The 4th Of July Charcuterie Board All-in-One Guide posted by Taylor Munsell Pin Share Tweet Email SomethingSwanky is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. The Fourth of July barbecue is an American classic, and it’s also a great chance to wow friends and family with your culinary acumen. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and fried chicken are great, but experienced chefs may want to prepare something a little more elegant that still shows off their patriotic spirit and that will surprise guests with how creative it is. The answer is to prepare a Fourth of July-themed charcuterie board! In this guide, I’ll fill you in on how to prepare one and even detail some of the best products to buy before doing so. Table of ContentsAbout CharcuterieWhat is Charcuterie?What is on a Traditional Charcuterie Board?What is a Fourth of July Charcuterie Platter?What Does Charcuterie Mean (Literally)?What to Include on a Charcuterie BoardMeatCheesesFruits, Vegetables, & NutsBriny FoodsBreads and CrackersJellies, Jams, & Other ItemsHow to put together a charcuterie board like a proCharcuterie Boards1. Farmhouse Serving Plank2. Petrified Wood Serving Board3. Italian Olivewood Serving Board4. Beck Cheeseboard and Knife Set5. Bamboo Cheese BoardCharcuterie Board (FAQ) About Charcuterie July 4th charcuterie board on a two-tiered serving metal stand filled with cheese, crackers, salami, and fresh fruits First, what exactly is charcuterie? Many people are scared off by the fancy-sounding French name, but the truth is that charcuterie is easy to prepare. What is Charcuterie? Charcuterie is just a bunch of uncooked foods arranged on a plank or serving platter in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. It usually includes a combination of foods that combine acidic, savory, and sweet flavors. For instance, meats, fruits, vegetables, crackers, breads, pickles, fresh fish, cheese, and peppers are all common additions to charcuterie boards. The foods on the boards are often accompanied by small bowls of sauces like mustards, fruit jams, or hummus that help accentuate the contrasting flavors. What is on a Traditional Charcuterie Board? There are two types of traditional charcuterie: French and Italian. Traditional French charcuterie often includes cured French meats including offal (intestines, pate, and other innards), fresh vegetables, cornichons (French pickles), fresh grapes, a French cheese like Brie, Dijon mustard or Dijon mustard substitute, and baguettes. Traditional Italian charcuterie commonly includes cured Italian meats (which tend to be a bit saltier and spicier than French ones), artichoke preserved in olive oil, marinated olives, Italian cheeses like provolone, and fresh grapes. Modern charcuterie boards are a bit more “mix-and-match” with their ingredients. What is a Fourth of July Charcuterie Platter? A Fourth of July charcuterie platter is one that uses red, white, and blue foods in a style that looks more patriotic than any ol’ charcuterie board. It’s a delicious and crowd-pleasing addition to any Fourth of July barbecue, or a fun centerpiece for any USA-themed event! Check out the “what to include on a charcuterie board” section below for suggestions of exactly what foods to use for a Fourth of July charcuterie board. What Does Charcuterie Mean (Literally)? “Charcuterie” was originally a French word. It referred to the art of cooking, curing, and otherwise preparing meats to eat later. Centuries ago, when refrigeration was more of a rarity, people would often prepare meats into products like salami, bacon, or pate (a cooked meat paste that usually contains liver) to extend its shelf life. There were vendors in old France and Italy that exclusively sold charcuterie. Over time, “charcuterie” has evolved to refer to platters that include those cured meats but also mix in other kinds of food. What to Include on a Charcuterie Board Patriotic charcuterie dessert grazing platter with fruit, chocolate and candy for independence and national holiday celebrations for countries that have a red white and blue flag. Vertical orientation. So what should you include on your charcuterie board for maximum deliciousness and aesthetic appeal? Let’s look at some popular ideas. We’ll also address what to do about Fourth of July charcuterie boards specifically. Meat Cured and prepared meats are the original charcuterie board ingredient, and they should still serve as the main ingredient on your board. Hit up the deli section at your local supermarket to find common charcuterie board meats like ham, salami, prosciutto, smoked meat, cured sausage, and pate. Add some cured fish (my favorite is salmon) for a delightfully different flavor profile. Straight-up lard (the fattiest part of the meat) is a great addition, too, as it allows guests to add a creamy texture to their food. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Lots of cured meats, like salami or chorizo, are red. Light meats like turkey breast or roast beef are often white, as is lard. I haven’t found any blue meat options yet, but let me know if you do! Cheeses Cheeses are a great way to add creaminess and savory flavors to your board. There are lots of different cheese consistencies, though, and it’s good to include at least one cheese from as many of those categories as you can. The categories are: Hard cheeses like parmesan or aged gouda, usually cut into very thin strips. They add a chewy, crumbly texture to your board.Firm cheeses like cheddar, swiss, or comte.Soft cheeses like muenster, mascarpone, and burrata.Blue cheeses like dunbarton blue and marbled blue jack. They are easiest to combine with other common charcuterie ingredients like meats or crackers, and they add a real kick of flavor!Some people like to add crumbly cheeses like goat cheese or feta, although honestly I don’t because I think they’re a pain to combine with other foods on the charcuterie platter. