The Basics

A beautifully built cheese board is an excellent addition to just about any entertaining occasion. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Appetizer, main course or dessert. It's easy, elegant and virtually effortless.

Mix it up.

When planning an event with cheese, choose at least three to five cheeses of varying milk sources, colors, and textures, and from the five following categories: fresh, bloomy, semi-soft, hard and blue. For example, with fresh Président® Goat Cheese, a sheep's milk cheese such as Istara P'tit Basque®, Président® Brie, Madrigal and a blue cheese such as Société® Roquefort, you have the prime ingredients for the most delectable presentation.

All in good measure.

Now that you know what types of cheeses to serve, you're probably wondering how much. The general rule is to plan on a little less than one ounce per person per type if the cheese board is for a cocktail party. If the cheese board is the cheese course of a dinner party, figure two ounces of cheese per person. If your cheese board is the focus of the party, plan on four to six ounces per person.

Timing is everything.

The textures, tastes and aromas of specialty cheeses are at their finest at room temperature, so be sure to take your cheese out of the refrigerator 30 minutes to one hour before serving.

Let the cheese be the star.

Choose breads with little or no extra ingredients, like baguettes (both sweet and sour), plain crackers, breadsticks or lavosh bread.

Think outside the breadbox.

When considering accompaniments, don't just go for the same old, same old. Opt instead for olives (both green and black), tapenades, fruit chutneys or preserves, and mustards. Consider cured meats, like Bresaola, Saucisson Sec, Prosciutto di Parma, or Serrano ham. And try sliced fresh, seasonal fruits like apples, pears and mission figs.

Start mild, finish strong.

Beginning at the six o'clock position and going clockwise, arrange cheeses from mildest to strongest. For example, start with a soft, fresh goat's milk cheese, progress to a Brie, then move into more flavorful washed rind, hard, and finally, blue cheeses.

Slice it up right.

The goal here is to make sure each cheese portion has a part of the rind. Accordingly, softer cheeses should be sliced lengthwise into wedges with a butter knife or small pairing knife, while harder cheeses can be sliced with a chef knife or microplane slicer pulled across the flat surface to obtain paper-thin slices. Use a cheese cutting wire to glide through harder varieties, and spoon soft, runny cheeses into small containers.