1: Gordon Ramsay Gordon Ramsay's soft scrambled eggs are practically in the culinary hall of fame, so naturally, I started there. His technique, which is actually a classical French method called oeufs brouillés, begins with cracking eggs into a pot, not a pan, adding a tablespoon of butter, and placing the pot over high heat. Ramsay cooks the eggs, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds, then takes them off the heat, still stirring, for 10 seconds, and repeats this pattern for 3 minutes more. Right at the end, he stirs in a little crème fraiche and seasons with salt. I'll admit that this process felt a little frantic for me. The short, timed intervals and use of high heat, combined with constant stirring, made me feel like I was on a wild hamster wheel of egg scrambling insanity. At the end of the time, I was concerned that the eggs were still too underdone to come off the heat, but I trusted the process and pulled them off as instructed. 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He adds butter and crème fraiche to a cold pan, then whisks eggs and black pepper together in a bowl before pouring them over the dairy in the still-cold pan. He then puts the pan over medium-low heat and stirs constantly until the eggs are "three-quarters" of the way cooked before turning off the heat. He also waits to salt the eggs until this point, claiming that this makes them more silky and smooth. I have to admit it felt a little strange stirring eggs with lumps of unmelted butter and crème fraiche floating in them. I couldn't help but feel that they were interfering with the evenness of the cooking, and I was also wondering if they'd distribute evenly among all the eggs by the time the eggs were cooked. When it came to the finished eggs, the texture of Flay's was similar to Garten's, but without those firmer bits of egg that Ina's had. 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The recipe I was following recommended truffle butter, but in an effort to keep all the tests comparable to one another, I stuck with regular butter. I found Garten's eggs to be less rich and silky when compared to Ramsay's. I also noticed small firm bits of egg interspersed among the more custardy texture of the rest. I'm guessing this was from the eggs that were set on the bottom of the pan at the beginning. Overall, I wasn't a fan of that mix of textures. I also didn't like this process as much—letting the eggs hang out on low heat while I stood and waited for the perfect moment to start stirring drove me a little crazy. I found myself second-guessing when to start stirring—and when to take the eggs off the heat. Method #3: Bobby Flay Bobby Flay's technique is arguably the most straightforward, although it's not without its quirks. 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We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Every once in a while, you'll have a meal that sticks with you, for more than just wistful nostalgia. It's food that reinvigorates, inspires, and has you wanting to share it with everyone. For Ina Garten, one such meal was the coq au vin she once had decades ago in a campsite in France, which in turn led to her learning Julia Child's recipe for the dish. When Garten was a guest on the Your Mama's Kitchen podcast with Michelle Norris, she recounted a trip to Europe she and her husband once took when they were both young and relatively broke. During a stop in France, they drove up to the two-star campsite they'd be staying at and were offered a fresh serving of coq au vin by the woman who ran the campsite. Garten brought it back to their tent, heated it up for dinner, and fell in love. "I just thought, 'I need to know how to make this. This is amazing,'" she shared on the podcast. Since then, coq au vin has been a fixture in Garten's repertoire. She first learned how to make it by following Child's recipe, and has since adapted it to add her personal touch. Her dish today is the product of three great inspirations: the rustic campsite coq au vin, the legendary Julia Child, and her own personal tastes. It's a recipe worth learning, especially if you're a fan of Ina Garten's genius 10-recipe rule. Read more: 13 Meats People Used To Eat, But Are Now Illegal In The US The Julia Child Recipe That Inspired Ina Garten's Coq Au Vin If you want to follow in Ina Garten's footsteps and learn how to make Julia Child's coq au vin first, you can find it in "The French Chef Cookbook." Child was, for decades, America's most famous advocate for French cuisine -- and also, rather surprisingly, a spy for the early CIA -- and happily shared her recipes both on television and in writing. Child's coq au vin is hearty stew bearing the rich flavors of browned chicken, bacon, mushrooms, and onions, simmered in a broth of beef and tomato paste, and fortified by a healthy amount of red wine. The liquid is then reduced and further thickened with butter and flour, resulting in a dish that warms your bones and fills your belly. It's easy to see why the iconic French staple was Julia Child's favorite chicken dish, and why it left such a strong impression on Garten. Garten's recipe for coq au vin changes up a handful of things from Child's, but the inspiration behind her version still shines through. How Ina Garten Gave Julia Child's Coq Au Vin Her Own Spin Cooking can be a deeply personal matter, which is why you'll often see two chefs have wildly different takes on the same dish. In fact, there's a significant difference between Julia Child's and Ina Garten's beef bourguignon recipes, despite both being fans of French cuisine. While Child's recipe may have provided the foundation for it, Garten's coq au vin is distinctly her own. Based on the recipe she included in her cookbook "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics," Garten uses chicken stock as the base of her broth instead of beef stock, while also forgoing the tomato paste. This strengthens the flavor of the chicken itself, but trades off some of the depth that the beef and tomato can provide. The addition of cognac to Garten's recipe accentuates both the sweet and savory flavors in the dish through its complex layers. While this likely isn't the same recipe that inspired Garten at the campsite all those years ago, it's nice to know where the story of her version of coq au vin came from: a life-changing trip with her husband, the kindness of a stranger, and the wisdom of a food icon. Every recipe, after all, comes from an experience we want to share with the people we cook for, and Garten's coq au vin is a tale we'd listen to over and over again. Read the original article on Chowhound.
