- All right, this video has been forever in the making,
I feel like, because so many of my favorite things
are happening right here, aka a charcuterie board.
That's right, all of you guys are always asking,
okay, how do we do things on a budget?
How do we do things more inexpensively?
Well, I brought in the master, the godmother
of charcuterie boards, I feel like,
Cortney from Cheese Gal. And if you've not checked out
her Instagram, go to it right now
because it is just, it's beautiful.
It's everything that I am not when it comes to food.
Like it's . . . - After today you will be.
- I can't wait. - I got you.
- Because listen, I love . . . Okay, a charcuterie board,
for those that you don't know, you may be like,
what the heck are you saying?
Charcuterie board is, I'm gonna give my definition
and then you go, because you're the expert of it.
It's basically the best cheese and crackers
and jams and spreads and meats you could ever imagine
all on one plate. Okay.
- [Cortney] That's right on the money.
- How would you explain charcuterie?
- That's perfect.
So, you're right on the money.
It's exactly everything that you just said.
It's cheese. It's technically charcuterie meat.
- Oh.
- So, anytime that the charcuterie is on there,
but it's all the same.
Everyone knows that when you say charcuterie board,
this is what you're looking forward to. - This is what it is.
- It's all the good stuff. It's the fruit and the nuts
and the jam and the olives and the cheese.
- It's like— - The best things in life.
- It's one of the best appetizers.
So, when we go to restaurants, it's my favorite appetizer
to get, and Winston's too.
We genuinely love it, but they're always
really expensive. But you can show us
how to make one at home— - Yes.
- very inexpensively. - On a budget.
- Okay, Cortney. - We've got it.
- I can't wait.
- Without having to skimp on quality.
- Yes, that's it. - Which is the best part.
- That's the best part.
Okay, so where do we start? What do you do?
- Well, we're gonna start with some cheese,
and then we're gonna make the board.
I'm gonna kind of show you how we layer everything,
because cheese boards, when they look so elaborate,
they can be intimidating.
- Yes, that's what I always find.
- That's the thing.
- I see them on Pinterest, or I see,
or I'll go over . . . I have one friend, and she's just,
she's one of those people that she just
makes everything beautiful--
- She just does it, yeah.
- And I'm like, oh my gosh. So, I always text her and
I'm like, "Okay, what do you do?"
Because I put mine together and it just looks
like a big plate of who knows what. It's just nothing.
- I've got you.
- It's so key. So, making it beautiful.
- We're gonna break it down into steps.
We're gonna layer it. I'm gonna show you kind of my process,
and you can, you know, turn it
into your own thing. - Steal it all and do it.
- There you go, yeah.
So, the first thing that I kinda wanna talk about
is you mentioned how cheese boards at restaurants
are very expensive. - Yes.
- That's because normally the product is so expensive
to begin with. - Okay.
- It just depends what specific kind of cheese
that you're picking. Because we can pick easy-to-find,
inexpensive cheeses and maybe splurge on one.
- Yes.
- But, you can find things that are delicious,
like aged cheddar, which is what we have
right here. - Okay.
- So easy to find, and it's complex in flavor,
and everybody likes it. - Yes.
- That's my number one crowd pleaser.
- Okay, that's good to know.
- Always a good aged cheddar.
We've got some Manchego here,
which is also delicious, also really easy to eat.
It's approachable and affordable.
- Okay.
- The price point on that, typically, you can find
some Manchego for $6.99, $7.99 a pound.
- Okay. - And it's still good.
- Perfect.
- Now, this. This is my, this is my . . .
like, I dream about her. It's like a triple cream brie.
Creamy, delicious, just fabulous.
- Wonderful. - Very excited about her.
- Wonderful.
- But again, these two are inexpensive
and this one was my splurge item.
- Okay, I love it.
- So that's how, that's the first kind of step—
- Okay.
- to making an affordable cheese plate.
Choose one that you're like, you know what?
I'm gonna spend a little bit more on that.
And then the other ones, not as expensive.
- You can go cheaper. Okay.
And does it matter, because it's like hard cheeses
versus a brie, like?
- I like to mix it up. - I love it.
- You can taste a little bit of everything.
- So great, okay. - It's gonna be good.
- So the cheeses, check. - Yes.
- Meat.
- We've got salami— - Salami, okay.
This is also typically pretty inexpensive,
depending on where you're buying from.
If you're trying to keep this at a budget, think quantity.
So, even though, let's pretend like a pack of Genoa is $7.99.
You can divvy that up to make one board now
and another board tomorrow.
- That's right. - You know?
- So you're getting-- - Spread it out.
- You spread it out, for sure.
- Yes, okay, and then you always have like a cracker
or a bread— - Yes.
- Yes, and this is what?
- You need the vessel.
