What Are Butter Boards and Will They Replace Charcuterie? - The Dairy Alliance (2024)

FAQs

What Are Butter Boards and Will They Replace Charcuterie? - The Dairy Alliance? ›

In place of the cheese and meats on a charcuterie board

You can make a butter board for any season or holiday. It's a great way to express your creativity and surprise friends with something different at your next party. Try a butter board.

A butter board is a dish consisting of soft butter, spread over a wooden cutting board, and sprinkled with condiments, ingredients and edible decorations such as salt, pepper, chili flakes, honey, lemon zest, fruit or vegetable slices, herbs or edible flowers.

The "butter board" is similar to the conventional cheese and charcuterie platter, as it's a shared appetizer that requires no cooking at all. If anything, it's actually easier and requires less skill to create. Plus, it looks so perfect on Instagram! How can I make a "butter board" at home?

What is the 3-3-3-3 Rule for Charcuterie Boards? No matter the style of the wood charcuterie board, you can always follow the 3-3-3-3 rule. Every charcuterie board should have three meats, three cheeses, three starch options, and three accompaniments, such as fruit, nuts, or veggies.

Charcuterie is a favorite among consumers, but most restaurants don't capitalize on its popularity. 76% of consumers who have tried charcuterie reported either liking or loving it, but only 4.9% of menus in the U.S. offer charcuterie as of 2023.

Thankfully, the trend seems to have died down, and the TikTok home cook who introduced the world to butter boards, Justine Doiron, moved on to a new vehicle for spreadable food: a bowl. From our standpoint, this makes much more sense.

Still, the potential food safety hazard of a butter board comes largely from the snacks or garnishes, rather than the butter itself. “The butter is not the culprit,” Baum wrote in an email to Verywell. “The other items that are added to the butter can create problems.”

It's a simple concept – spread butter on a board, add any number of flavourings from lemon zest, to bacon, to fresh flowers, then serve with bread which your guests use to scrape up the butter — like a dip.

There's nothing quite like getting together with friends to share an appetizer, and charcuterie boards are the most easily shareable appetizer we can think of. Gathering around a charcuterie board to pick out your favorites, try new combinations and discuss your preferences is almost as fun as the eating itself!

Why do charcuterie boards exist? ›

Charcuterie is the pairing of two French terms — chair meaning meat and cuit meaning cooked — and came about in the 15th century for shops specializing in cured meats. Using all portions of the animal reduced waste, while adding salt, herbs, and spices resulted in a truly delicious, perfectly preserved product.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE BUTTER BOARD (viral butter board recipe)

Ingredients • 1 stick salted butter, room temperature • 1/4 cup honey • 3 tbsp powdered sugar • 1 tbsp cinnamon + more to garnish • Warm bread Instructions • spread the butter on a platter • Place honey in a microwaveable bowl and heat for 10 seconds.

Briny, pickled or marinated: olives, co*cktail onions, cornichons, dill pickles, pepperoncini. We love green olives stuffed with garlic or feta, and I also like including olive tapenade and bruschetta. Savory Dips and spreads: Whole ground mustard, hummus, ranch, balsamic dip. Veggies – cold cut, if desired.

Depending on the size of your board, you should have one each of cow, sheep, and goat options with soft rind, firm, and hard cheeses in the mix. Flavors should range between nutty and mild to funky and unique. Rule of thumb: 1 cow, 1 sheep, 1 goat; 1 soft, 1 firm, 1 hard.

The biggest difference between a cutting board and a charcuterie board is how they are used. Cutting boards are meant to cut and prepare food, while charcuterie boards are meant to display food. This is an important difference to understand as it may help you decide which is the better gift.

Charcuterie isn't normally designed to fill you up or be particularly nutritious. Usually, small bits of meat and cheese are piled onto not-so-satiating bread or crackers and folks end up fighting over the stingy amounts of fresh crudités, nuts, or dried fruit.

While they are wildly similar, a charcuterie board is one where the center of attention is the cured meat, while a cheese board revolves around cheese. That's not to say that either type of board can't borrow ingredients from one another, but the main selection has to remain true to its name.

Today, the charcuterie board is popular in the West as a staple of many parties or gatherings. After all, they require practically no cooking and are fun to assemble. All the meats on a charcuterie board are already pre-cooked, smoked, or cured so you can just focus on making things look great.