Cheese and Charcuterie are a match made in heaven but it’s not always easy to know which products work best together. Do blue cheeses match well with Parma ham? Should salami ever be served with hard cheese? Allow us to be your guide and take your cheese and charcuterie boards to the next level!
Smoky, Spicy Sausages and Creamy Cheeses
We love smoked sausages at Fine Food Specialist, whether they have been smoked over wood or spiced up with the addition of smoked paprika and/or chilli, we love how they add such a huge punch of flavour.
We source our smoky sausages from all over Europe - think chorizo from Spain, ‘Nduja from Calabria in Italy or salami fume from France - so they tend to pair well with European cheeses. Serve a Manchego cheese with your chorizo, for example, adding some sweet and fragrant membrillo quince paste for the full experience.
Creamy, goats’ cheeses will also work well with smoked and spicy sausages. Try Sainte Maure de Touraine from the Loire Valley, which is very creamy with a dense melt in the mouth texture. Goats’ cheeses tend to have great natural acidity, which matches well with the rich intensity of the sausage. Try this ash rind Driftwood cheese, which has a fantastic citrusy tang, or make a simple dip with fresh goats’ curd! It will have a cooling effect to counteract all that spice in the meat…
Parma Ham/Prosciutto and Italian Cheeses
Who doesn’t love a piece of intensely flavoured Parma ham, with its beautifully soft, milky fat? Our prosciutto San Daniele is a PDO protected product from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, where it is dry-cured under very strictly controlled conditions.
Parma ham matches well with Italian cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano, mozzarella and pungent blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola. Try our 24-month-old Parmesan, which is nutty and rich, or our Gorgonzola Dolce, which is prized for its creaminess and pungency.
Duck and Chalky Goats’ Cheeses
Duck is a rich meat - that’s why we love it! When it comes to matching with cheese, it can be fun to lean into that richness rather than trying to find something to contrast it. Try some of our award-winning duck rillettes with goats’ cheese such as Tor, which has a lemony flavour and a close texture and mouth-coating creaminess.
This Pyramide cheese would also work well and both duck and cheese would be lovely with a glass of Sancerre.
Salami
Salami sausages tend to be good all-rounders, and are made with a wide variety of flavourings, for example, we stock salami with mixed herbs, salami with spices, salami with fennel and salami with cracked black pepper. And of course, you are never far from a truffle product at Fine Food Specialist - your charcuterie board isn’t complete without some of our salami with truffle! Made with black truffle and black truffle oil, this irresistible salami is from the Maremma region of Tuscany.
Serving a selection of salami means you can experiment with the cheeses too and let the guests find their own favourite combinations. Browse our full selection to build a combination that suits your tastes - we stock British cheeses such as Cornish Yarg and Godminster Cheddar, French cheeses such as Montrbiac and Raclette, Italian cheeses including Fontina and Provolone and Spanish cheeses, like manchego and Bleu de Basque.
It’s all about the extras
When building a great cheese and charcuterie board, it's important to think about the added extras that are going to add the finishing touches and bring everything to life. Try serving some Moscato Grape Nectar for Cheese with your hard cheeses such as Pecorino or Manchego - it's all about that contrast between salty and sweet. A bunch of grapes or other fruit such as fresh figs or slices of fresh nashi pear would also work well.
Don’t forget the crackers!
All that beautiful cheese needs to sit on something, and we have the perfect selection of crackers designed especially for eating with cheese. How about these dramatic charcoal crackers? Or try something more traditional like these rosemary and olive oil crackers. For those of you who find it hard to choose, we stock a selection of biscuits for cheese.
Prepared cheese and charcuterie boards
After all that, we understand that you might not want the hassle of collating your own cheese and charcuterie selection, which is why we’ve done all the hard work for you and created a range of cheese and charcuterie selections.
Try this mixed artisan cheese tray - a real all-rounder and guaranteed to please everyone at the table! We also have a mixed French cheese board (just unwrap and it’s ready to go!) or why not go all out with our ultimate truffle cheese board? Check out our full range of cheese hampers and cheese boards before making your decision.
Explore our site now...
Browse our fantastic cheese collection for more ideas and take a look at Drogo’s Kitchen for even more recipes and cooking advice. If you try out any of our ingredients or recipes please do tag us on social media! We love to see what you create.
