The DIY Cheese Board

George RR Martin once wrote in his book, The Game of Thrones, “Give me a good sharp knife and a good sharp cheese and I’m a happy man.” 

I was watching an episode of "The Barefoot Contessa" on the Food Network and Ina Garten was making a cheese board for her guests. And because she made it so easy, I decided to make one myself.

A cheese board is great to have especially when you're entertaining a small party. It doesn't have to contain a lot of fancy cheeses or expensive French wines to go along with it.

The DIY Cheese Board

What's important to remember is the pure enjoyment of discovering the different textures, flavors, and aroma of cheeses. Plus, you get to taste and eat the food that you and your guests will like.

It will be up to you on how many cheeses you may want to serve, keep in mind that it will be best to have soft cheese, hard cheese, and a creamy cheese.

There are a lot of different varieties of cheeses. And at sometimes it may be overwhelming which one to choose. I've listed some that I know of.

Semi-soft cheese: Havarti, Munster and Port Salut

Medium-hard cheese: Emmenthal, Gruyere, Gouda, Edam, Jarlsberg, Cantal, Cascaval

Semi-hard or hard cheese: Cheddar, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Monterey Jack, Provolone

Soft-ripened: Brie, Camembert

Blue-cheese: Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Stilton

Camembert cheese, Cheddar cheese, and Provolone cheese

It will be best to go to a Delicatessen (most supermarkets will have a Cheese section) or a Cheese shop to learn more about cheeses and maybe you'll get to sample a few as well.

For our cheese board, we had some Provolone, Camembert and Cheddar cheeses.

I like the soft and creamy cheeses. Previously, we had some Brie as well as Malagos (made in Davao, Philippines) blue cheese.

The second thing that you may want to consider adding will be some protein. We added some pepperoni slices and Hungarian sausages. Cut them into bite-sized pieces. 

Focaccia bread

For this cheese board, we had bread instead of crackers, saltines or biscuits. We bought some Focaccia and Ciabatta this time.

And lastly, to add some sweetness, we had grapes. You may also want to have dried fruit chips like mango or peaches.

For the drinks, you can have white or red wine. Some champagne or in our case, we had a beer and soda.

The most important thing when you're choosing what to put on your cheese board is YOU. The choices that you make will be based on your preferences.

Relax, grab a glass of wine, and enjoy your own creation.

Three-cheese Cheeseboard