Serious Cheese: Are You Serving Cheese Wrong?
Yes I am, according to a Chow video called "How to Serve and Cut Cheese" with Laura Werlin, noted cheese expert and author of many books including The New American Cheese.
There aren't any hard and fast rules when serving cheese—or any other food, really. You're only doing it wrong if you don't like the end result.
Serving cheese should be easy, not fussy; it should be fun, not stressful. That said, some of the guidelines in the video can help direct you towards a positive cheese-serving experience.
Serving tips, after the jump.
Serve Cheese at Room Temperature
Cheese is made and aged at cool room temperatures, so it makes sense that it would be best enjoyed at those same temperatures. The aromatic and complex flavors of cheese don't really begin to appear until the cheese is at room temperature. Cheese that's chilled to refrigerator temperatures (roughly 35ºF) is simply not as tasty. Be careful though, especially in the summer months (or in hot apartments like mine): if you warm up the cheese too much, it'll start to sweat and melt in unappetizing ways. Werlin says it takes about an hour for refrigerated cheeses to come up to room temperature, and I would agree with that. Think ahead!
Don't Crowd the Cheese Board
This one makes perfect sense. Actually it makes so much sense that it's pretty much common sense. Putting too many cheeses on a cheese board makes them hard to cut. The solution? Buy fewer cheeses (I usually prefer quality to variety anyway), buy a bigger cheese board, or put cheeses on multiple boards.
Don't Pre-Cut the Cheese
Werlin recommends keeping the cheese whole because pre-cutting it into cubes causes it to dry out sooner and makes it look like a cheap deli platter. I don't really care about whether or not the cheeses look like a cheap deli platter and I don't really think that cutting the cheeses would make them noticeably drier over the course of a party or dinner. Sure, don't cut the cheese into cubes days before you serve it, but I would otherwise leave the pre-cutting thing up to personal choice.
Don't Dig the Center Out of the Cheese and Leave the Rind Behind
Werlin calls this the most annoying and rude thing you could possibly do. Guilty as charged! I am not a huge fan of cheese rinds and I usually leave the rind I don't eat on the cheese board. What am I supposed to do with them, put them in my pocket? I wasn't aware that this was rude and annoying, and I hereby give all of us rind-haters permission to break this rule.
Maintain Cheese Shape
Werlin recommends cutting slices off the cheese in such a way as to maintain the shape of the original wedge. This seems overly fussy to me. Who cares if the wedge starts taking on a weird, asymmetrical shape? Ultimately it is less important to me to maintain the shape of the wedge than to cut a slice that best showcases the cheese. To that end, try to cut a slice that includes both the center of the cheese as well as parts closer to the rind. They are often vastly different in taste and texture.
Use a Different Knife for Every Cheese
While this is certainly a noble goal (so that you don't end up mixing different cheeses on dirty knives), I find that it is often futile. No one at your party or dinner will respect the original knife assignments. Ultimately I just end up putting a bunch of knives on the cheese plate and hoping for the best.
What guidelines do you follow when serving cheese? Are you fussy or functional?
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12 Comments:
Some years ago, when I was in England, I caught severe flak for cutting the nose off of the brie. I was castigated and, browbeaten as the ignorant American that I so clearly was. I also passed the port the wrong way and didn't respond by chugging my wine when a penny was dropped into it. So I'm not exactly the most sympathetic to such things.
Fantastic tips you've offered. I actually love the rinds of cheeses, so I am never terribly peeved when people dig out the centers. And I do think it's pretty ridiculous as to there being a "right" and "wrong" way to serve cheese.
Certainly, there are distinctly odd ways to serve cheese that might not be optimal from the view of the cheesemaker whose labor of love is about to be mucked with. But that said, I'd rather make cheese less fussy and open to a wider population. Piling onto someone who serves cheese "wrong" shrinks the population of people who are willing to try, enjoy, and serve cheese. And that's lame.
shoneyjoe at 4:58PM on 11/19/08
I think you have missed the point of some very well intentioned tips on serving Cheese. It does matter how Cheese is served.
winebill at 5:07PM on 11/19/08
the reason for cutting the cheese as close to original shape as possible is to keep the rind to cheese ratio roughly the same. this way the cheese that is left over will still be protected by the rind left behind.
why don't you get a small garbage can for the rind? are you kidding? it's not that difficult.
it DOES matter how cheese is treated. it's a living thing--it breathes. don't ever wrap cheese in plastic wrap as it can't breathe properly and will start to sweat. this being said, if there is sweat on your cheese when you take it out of the fridge, you must scrape the face of it to remove that bit.
i worked at a cheese store.... believe me if you pay $23/lb for some top of the line artisan gruyere, you better treat it right.
downhillguru at 5:17PM on 11/19/08
Geez, i can't believe this post was written on SERIOUS eats. Reading the intro, i was totally with you ("who needs a bunch of snobby rules to enjoy cheese?!"), but you totally lost me at the detail.