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Nearly all undyed cheeses are white, which makes things easy. Some cheeses like pepper jack have smatterings of red and others like blue cheese have bits of blue in them. Fruits, Vegetables, & Nuts As long as the fruits or vegetables on your charcuterie board are bite-size, you can pretty much let your mind run wild. It’s best to include both hard and soft ones, though. Commonly included hard fruits and veggies include apples, jicama, carrots, thinly sliced peppers, and pears. Remember to slice everything thinly so it’s easy to eat!Good ideas for soft fruits include berries, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, and small dried fruits like apricots or dates. Also, tropical fruits are not recommended as they are typically a bit too sweet. Nuts are another important part of most modern charcuterie board, because they are perhaps the best way to add a delicious crunch to the food. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Strawberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, and red bell pepper are great ingredients for the red portion of the platter. Cauliflower, jicama, and daikon are good for white veggies. Lots of nuts like unshelled pistachios and macadamia nuts are also whitish. Blueberries, blackberries, concord grapes, elderberries, and blue tomatoes are good blue options. Briny Foods It’s important to include at least one tart, briny food like pickles, olives, or something else soaked in vinegar. Doing so will add a much-needed flavor profile to your board. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Pickled daikon or cauliflower is white. Some varieties of olives are red, as are many kinds of pickled peppers, pickled tomatoes, or pickled carrots. Some types of olives are purple with a bluish tinge. Caviar is another food with some varieties that verge on blue. Breads and Crackers It’s a good idea to give diners something to spread or sprinkle their other charcuterie board picks onto. That might mean artisan breads or baguettes. It might also mean chips or crackers. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Most crackers are white or very light brown, as is bread if you cut off the crust. Some crackers are even red, especially spicy ones – a bonus of adding spicy crackers is that they bring a new flavor profile to your board. For blue, you can add some tortillas made with blue maiz or some taro chips (which will also add a little sweetness). Jellies, Jams, & Other Items Spreads on your charcuterie board allow diners to easily combine any of the other foods with interesting and exciting flavors. It’s always best to include a variety of spreads with strong and very distinct flavors, such as sweet jellies, spicy mustards, salty dips, and tart jams. Also feel free to add other various items you and your guests may enjoy, like pretzels, candies, or whatever else you can dream up and put on a cutting board! For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: Creating dips of any color is easy, because there are flavorless food colorings you can mix into any spread. If you prefer to go all-natural, however, red is a common color for spicy dips containing chili, white is common for creamy dips containing milk, and blue is a common color for some types of hummus. How to put together a charcuterie board like a pro Once you have your ingredients for your charcuterie board, you’ll need to arrange them in a fashion that’s visually appealing. It’s ideal if you have an actual serving board meant for this kind of thing (recommendations in the next section), but a large cutting board or serving platter will do if you can’t come up with one. The board should be big enough to hold four ounces of combined meat and cheese per person if the charcuterie will just be an appetizer or eight ounces per person if the charcuterie will be a main dish. The other ingredients are not as filling, so you can include as much or as little of them as you want – although, obviously, erring on the “much” side is better. The best order to place down the items on your charcuterie tray is as follows: Place down a few small bowls or platters on top of the main charcuterie tray and fill them with soft fruits, olives, pickles or other foods that contain a lot of liquid and will leak onto your other ingredients if left on the board. Also place your dips and spreads into small bowls.Place a few piles of bread or crackers around the board.Put down the blocks of cheese.Place the thinly sliced meats in between the cheeses.Add your drier fruits and vegetables, like sliced apple, jicama, etc.Pepper in little piles of nuts, candies, and other miscellaneous additions to fill the empty spaces on the tray. Some people prefer to arrange their board in “sections” – all the crackers in one area of the tray, cheeses in another, fruits in another, and so on. Others prefer to take a more scattered approach. It’s up to you, really. Whatever approach you take, putting together a charcuterie board is a quick process that should result in a heaping tray of goodies that looks extremely impressive. For a Fourth of July charcuterie board: There are two approaches to take that work well. One is to divide the tray into one third that contains the red foods, one third that contains white foods, and one third for blue