How to build the ultimate festive charcuterie board
Elli Jacobs
Photo: Natalia Van Doninck
A charcuterie board is essentially a culinary choose-your-own-adventure story. It s made up of an assortment of cold, cooked and cured meats, and supported by a selection of cheeses, dips, spreads, tangy pickles, crackers and fresh fruit and vegetables, all perfectly arranged on a board or platter.
Originating from the French
chair ( flesh ) and
cuit ( cooked ), and pronounced shar-coo-tur-ree , the dish originated hundreds of years ago in Europe as a mezze of cured meats that highlighted traditional forms of meat preservation and flavour enhancement.
Nicola Romano, the Italian-born head chef at Melbourne restaurant Oster, says that for Italians, a charcuterie board will appear at the table without fail when friends or family get together.