As someone who eats the rind, i do get peeved when someone digs out the center. I'm not saying you have to eat the rind if you don't like it, but cut it off YOUR piece, don't just dig out the gooey center of the brie! Why? Because if you dig out the middle, you're gonna be careless about it, and even though i like the rind, i don't like eating your leftovers, particularly because now the "goo to rind" ratio is like 50/50, which is pretty crappy. Also, if you cut off the rind on your plate, you'll likely waste less of the actual cheese than if you just use the "dig" method off the cheese board. Also, i don't want to eat your leftovers, just because that's all you left for everyone else. Totally rude.
The reason you cut cheese in a straight line, for example, rather than cutting it asymmetrically and randomly is so that the host can save whatever is left at the end of the party. If its cut straight across, its easier to wrap and save. If its all rough around the edges, the rough edges are gonna dry out in the fridge. Again, rude.
Change your cheese-eating ways, Jamie, or you are totally not invited to my house for cheese! :)
mh330 at 7:35PM on 11/19/08
when someone snubs off the end point on a wedge of brie, it really offends me. ditto leaving your cheese rind rejects on the platter. yuck!
cybercita at 11:34PM on 11/19/08
I have a followup on the nose end of the brie thing... why is this bad? I would reference my above comment, which makes it easier to wrap and save and leftovers if the wedge is cut symmetrically.... and i can't phathom how one would cut slices off a 5inch wedge of brie... so how does one cut brie WITHOUT taking off the nose?
mh330 at 9:13AM on 11/20/08
@mh330 - I interpreted it as cutting off ONLY the nose, which is a bit different.
comicsan at 10:29AM on 11/20/08
to mh330: cutting off the nose of the brie is impolite for at least two reasons. it mutilates the shape of the wedge so that it looks less attractive on the plate. but more crucially, the center of the wheel is the best part, and so it is kind of presumptuous and greedy to lop off for oneself the most delectable part.
you needn't cut a 5-inch slice; it's not so hard to whittle the wedge from the edges so that it more or less retains it's original shape.
disclosures: i worked in a cheesemonger for some years, hence the rationalization for this practice. but my visceral reaction to seeing the nose lopped off comes from childhood french teachers who (without explaining why) threatened that the penalty for this crime was that they would "cut off your head, rip out your tongue and feed it to the dogs, then throw you out the window." that kind of sticks with you...
maqloubeh at 12:44PM on 11/20/08
i read about cheese pins at one point, which you put out so people stab up pieces rather than fingerprinting them (super heinous to me)
they're pretty difficult to come across though, so i came up with a makeshift trick/substitution (i like to think that alton would be proud)
i use just hand out cornholders to my guests...literally those tiny ceramic corn things you put on either end of a cob, so you don't burn yourself....they make perfect stabby pins for cheese.
gastronomeg at 12:56PM on 11/20/08
@ maquloubeh: i was a cheesemonger too! rock on. :)
and @gastronomeg: cornholders? now THAT is classy.
downhillguru at 2:35AM on 11/21/08
I like that you try to make it so anyone can serve cheese. I understand how it may offend some people who really love food to "cut corners" with food so to speak, but I think it's wonderful to just try to spread interest in eating and make people really enjoy it and feel comfortable getting into it. My respect is endless for those who really know what they are talking about. People who can make wine tasting an art. But I also just love bringing people into the food lovers circle.
And serving cheese is so social. A great pick me up all around.
I'm linking to you in my blog, notanotheromnviore.blogspot.com.
Thanks!
NAOmni
NAOmni at 8:43PM on 11/22/08
The issue of the nose of the cheese proved to be my most embarrassing moment on my first trip to France on a school exchange when I was 14. At home, my best friend's Dad is French and he had drilled into in all my friends and I that one must not cut the nose off the cheese. And because there was always a hunk of brie or most often reblochon knocking around at his house, we were well versed in this practice.
So when lunch was finished around the family table in that apartment in Lyon, a piece of Roquefort was produced and I was kindly asked to serve myself first. Don't cut off the nose, whatever you do, I told myself. But disastrously the piece of Roquefort wasn't the same shape or position as the reblochon I was used to -- it lay on its side. In a moment of panic, not wanting to appear to hesitate, and trying to figure out how to cut the damn thing, I summarily sliced off nothing but the precious inner core of the cheese and as soon as I had done it, realised what had happened.
I looked up and saw my exchange's surly older brother giving me the filthiest look a Frenchman has ever given me. I shot my eyes back down, for all the world trying to play ignorant, and perceived the Maman kicking her son under the table.
lunchblock at 7:42PM on 03/14/09