foods. If you’re more detail-oriented, take the other approach of actually trying to recreate the image of an American flag on the charcuterie board with your red, white, and blue foods. Charcuterie Boards As I said, you should really have a dedicated charcuterie board to really drive home the presentation. Some of them even include features like slide-out compartments to make putting together the board easier. Here are five of the best charcuterie boards to buy: 1. Farmhouse Serving Plank by Magnolia The look and feel of this board can be summed up by one word: rustic. It’s made from 100% white pine, and the rugged-looking surface has knots and other natural blemishes that make it look like you just carved the piece out of a tree from your backyard. The 42″x12” board has a long, slim design that looks great hanging on the wall even when you’re not using it. 2. Petrified Wood Serving Board by Pottery Barn These charcuterie boards are, hands down, the most awe-inspiring on this list when you know where they came from. They’re not just painted or carved to look like petrified wood – no, they are actually chopped from the trunk of a petrified tree, meaning the tree was at least 20 million years old. The naturally petrified wood looks unlike any other material, and it has an intriguing stone-like surface that stays cool to the touch. The incredible origin makes the platters a bit more expensive, but it’s also a great topic of conversation at parties. 3. Italian Olivewood Serving Board by Sur La Table Olivewood is not a common material for kitchenware, but this charcuterie board looks so nice that it’s hard to understand why. The cross-section of log used to make the piece is absolutely gorgeous with its varying shades of brown and tan and its many concentric rings. No two cutting boards are identical, either, as the production process relies on natural design. 4. Beck Cheeseboard and Knife Set by Crate & Barrel This board has a decidedly more modern artisanal feel than the previous entries on this list because of the precision-cut circular shape of the board. It is made from Indian mangowood, though, so it still has somewhat of a rustic feel. One edge of the circle is cut out in a crescent, and the curved handle on that end is forged from hammered copper. This board also includes three copper-and-steel cheese knives that look brilliant and probably make this the best value for money entry in this post. 5. Bamboo Cheese Board by [amazon link=”B06XQZ12NH” link_icon=”none” title=”SMIRLY” /] [amazon fields=”B06XQZ12NH” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”SMIRLY Bamboo Cheese Board and Knife Set”] The bamboo material of this board looks a bit more utilitarian than my other recommendations, but the board can also hold way more than any of the others. It has a few compartments that slide out of the main board’s sides to hold more meats, cheeses, nuts, etc. It also includes a circular tray with indentations for fruits or other additions. The set also includes stainless steel knives, small forks, a wine opener, black slate labels, and white markers, plus compartments for all those accessories. Despite that, it’s one of the most affordable sets you’ll find. Charcuterie Board (FAQ) Finally, let’s address some random but commonly-asked questions about Fourth of July charcuterie boards. How do you cut the star shape in the brie? o create a star-shaped indentation in the middle of a wheel of brie, you’ll need a star-shaped cookie cutter. Then, follow these steps:1. Put your brie in the fridge overnight or in the freezer for an hour. The goal here is to bring the brie to a cool temperature, which makes it easier to cut cleanly.2. Use the cookie cutter to press into the center of the brie about half an inch deep. Then remove the cookie cutter.3. Using a butter knife, slowly pry up the brie in the area that you cut with the cookie cutter. The soft cheese inside the brie will cling to the hard edges, which you’ve already cut. Make sure to be super careful so that the shape left afterwards matches the cookie-cutter shape.4. Fill the half-inch deep star-shaped indentation with red or blue jam for a patriotic look. Can you make a charcuterie board the night before? Yes. You can prepare a charcuterie board up to 24 hours before serving it. Just remember to cover it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, or else the cheese will get hard. The exception is the crackers, which should be left off the board and added only right before serving to make sure they remain crunchy. How do you transport a charcuterie board? If you’re planning on transporting a charcuterie board, place the board on top of a large rectangle of tin foil before you even start putting the foods on. The foil should have enough room on the edges of the board to fold up and over it once the board is complete. You may need to use two pieces of foil, one going to the left to the right and one going top to bottom of the board, if your board is too big.Once you’re finished with the board, cover all serving bowls with plastic wrap to make sure they don’t spill. Then, fold up the foil to cover the board. You can then transport it anywhere without worrying about the board falling apart. For how quick and easy they are to make, charcuterie boards are probably the most impressive-looking and delicious types of party platters you can make. My hope is that this guide will answer all your questions about preparing charcuterie boards and will give you the confidence to put one together for your next barbecue or dinner party. And for those reading this post at the time of publication, happy Fourth of July!
