Have I ever admitted on here that I rarely pronounce words correctly? Words like apricot, pecan, Oregon, and wainscoting are a few that are debatable and even excusable. I’m not referring to those words, though. I’m talking about words like anonymous, where the N’s and M’s get all mixed up; synonym, which of course comes off as sounding like a delicious spice; and since I was a child, comforter has sounded like a mix between comfortable and the cozy blanket itself (COM-ph-TER-bull). Well, charcuterie is one of those trouble words for me. It took me several times repeating it before it sounded less like charcootie.
My pronunciation problems (pronunciation – that’s another tough one!) didn’t stop me from putting a charcuterie table together for a small housewarming party we held last weekend. I was inspired from Molly’s Awesome Charcuterie Table and since I naturally always finish up during the last minute, I didn’t get many good pictures. Most of the goodies were purchased from Aldi’s and a few things were from Trader Joe’s and Target. The things I splurged on were figs, nuts like cashews and walnuts, and brie but the biggest hits were salami, prosciutto, Gouda, and apricots. At first, our guests were a little hesitant to dig in but it ended up being enjoyed and devoured.
Unfortunately I can’t offer many pro tips on setting a charcuterie table up, since if it wasn’t for my husband’s help it would have looked more like a messy explosion of various foods. He followed behind me layering the crackers, meats, and cheeses that I just threw on and neglected. Besides taking some time (if you don’t run out of it!) to line up most of the slices of food, the biggest impact is variety. Alternating between neat lines of meats and messy piles of fruit added a lot of visual interest. Also, while shopping, I tried to avoid purchasing products that looked similar and instead aimed for gathering different shaped and textured items, specifically focusing on various crackers.
All-in-all, the most labor intensive part is slicing all the cheeses and produce but it’s relatively easy to put together, surprisingly easily than learning how to pronounce the word charcuterie correctly.
Looks great! I’d be interested to know which meats, cheeses and fruits tasted best together! Oh, and it will always be pronounced com-ph-ter-bull
It’s funny because although I had a good idea of what to serve, I had a hard time deciding on what to pair together to eat. By the time I got around to making myself a plate, most of the meats were gone so I stuck mostly with brie, cherry preserves, and pepitas on a wheat cracker which was pretty tasty.
Beautiful table 🙂 This will be great with wine!
Thanks, it would!