- This is a fig and olive. You need a vessel
to get the cheese into your mouth, right?
These are fig and olive crisps.
You wanna go more bland— - Yes.
- so that the focus is more on the cheese and the jam
and other accoutrements that you have.
And you can build, right?
Build your own bite.
- And then you always have a nut.
- Mmm hmm, yes.
- And so this is?
- These are rosemary marcona almonds.
We found these, again, at a really affordable price
at a grocery store, and you can snack on those too
without putting them on your board.
Again, multipurpose, right?
- Yes, yes. For sure.
So, almonds are good. What other nuts are good
for this kind of thing?
- You could do a trail mix if that's what you have
in your pantry.
You can use anything that you like.
Put that on a board, and I'll show you
how to make it pretty.
- Perfect. - That's that.
- And then your fruit.
- Yes, always shop seasonally for a few reasons.
The fruit is gonna taste better if it's in season.
They're also gonna be less expensive
when they are in their prime, in their season. So, yeah.
- So, go fruits, and then your jam.
- We've got jam. We have a really yummy fig butter here.
Again, super easy to find.
You could do strawberry jelly if that's what you have
in your fridge.
- I always go . . . You wanna know, Cortney—
- Ooh, tell me. - what I always do?
- Ooh, spill.
- Like a hot jam.
- Ooh, like a spicy. - Yeah, like a spicy.
- Oh, like a Chipotle-type thing. - Yes, because I always find them
in the deli section— - Right.
- of the grocery store. It's where I always find them.
And again, they're a little bit, they're more expensive
than just like Welch's grape or whatever.
- But that's your splurge item, right?
- That could be your splurge.
- Yeah, so we always have like a --
- Love that.
- We do, because we like the spice.
All right, let's make it. I can't wait.
- Let's do it.
We're gonna do layer one first.
That's gonna be the cheese.
If you notice, I cut up the hard cheese.
This is because there's just something so intimidating
about seeing a big block of cheddar when you're at a party.
In fact, it's probably still going to be there
at the end of the gathering or event, whatever it is,
because nobody wants to cut into the cheese.
So, I like to cut the hard cheese
to make it more approachable for someone just to grab
and actually eat it. And it also makes
more visually appealing— - For sure.
- [Cortney] And adds texture to it.
- Yeah, and it makes it easy. - Exactly.
- Just to eat all of that. Yeah, mmm hmm.
- So, we're actually gonna start with that.
But we're gonna put our bowls
on the platter. - Okay.
- You can use any flat surface.
You could use a cutting board if you didn't have
a cheese board. You can use an actual cheese board.
I've seen people use cookie— - We use cutting boards.
- baking sheets, yeah!
- We always use cutting boards for it.
- They're perfect. - Yeah.
- I also love using dinner plates or a serving platter.
I think anything with a little bit of a lip
kinda helps to keep it all in.
- Okay, it's good.
- So, first thing first, we're putting our bowls on here.
We're gonna kind of create everything
around this framework.
So, we're gonna grab our beautiful . . . I'm so excited
for you to try this cheese.
We're gonna grab our Manchego.
And I like to add visual interest to the board,
so whether that's fanning a cheese around
the little bowls or something.
- Cute. That's fun.
- So, now we're gonna grab some cheddar.
And I like to think symmetrically.
So, if we have this going on this side,
then I wanna bring this around to this side.
- Yeah, that's so good.
- So, like that. So, we've started here.
Second thing, I'm about to teach you
to make a salami flower.
Things I never thought I would say in my lifetime—
- I'm gonna die. - But here we are.
- You're gonna grab any thin,
this is where I like using these, any thin piece
of round charcuterie. - Yes.
- [Cortney] You fold in half like this,
and fold in half again, and it creates this really pretty,
almost flower. - Yes.
- And when you gather several of them together,
we do this, this is what we get.
- Oh, look at that.
- [Cortney] See, it's just finding these little tips
and tricks on how to elevate your plate.
- And how do you do it though? How do you put it down?
- [Cortney] So, we're gonna make kind of like a,
we're gonna call it a river.
We're gonna call this a river.
Actually, a friend of mine coined the phrase "salami river."
- Yes!
- After we finish that, we're gonna grab
the other kind of salami underneath that
and we're gonna do it on this side.
- Oh, so you have two different kinds.
- [Cortney] We're thinking in you know, symmetry.
- Yes, see, look at me all creative.
I used to say I don't have hobbies, or I'm not creative.
- You've got one now, sis.
- This is changing today, Cortney.
- It's changing. - Because of you.
- It's so fun. - Cheese Gal.
- [Cortney] I love it. It really, it's kinda art,
you know? - Oh, yeah.
- It's like food art.
They say your eyes eat first, so.
- That's fun. That's great.
- You know. And it is true.
