Appetizers Made Easy: How to Build the Perfect Fall Charcuterie Board

As fall quite literally ‘falls’ upon us, it’s the perfect time to get geared up for the holidays. If you love to host, Tacoma Boys has an easy guide to help you build the perfect fall charcuterie board that is sure to impress guests. Are you familiar with charcuterie? If not, have no fear! According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the French word charcuterie translates to cold cuts, or cured meat in English. These meats are typically served on a wooden board and are accompanied by various cheeses and grazing foods.

What’s great about this appetizer is that it is completely customizable for any occasion. In this case, we’d say the new season deserves the perfect fall charcuterie board in its honor, wouldn’t you agree?! A charcuterie board may be the easiest and most impressive appetizer you can set out at a party. Depending on the way you arrange it, the visual of the board can be quite stunning – some might even say, “Instagram worthy”. 

How to Start Building Your Fall Charcuterie Board

Firstly, when building an appetizer board, there’s a wide variety of ingredients you can choose from to create the ultimate fall charcuterie board. Secondly, pairing in-season produce with complimentary cheeses, cured meats, and seasonal toppers like fruit jam and spreads will keep your guests coming back for more. It’s important to play around with different textures and ensure there is a good combination of savory and sweet. Lucky for you, Tacoma Boys has everything you need – including great deals – to help you build the perfect fall charcuterie board!

Choose Your Meat 

There is an amazing selection of cured meats and cold cuts to choose from at Tacoma Boys. We love the salty flavor profile the meats bring to the boards and how versatile they can be when it comes to pairing them with other foods. We suggest choosing 2-3 different charcuterie meats for your board. A few different cured meats we are loving for a fall charcuterie board are:

Elevation Artisan Meats

We love these charcuterie meats because they are made with so much creativity and incredible flavors. We suggest the black pepper salami made with peppercorns and red wine, or the salami made with sea salt and black summer truffles. We must warn you though, you should be careful to not eat it all before placing it on your board! 

Brooklyn Cured

Brooklyn Cured is a small batch charcuterie brand that packs a punch when it comes to flavor. The smoked beef salami is a New York City deli style meat that was created with inspiration from New York delis and their history. Their bresaola is another great option for a fall charcuterie board as its air dried beef, similar to prosciutto, but made with beef as opposed to pork. Adding a unique cured meat made with beef will really elevate your appetizer.

Columbus Craft Meats

We carry a wide selection of Columbus Craft Meats! Some of our favorites to add to a charcuterie board are prosciutto, genoa salami, and the peppered salami. The peppered salami brings a subtle amount of heat and is great when paired with nuts, dried fruit, and fig jam!

Select Your Cheese

In our opinion, cheese is in the top three most important ingredients for a fall charcuterie board. Tacoma Boys carries a very large selection so you have plenty choices to choose from to ensure a perfect board. Some of our favorite choices are: Apple Farms Smoked Gouda, Beecher’s Flagship Handmade Cheese, Hoffman’s Vermont Cheddar, and. Henri Hutin Brie Couronne, and Montchevre Blueberry Vanilla Goat Cheese. We recommend always having at least one soft cheese such as brie or goat cheese. 

Pick Your Crackers

Finishing off our top 3 ingredients for a charcuterie board is crackers, bread, breadsticks, and more. Having this component for people to use as a base for their cured meats, cheese, and fruits. As a result, it adds great texture. Right now we are loving: I Grissini Del Vecchio Palone Crispy Breadsticks with olive oil and Tacoma Boys French Baguette Chips. If you’re looking for a gluten free option, Simple Mills has a fantastic line of grain free crackers.

Finish with Fall Produce and Local Favorites

Sweet

After you’ve decided on your cured meat, cheese, and crackers, it’s time to build your board! It’s important to finish it with fresh fall produce and your favorite local ingredients. We recommend using fall’s favorite fruit: apples, figs, organic locally grown concord grapes, and freshly sliced Bartlett pears. For fruit jams and spreads, Tacoma Boys’ Strawberry Fig Preserves, Divina Kalamata Fig Spread, and Stonewall Kitchen Fig & Ginger Jam will provide the perfect amount of sweetness for your board.

Salty

Adding a few salty, acidic components will bring this fall board to the next level. We love kalamata olives, green olives, and picked vegetables. These foods help balance out the rest of the board.

To assemble:

1. Place your cheeses on various spots on the board as well as your jam/preserves. You can pour your jam into small serving bowls or simply place the jar straight onto the board.
2. Fold your cured meats however you like, or simply spread them out around the board’s empty spaces and around the cheese. 
3. Follow with your cracker/breadstick choices by placing them around the board similar to the meat. 
4. Finish your board by filling in the leftover gaps with sliced fruit, dried fruit, and nuts.
5. Garnish your board with fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme. Place cheese knives and serving utensils around the board.
6. For those with kids, omit the cheese knives and simply replace the blocks of cheese with pre-sliced cheese. Having everything pre-sliced such as the cured meats, cheese, and fruit makes this an easy appetizer for all!
7. Note: remember that charcuterie boards are rustic and don’t need to be perfect!

Just Like That, An Easy Fall Appetizer

You really cannot go wrong with choosing a charcuterie board as an appetizer when hosting. They’re versatile, creative, fun to assemble, and simply easy! Although these boards are great for hosting, they’re also perfect for a date night, a picnic, a movie night with your girls, and don’t forget the most important part – they pair great with all kinds of wine – enjoy!