The perfect cheese platter

Clare's Guide to Making the Perfect Cheese Platter "Pilgrim Style"

Our Sip and Sail Sunset Cruise are one of our most popular sailing experiences that we offer. On every trip we not only go sailing and watch a sunset but we serve unlimited sips (organic wines, local beers, and more) and a personal cheese platter for every group. 

Although I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert, I have made a lot of cheese platters over the past ten years, and have enjoyed refining it as I go along! So, how do I do it?

Firstly, The Cheese
I always select three kinds of cheese to go on my platter, unless I'm catering for a large group of people for which you may need to add a couple of extras.

When picking cheese, I narrow my criteria down to texture and flavour. My platter includes:

• Hard cheese. Generally a good quality cheddar which has some bite
• Soft cheese. Usually a brie, camembert, or similar cheese
• Interesting cheese. My favourite is then Gallo Dairyland macadamia nut cheese (it is to die for!). Alternatively, you could go for a washed rind or a blue cheese

How much cheese per person? As a rule of thumb, you're looking for 25-30g of cheese per person, assuming you have three kinds of cheese on the platter for an entree or dessert.

Secondly, The Crackers
I like to serve between two and three types of crackers. Here are my go-to's for choosing which types of crackers to serve:

• Jatz or Savoys. A little bit basic, but everyone loves them. Paul wouldn't let me put a cheese platter out at home without Jatz crackers, so I apply that principle on Pilgrim too.
• Water biscuits or wafer crackers. Some plain crackers to add some variety to the platter. If you're buying wafer crackers, make sure you don't buy a cheap brand as they go stale very quickly once opened and exposed to air. Store them in a plastic container int the fridge to make them last much longer.
• (Optional) Interesting crackers. This could be a bark style cracker or OB Finest (the Goji Berry and Coconut crackers are my favourite). You can even try Janet's homemade sesame crispbread. Check out the recipe below!

Side note: The importance of the Jatz cracker was confirmed by one of our regular guests onboard Pilgrim. Just before I brought out the cheese platter, he proudly announced that one of the favourite things about our sunset cruises was that we always served Jatz on the cheese platter. You can imagine how hard it was to tell him that due to an oversight on my part, we had run out on that day. Note, I have not run out again since!!!

Janet's Sesame Crispbread

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JANET'S SESAME CRISPBREAD
INGREDIENTS
1 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 LSA mix
3 desert spoons ground psyllium husk
2 oz finely grated Parmesan
Large pinch Malden salt
Water, (about 1/2 cup)
1 beaten egg

METHOD

• Combine all ingredients into a bowl adding water to get a nice sticky consistency then add the egg last. Let rest for a minute to absorb moistures.
• Place 1 m of baking paper onto bench and spread mix evenly along the middle. Squash out mix with hands creasing the baking paper longitudinally to get a sharp edge. Once the mix is fairly flat place another sheet of baking paper over the top and roll out thinly to the edges to >2mm. Tidy the edges again by folding paper. When thinly spread, peel the top sheet of baking paper off, sprinkle with more Malden salt and tap down with spatula.
• Run a pizza cutter to score rectangular biscuits, cut the biscuit sheet into 3rds with scissors to fit your oven racks.
• Cook around 180 degrees in a fan forced oven until the seeds brown off. About 20 minutes.
• Pull out of oven and place in an air tight container.

Add different toppings: herbs, rosemary, chilli, seaweed salt. For variation.

Thirdly, The Condiment
This one is a no-brainer on Pilgrim: Clare's famous Pumpkin Chutney. This is now available for sale, or if you want to give it a go yourself, here's the recipe.

However, when making your own platter at home you can try a store-bought chutney or a type of spreadable dip like hummus.

Then, The Fruit
Grapes are perfect platter fruit. I like to use red and white for their vibrant colour. But, out of season grapes are either terrible quality and can be very expensive! My advice is to look for something in season that is colourful and reasonably priced. Some of my favourites are passion fruit (picked straight off our vine at home), kiwi fruit, strawberries or figs. 


Now, The Olives
You can't go wrong with olives – black, green, whole, pitted, or stuffed, there's something for everyone. My personal favourite are the almond stuffed olives from Stubborn Olives (a Sydney based company).

Finally, The Sprinkle
The last thing to go onto my platter is something that I can use to fill in any gaps and add a little more colour. I like to use nuts or blueberries to fill up my cheese platter to make sure it looks pretty and there are no gaps (until someone takes the first bite).

To conclude on my take of the perfect cheese platter

There is no single formula for making a delicious cheese platter. There are as many different ways of making them as there are ingredients to place on them. But, the formula I shared with you is one which has helped me over the years and helps take the thinking out of it every time.

There are three overarching principles that I apply to every cheese platter, whether I'm at home or on Pilgrim:

• Support local producers wherever possible
• Choose seasonal ingredients (they taste better and are generally cheaper)
• Don't skimp on quality

I hope you enjoy serving your next cheese platter!