The Ultimate Grazing Board with Kimchi & Kraut
A grazing board built around three live ferments, so the thing everyone reaches for is also the thing doing the most good.
Cheese, kimchi & Kraut (tangy ferments) were made for each other. The tang of pink kimchi cuts through a creamy cheddar; smoky kraut lifts a blue. Every bite gets a hit of gut-friendly bacteria alongside it.
This is the board we put together with The Fine Cheese Co. for a long summer afternoon. Nothing here needs cooking. It is 30 minutes of arranging, one big board and a room that goes quiet the moment you put it down.
Serves
8-10
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Exotic New Tropic Kimchi
Single Jar (300g)
Smoke & Spice Kraut
Single Jar (300g)
Crisp Clean Pink Kimchi
Single Jar (300g)
Ingredients
The ferments (Fermary)
1 jar Exotic New Tropic Kimchi, 300g; golden, fruity and tangy with pineapple, turmeric and spices 1 jar Smoke & Spice Kraut, 300g; smoked paprika, chipotle and ancho chillies with garlic and crisp cabbage 1 jar Crisp Clean Pink Kimchi, 300g; mild spice, subtle sweetness and a vibrant pink crunchThe cheese (The Fine Cheese Co.)
Westcombe Cheddar, 250g; the anchor cheese, savoury and crumbly
Ashcombe, 250g; soft and buttery with an ash line through the centre
Colston Bassett Stilton, 250g; rich blue, cut into a generous wedge
The crackers & bread (The Fine Cheese Co.)
Charcoal Squares; near-black, the sharpest contrast on the board
Cornmeal Sourdough Crackers; golden and sturdy, best under the blue
Toast for Cheese with Cherries, Almonds & Linseeds; seeded oval toasts
Thin crispbread sticks or grissini, to fan along one edge
Fresh fruit
6 fresh figs, halved or quartered
200g red seedless grapes, left on the vine in two or three bunches
250g blackberries
250g blueberries
250g strawberries, hulled and halved
2 oranges, sliced into thin rounds
Dried fruit & vegetables
200g soft dried apricots
8 to 10 Medjool dates
50g dried sour cherries or cranberries
4 celery sticks, cut into batons, inner leaves kept on
1 jar cornichons, drained
1 small jar silverskin pickled onions, drained
To finish
A few sprigs of fresh lavender
A few sprigs of olive or bay leaves
Method
Take everything out of the fridge
1
Bring the cheese out at least an hour before you serve. Cold cheese has almost no flavour and it will not spread.
2
Leave the ferments in the fridge until the last minute. They are raw and live, so they taste best cold and crisp.
Place the bowls first
3
Set your three small bowls onto the bare board before anything else, spaced in a wide triangle rather than in a line. One near the top right, one at the bottom left, one at the bottom right.
4
The bowls are the tallest thing on the board, so they set the height. Everything else builds around them.
Anchor the cheese
5
Position the three cheeses in the gaps between the bowls, again spread apart rather than clustered.
6
Cut each one differently so the eye has something to do. Westcombe Cheddar as one large chunky wedge, Ashcombe as a soft triangle laid on its side, Stilton as a thick wedge with the rind showing.
7
Lay a knife across each cheese now. If you add them at the end you will disturb the arrangement.
Fan the crackers
8
Work the crackers into the long gaps between the cheeses, fanning each type in one direction so it reads as a deliberate block of texture.
9
Keep the colours apart. Charcoal Squares on one side, Cornmeal Sourdough on the other, seeded toasts near the top, crispbread sticks fanned along the bottom edge.
Add the big fruit
10
Drape the grapes down one side, still on the vine. Let them spill slightly over the edge of the board.
11
Tuck the halved figs into three or four separate spots, cut side up so the pink centres show. Do the same with the dates, the celery batons and the cornichons.
12
The rule: never put two of the same thing next to each other. Repeat each ingredient in at least two places on the board.
Fill every gap with berries
13
Scatter the blackberries, blueberries and strawberries into whatever bare board is left.
14
Blackberries are the best filler because they are dark and they hide the wood. Keep the blueberries in loose clusters rather than sprinkling them evenly.
Ring the edge with orange
15
Tuck the orange slices around the outer rim so they poke out beyond the board. It softens the circle and adds the one bright note the board is missing.
16
Do the same with the dried apricots and sour cherries in the middle, working them into any remaining gaps.
Spoon in the ferments last
17
Now fill the bowls. Exotic New Tropic Kimchi in one, Smoke & Spice Kraut in the second, Crisp Clean Pink Kimchi in the third.
18
Lift each one out with a slotted spoon so you leave most of the brine behind. Too much liquid and the bowl looks flat.
19
Rest a small spoon in each bowl and stand the open jars beside the board so people can help themselves to more.
Finish with green and purple
20
Tuck a few sprigs of lavender and olive leaves into the tight spaces between the cheese and the fruit.
21
Stand back, look for any patch of bare wood and push one more blackberry into it. Then serve straight away.
How to pair the ferments with the cheese
Crisp Clean Pink Kimchi with the Westcombe Cheddar. The acidity cuts straight through the fat and the crunch works against the crumble
Smoke & Spice Kraut with the Colston Bassett Stilton. Smoke and blue is the boldest thing on the board
Exotic New Tropic Kimchi with the Ashcombe. Fruity and tangy against something soft and buttery
Make it ahead
Prep the fruit, cut the celery and slice the oranges up to four hours ahead and keep them covered in the fridge. Build the board no more than 30 minutes before people arrive so nothing dries out.
Leftovers
The ferments go straight back in the fridge and will keep for weeks once opened. Everything else is a toastie the next morning.
Scaling it
Allow roughly 100g of cheese and half a jar of ferment per four people. For a smaller crowd, use one cheese, one cracker and one ferment on a 30cm board and keep the same building order.
