Shark-cute-rie Board

When I do a charcuterie board, I do like gettin my stuff from Trader Joe's.  But given they have various recall, though not cheese or meat in particular, but for the sake to put everyone's mind at ease, I got my stuff elsewhere this time.

Another place that has fine cheese and meat, and people don't remember is Spec's downtown.  They have a wide varieties of cheese and meat at the counter for whatever whims you get.  

This time, however, I went the lazy way out.  I got a box that came with 3 meats, prosciutto, salami, and spicy salami.  2 kinds of cheese - Swiss and Manchego, I added hard cheddar.  It came with olive and chocolate covered almonds, but I added almond, bit of yogurt covered pretzel and dried mandarin.  It only has a small pack of those round crackers, well, that just won't do.  So I added cheese straws and cracker toast to boost it up.  Next thing you know, this small little tray turned into a this huge board. 

When you assemble the board, some people preferred to lay down the meat first, and some cheese first.  Honestly, it doesn't really matter.  I do tend to lay down meat first, especially if I'm doing a 'meat river'.  Meat river is simple and look fancy, takes no effort at all.  I put some cheese next to it, then put some more meat down in the opposite corners.  The prosciutto is tricky, so feel free to cut and pull smaller slices when you're putting it down.  Then I feel in the gap with the bigger crackers and cheese straws.  Then, fill in the gap further with the cubed cheese and nuts and olive.  The whole idea is really big items as anchors and then fill in the gaps as you see fit or wish.  It works out nicely really.  We had 5 adults and also have other munchies, barely made a dent in this thing.  For your next party, give that a try.