Recently, I was asked to cater an hors d’ouerves “cocktail hour” for a wedding reception of a dear family member.  The theme the bride and groom had decided on was “French Countryside Picnic” and so I really tried to emulate what I imagined this would look like.  We got to brainstorming and decided nothing said French like a good bread and cheese board…thus a charcuterie table became our plan!

I wanted to create something that was inviting and beautiful, ornate-looking yet simple to execute as I knew I’d have to keep building throughout the event.  So I went with a messier look on the table which would allow it to get messy while people enjoyed the offerings but didn’t make it look disgusting.  So I overflowed crackers, nuts, bread slices, fruits over the edges of wooden cutting boards and silver trays.  The bride had found antique silver trays for serving to use to fully dive into the theme.

INGREDIENTS

-nuts: almonds and cashews

-crackers: really anything you like, we had a gluten free option and traditional table crackers

-baguettes, lots of baguettes

-cheese: boursin, manchego, cheddar, swiss, Parmesan, anything else you prefer

-meats: salami, prosciutto, calabrese, whatever else you like

-filler: figs, grapes, cherries, jams, sliced veggies, caprese bites, chocolate covered strawberries, cantelope 

My favorite part of this was how easily it could be refilled. Throughout the event it was crucial to maintain a fulness to the table, we had both sides of the table as serving sides so we could accommodate around 200 people.  I made sure to buy enough ingredients and prepped everything prior to the event so throughout it would be simple for me to plug and play different ingredients throughout the table.  Making sure each ingredient could work in multiply pairings also ensured the food tasted delicious and worked well paired differently.

I highly recommend doing a charcuterie table for your next event.  Many companies now offer this service, but they are extremely expensive.  This is 100% doable at a low cost depending on your party size and preferences.  If you ever have questions about my set up, please reach out and I’d be happy to help you out!