How to make the ultimate cheese platter
Step away from the flavoured crackers and put down the quince paste, not all cheese boards are created equal. Our Melbourne experts dish up the best local and international choices, and what you really should serve them with.
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Grab a cheddar and a brie, maybe add in a blue. Get some quince paste, open a box of crackers, wash a few grapes and viola! You have a cheese board.
When it comes to catering a party, a cheese platter is an easy go-to that requires about as much effort as remembering the ice.
But not all cheese boards are created equal and with a little thought - and help from the experts - it’s just as easy to turn your platter into the talked-about centrepiece of a party.
According to master cheesemonger Anthony Femia from Maker & Monger, there are three main things to consider when putting your platter together, for these will determine what styles and how much cheese you’ll need.
When will the cheese platter be served? Is it for a brunch do, afternoon grazing, or as a dinner party course? How much food will accompany the cheese board? And what beverages will be served with?
He says it’s often better to choose two great cheeses and appreciate them, rather than a wide selection of lesser-quality cheese.
“But for a large gathering of 10 or more people, throw that out the window and pick your favourite soft, hard and blue, as if there’s any leftover you get to enjoy the spoils as you clean up after the party!”
SOFT LANDING
“You can’t have a celebration or Spring Carnival platter without a triple cream brie from Burgundy, France. Two names to look out for a Delice de Bourgogne and Brillat-Savarin. These cheeses with their added cream to the milk during production have incredible buttery textures, clean flavours with hints of citrus tang,” Anthony says.
La Tur from Piedmont, Italy, is another to look out for.
“Known romantically as the “cloud” cheese made from the milk of cows, sheep and goats is as gentle in texture as you guessed it, a cloud, and has a beautiful sweet lactic flavour with hints of citrus, which pairs well with dried fruits such as apricots and peaches and a drizzle of floral honey.”
REIGN OF TERROIR
Cheesemakers around Australia are increasingly focused on creating cheeses that reflect where and when they were made. Anthony suggests asking for regional cheeses that are in season for your platter.
“Right now Victorian micro dairies are using beautiful spring milk giving us cheeses with a hint more sweetness,” he says.
Look for cheeses from Holy Goat organic, Prom Country, Yarra Valley Dairy, Shaw River and Berry’s Creek.
“Also Alpine cheeses from the French Jura and Swiss Mountains made in the northern summer months (May-Sept) are available right now and these are my favourites,” Anthony says.
“Incredibly balanced flavours and creamy texture with the distinct alpine umami notes of roasted nuts.”
MILK MADE
For cheesemaker Giorgio Linguanti from That’s Amore cheese, the best platters contain cheeses from different milk sources.
“I always try to include one fresh, one aged, one or two flavoured and one smoked,” he says.
And one of the most famous is a buffalo milk mozzarella.
“It’s not necessarily better than cow’s milk, it really depends on personal taste,” Giorgio says. “Buffalo milk is whiter and creamier than cow’s milk, it’s lower in cholesterol and higher in calcium, protein and fat. It’s considered a premium milk as it’s six times more expensive compared with cow’s milk.”
At That’s Amore, the recipe for making mozzarella changes depending on which milk is used.
“When we use cow’s milk we follow traditional recipes from Puglia, while with buffalo milk we use technics from Naples, where buffalo mozzarella is from.”
Other on-trend Italian-style cheeses to consider include burrata, which is a money bag-shaped mozzarella filled with strips of stretched curd bathed in cream. This filling is known as stracciatella, and this soft, spreadable cheese can also be served on its own. With their delicate milky flavour they are best eaten as fresh as possible.
“We recommend consuming these cheeses at room temperature and with as little as possible so as not to overpower the delicate flavour. You can add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or fresh basil and tomatoes but the less you add the more you will enjoy the taste of fresh mozzarella,” Giorgio says.
FEELING BLUE
Two of world’s most famous blue cheeses are gorgonzola dolce from Italy and stilton from England.
“There’s combinations in life that make you smile both externally and internally; chocolate mousse and fresh cream, champagne and strawberries, Bill Lawry and Tony Greig’s (RIP) commentary during the first session of a Boxing Day test, well gorgonzola dolce and fresh honeycomb on a fresh luscious fig is perfection on the palate,” Anthony says.
