French cheese plate. No more mistakes

Although in most countries around the world, cheese is part of an appetiser plate, in France, cheese is served between the main course and dessert or in place of dessert (usually accompanied with some jam, dried fruit and/or nuts). 

The cheese board itself is a piece of art, but be calm as it is easily mastered if one knows the basic principles of making a board, which are fairly simple.

A cheese board should contain:

 - fresh goat or sheep milk cheese (like Sainte Maure or Valençay),
 - soft cheese (like Brie, Camembert), 
 - hard cheese (like Comté, Gruyère, Abondance),
 - blue cheese (like Roquefort, Bleu d’Avergne, Fourme de Montbrison),
 - some flavoured cheese.

It is not one's free will to choose what kind of cheese makes the perfect board, but it is one’s free will to choose which cheese to enjoy and how much.

Free from the heavy feeling of eating too little or too much, you are not free from the knowledge of how to cut the cheese so that everyone gets their share (especially the cheese hiding the best part in the middle). For harder cheese with a pointy end, you cut off the pointy part and then go parallel to the rind. For whole cheese like Brie, Valençay, Camembert, Langres and others, you cut pieces like you would cut a cake. And, as for hard cheese like Comté, Gruyère and similar, you can slice them into rays or pieces of your choice.

A thing not to forget

It is always important to remember that cheese tastes best when it is served at room temperature, which means taking it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving (later during hot summer days).

To serve

Prepare some freshly baked bread, maybe butter (but you can omit that), jam (fig, cherry, apple, quince, orange), some dried fruits (figs, prunes or cranberries) and nuts (walnuts pair perfectly with almost every cheese).

Note

If serving cheese for apéritif, and no dinner is followed, then serve it with some crisps, nuts or bread.