- My eyes are always bigger than my stomach,
I always order like 18 plates,
and I'm like, "I'm good" after one.
And then you're like, "Oops, got too much."
Let's do crackers. And we're gonna do something
really similar to what we just did with salami.
- Okay.
- [Cortney] Wherever you feel like a cracker should go.
- That felt like the spirit led there for me.
- I felt that. - And it felt good.
- I felt that.
- That was great. That was great.
- (laughs) I love it.
- There we go.
- [Cortney] The nice thing about this is nothing's
too precious. It doesn't have to be perfect.
- Sure, sure, sure.
- You can just, you know. - For sure.
- Tuck a few more, maybe over here.
The next part, we're gonna add in the fruit.
We're just gonna start to make little piles.
- Of fruit.
- [Cortney] Little piles of fruit.
And they can, it's okay to stack things on top.
Nothing is too precious. - Okay, okay.
- Let's do a few more of the little cherries.
And these, you can just scatter.
- Oh, how cute.
- [Cortney] Instead of doing bigger piles,
it's more of an accent.
- Just an accent. - A cherry accent.
- Just a cherry accent. - Yeah.
- This is just there. We're just gonna go there.
- That's where we were feeling led.
- Yes, yes.
- Nuts, this is where . . .
- Now I feel like there's no room,
so I'm getting very nervous.
- Oh trust me. But this is what's fun about creating
the layered look. - Yes.
- We are now going to close up any empty gaps.
- Any empty gaps.
- Any empty gaps that you see,
we're just gonna put some nuts,
you can put these along the edges here, beautiful.
So now, we've got some fresh thyme and fresh oregano.
And I like adding herbs to my plate.
This is, for me, finding ways to elevate your plate.
So, look at this.
We're going to just kind of add, tuck in,
add, anywhere you feel like, a little pop of green.
- Oh, wow.
- Look what it's already doing. See?
Just little touches that take the plate
from pretty to fabulous.
- To fabulous.
- We're going to fabulous, yes.
- Look at that board.
The layered look. Okay, that's what I learned.
It's all about the layered.
Put the big bowls in first, and then symmetry,
symmetry and layering, and that's it.
Anyone can do it!
- [Cortney] Yes, anybody can do this.
- Okay, beautiful. Okay, and then I do love
all your little utensils too. Okay, there?
- Anywhere you want. - What do you do? This?
- [Cortney] Well you can put that in there. Perfect, yeah.
- Okay, so Cortney, something like this costs,
what, on average, probably?
- $25 total. - Ish, okay.
- So you know, four people or so, we're looking
at $6.50 to $7 a person.
- A person, okay. And so, if you make this,
whether it's for a party or even you could make it for dinner.
- You could totally make it for dinner.
- Winston and I, we do, we get in a bad habit though
of like feeding the kids first,
and they go off, and then we end up just like snacking
on everything that's there.
So like, you literally can make this for your dinner,
which is so fun. And then, kids can do stuff, right?
You make like a, you talked about this—
- Absolutely, yes. - which I love.
- Like a kid's charcuterie board.
- A little kid, like a toddler charcuterie.
We do this with my 2-year-old. I'll like cut up some fruits
and veggies, and maybe have some dips,
because kids love to dip anything.
And you can have them—
- Ketchup, ranch, everything.
- get creative, and either they can arrange it themselves,
or you can do it for them, you know.
But it's a fun little activity to do with your kids.
- Yeah, for sure, okay.
- And a good way to make them eat veggies.
- Yes, absolutely. Amazing.
Cortney, thank you. - So fun!
- Seriously, it's so fun. - Thank you for having me.
- So incredible. And again, check out her Instagram
because it's just one of those just scroll
and just kind of doze out, I feel like.
It just looks so beautiful.
- Like therapeutic. - It's so therapeutic.
- Cheese.
- Cheese Gal, @cheesegal, and okay. Wait, do we eat?
- Absolutely.
- Yeah, let's do one real quick before we go.
- 100%.
- Okay, like, do you go jam first, then jelly,
then meat? Do you go jam . . .
- I like to do jam on top.
- Whoa, okay.
- So I like to do cracker, - Cracker.
- Cheese. - Cheese.
- Jam. - Okay, I'm gonna go.
- [Cortney] And then take a bite, and then I eat some nuts,
or maybe I'll eat a berry.
- Okay. So good, okay.
I went, I went light. I went light, I feel like.
- I'm so excited.
- Mmm hmm.
- Yeah, I knew you were gonna say that.
- I know.
- It's that dang cheese. - I love this too.
- That aged cheddar.
- Girl. - Add it to the grocery list.
- You may have to. - It is so good.
- Keep that on hand.
- Cortney, thanks again. - Thank you.
- Thank you, thank you, thank you.