“Forget salty and sharp, this blue cheese is luscious, sweet and has a gentle tang of the blue mould making it a great introduction to blue cheeses for the novices out there.”
HARD TO PLEASE
A UK clothbound cheddar, such as Montgomery’s, Quickes or Hafod, are great for an afternoon platter.
“Their toothsome texture, grassy and barnyard flavours with hints of broth are cheeses you can graze without feeling full due to their higher acid profile,” Anthony says.
But for all-round versatility, comte is hard to beat.
“From breakfast to midnight snack, the Marcel Petite Comté Réservation has you covered with its incredible deliciousness,” Anthony says.
“Its creamy texture together with gentle floral honey, fruity and raw cashew flavours that develop into lingering umami on the palate goes with a wide variety of wines.”
GREEN AND GOLD
The Peaks in Myrtleford in Victoria is a micro dairy making cheeses reminiscent of soft cheeses of France, such as rocmadour and chevre, which Anthony rates highly, alongside Pecora Dairy in Robertson which is “the first Aussie cheesemaker pushing the boundaries of raw milk cheeses”.
“When you taste their raw milk fetta and semi hard mezza, you are tasting the terroir, what their sheep are grazing and how well the cheese is being matured. The Holy Grail for any cheesemaker,” Anthony says.
IN THE WASH
Punchy and pungent, big and bold, washed rind cheeses can be challenging with their strong aromas but reward with cheeses of remarkable depth and character.
These cheeses are washed with a salt solution during maturation in a high humidity environment, which encourages microflora to grow on the rind, which assists the development of the flavour and aroma of the cheese.
Anthony says the Stone & Crow Nightwalker cheese from Yarra Valley maker Jack Holman is a “very moreish cheese with a delicious lingering umami making it one for large groups who enjoy cheeses that are not complex or scary, but delicious in its simple profile of lusciously creamy texture and flavour”.
COMPLEMENTS TO THE CHEF
Anthony says the other elements included alongside the cheese can make or break a platter.
“I try and avoid fruit pastes like quince as I find it too sugary. I love fresh seasonal fruits such as figs, cherries and berries or dried fruit like apricots as they all still have a hint of acidity that helps refresh the palate between morsels of cheese,” he says.
Plain crackers are best alongside a crusty baguette, while fruit loaf is great to serve with a blue.
A PERFECT MATCH
“Bubbles for me are perfect with cheese,” says wine gun Hannah Green from Etta in East Brunswick.
“Whether prosecco, pet nat or champagne, the acidity cuts through the fattiness, particularly with the richer, softer cheeses.”
Hannah says one of her all-time favourite combos is the pairing of aged comte with Vin jaune – literally “yellow wine” made in the Jura region of France.
“The nuttiness of the cheese, the caramelised, oxidative notes of the wine, for me, there’s nothing better.”
Hannah also suggests a medium sweet madeira or marsala to go with a blue cheese, with the sweet riffing off the saltiness of the wine, while for a soft curd she picks a crisp cider or new-style sauvignon blanc.
“Madeira is a really good all-rounder, it’s a great wine to go over different styles of cheese,” she says.
MORE: VICTORIA’S BEST VALUE RESTAURANTS
DO THIS: A showcase of the best cheese from Victoria, Australia and around the world, Prahran Market’s Say Cheese Festival is on Sunday.
There’ll be cheese pairings, cheesy creations from eateries including Wonderbao, Burn City Smokers and Sweet Greek and cooking demonstrations from the likes of Karen Martini and Joseph Vargetto.
The second annual Grilled Cheese Invitational will also be held, where Melbourne’s best chefs - including Darren Purchese (Burch & Purchese) and Charlie Carrington (Atlas) and Coskun Uysal from the newly crowned delicious.100 number 1 restaurant in Victoria, Tulum - battle it out to create the ultimate cheese toastie.
Say Cheese Festival, Sunday (Oct 20) from 10am to 4pm 20 at Prahran Market. For more info: prahranmarket.com.au