How do you make an AWESOME crackers with cheese Tray?!
How do you make an AWESOME crackers with cheese Tray?
serious...what kind of cheese...what kind of crackers?
Answers:
Pick a variety of cheeses, anything from cheddar to Havarti, to feta or blue, or whatever. Pick up several different types of crackers, Ritz, Triscuits, water crackers, rye crackers, or those little bread rounds. Go a little heavier on the popular cheeses.
Arrange them neatly on a platter with a centerpiece in the middle. You can arrange them in spokes, alternate cheeses, or a spiral, or crackers on one side and cheese on the other. Think creatively.
For the center, just some leaf lettuce with a little bowl of dip or condiment on it, and maybe hang some partially sliced cherry tomatoes off the rim.
Be creative!
Get various cheeses in your deli department, talk to your deli manager. Water crackers are awesome with some of the more delicate cheeses but again go crazy and have a variety. Also you may want to add some slice up beef stick and have some mustard handy.
If you just want to keep it simple and not be overly fancy. Get blocks of cheddar and colby jack and slice them up yourself or buy sliced at the deli counter, buy some Ritz and some triscuits or Townhouse has a new oval type ritz cracker called Toppers that has a swoop in the middle.
A really cool thing to do is to get a brick of cream cheese and put some chili or seafood sauce over it with a drained can of little shrimp or even something like some green pepper jelly poured over it, a girl brought that into my office and it was so good.
Simple: you need 3 items
1. an awesome tray
2. crackers
3. cheese
Try regular Ritz crackers with cream cheese and cheddar, microwave for 30 seconds or pepperoni and cheddar
Start by selecting four to five cheeses with contrasting flavours, colours and textures, such as brie, blue, cheddar, goat, Swiss or Gouda. For small groups, arrange cheeses on a platter in whole rounds, wedges or chunks, and allow guests to cut directly from them. For larger groups, so people don't get backed up at the cheese tray, serve cubes, sticks and squares that have been cut out ahead of time and artfully arranged on a platter. Buy two ounces (60 grams) of each cheese per person if the cheese is served before or after a meal. Allow four ounces (120 grams) if the cheese is served as more of a main course. Serve sliced or whole fruits such as grapes, figs, apples and pears and crackers or sliced with the cheeses. Serve the cheese at room temperature, removing it from the refrigerator up to two hours prior to guest arrival. If desired, label cheeses so guests know what types they are sampling. Provide different knives for each cheese to avoid intermingling flavours.
And.....
Get whatever crackers you like!
Make sure to include fresh fruit such as green and red grapes and if you really want something special, add a few edible flowers available in the produce section of the grocery store.
It depends on what you define as "AWESOME". If I were to create a good cheese and crackers tray, i would put a little bit of many different kinds of cheese. One or two hard, one or two smelly, one or two soft, and one goat. Here are some examples: brie or triple creme camembert; I would also add some pate while you're at it. Along with crackers, I'd add some toast points. Now, if you really want the awesome factor, add some smoked trout (or salmon) with tartar. For more cheeses, Manchego, Old English, Stilton, Morbier, gorgonzola, Ubriaco, truffle cheese, Humboldt Fog.... and Le Carre crackers
the main thing is variety ....also leave the cheese out at least 3 hours before you slice it the taste greatly improves on any hard cheese..still refrigerate soft dipping cheeses.... aged swiss,monterey jack,colby,cheddar,brie,and even some ripe cheeses go particularly good with red wine.....assemble plain saltines to several exotic crackers & you'll satisfy all.....soft low background music adds to the ambiance...about 3 mustards plain yellow,brown,horse-radish....
You need to make sure the cheese and crackers compliment each other. There's no use buying a sweet, delicate cheese and overpowering it with a salty seaweed cracker. I find that the creamier, more delicate cheeses go best with smaller crackers and the stronger, more powerful cheeses (blue cheeses spring to mind) are complimented more by larger, crunchier crackers.
Some excellent cheeses to try are camembert and brie. They are soft French cheeses and are wonderful with crackers.
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