Create the perfect Christmas cheese board
Founder of La Fromagerie Patricia Michelson shares her top tips for how to put together and serve the perfect festive cheese board
If you want to offer cheese at the end of the meal, choose a lovely piece of farmhouse Cheddar or Stilton and serve with a glass of Port. Pair with walnuts, raisins and Port-infused roasted pears.
If you would prefer to provide a generous selection of cheeses, serve them before the dessert and follow the guide outlined below.
How to assemble your Christmas cheese board
Start with a goats' cheese to refresh and cleanse your palate after the Christmas meal. Match with a chilled Sauvignon Blanc or a light red wine.
The next cheese should be something with a buttery flavour and a touch of earthy nut richness. I love the Soumaintrain cheeses from Burgundy, which have a wonderful melting quality and an outside rind lightly washed with a brandy-laced brine. The Marc de Bourgogne infusion offers a light aroma and a soft hint of strong alcohol.
This should lead onto a hard cheese, such as the Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage, a high mountain cheese from the Savoie region in France. This classic cheese, made with the summer milk of cattle grazing on Alpine pastures, has a hazelnut sweetness and a gorgeous chewiness. It is perfect with a Chardonnay-style wine, rather than a red.
To follow, Saint Nectaire from the Auvergne takes you to damp maturing cellars where grey cheese rinds grow soft and velvety moulds. (Do cut away the rind as its flavour is quite strong.) The cheese has an earthy, wintery taste of the forest and farmyard, which makes dry and austere red wines well-matched.
Now for something decadent: Camembert aux Truffes, Brie aux Truffes or Tunworth, an English Camembert-style cheese. We like to split the cheese in two and fill it with a rich combination of mascarpone, crème fraîche and lots of grated truffle. The aroma is heady, but the woody perfume and the richness of the cream is wonderful.
The journey continues with a seasonal cheese from the Jura called Mont d'Or. (Val de Loubieres is similar.) Available from September to March, these boxed cheeses are wrapped in a pine bark collar, which imparts that familiar bosky aroma. Simply cut away the top crust and dig in, or bake in the oven for a wonderful fondue.
Finally, the blue. This should always be tasted at the end as its big mineral bite can overpower other flavours. A wonderful ripe Stilton where the blue is marbled through the pate imbues a range of taste profiles, from sharp and sweet to nutty and buttery. We love Colston Bassett Stilton, but the traditional Cropwell Bishop is also very popular and has a big flavour.
By tasting the cheeses from mildest to strongest, you develop an understanding of how their flavours evolve.
Extras
Keep the accompaniments simple. Consider walnuts, almonds, dates, apples, chutney (made with cider vinegar rather than malt) and a fruit paste.
Biscuits should be uncomplicated, not loaded with complex flavours - the cheese must be the star. If you prefer bread, opt for a simple crusty baguette or walnut or raisin bread.
For ales, don't pick anything over the top. Select either a good IPA or a rich stout that would work well with Stilton.
For wines, start by matching the cheese to wines of the same region. Once you've understood how the alcohol interacts with the cheeses, you can try wines from other countries.
The Christmas Board
You can buy a ready-made Christmas board from La Fromagerie, £75, which includes Camembert aux Truffes, Normandy, Cow (400g); Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage, Savoie, Cow (300g); Vacherin du Haut-Doubs, Franche-Comte, Cow (500g); Colston Bassett Stilton, Nottinghamshire, Cow (300g); a box of La Fromagerie Oat Biscuits; tasting notes; and a straw mat.
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