cheese board ideas please??

[AnAngelWithin]

ok so i've never done a party for so many people before, but it my husbands 30th coming up. So....I am just doing a buffet thing, but mother in law wants a cheese board on offer as well. Short of telling her to do it herself, what cheeses would you suggest I put on it? I'm not big on cheese so I couldn't care less really!! HEEEEEEEELP!

How about some runny ones and some hard ones? I'd have thought you couldn't go wrong with some cheddar, a camembert/brie and some stilton...

Anyway, people will be happy with anything on offer at the buffet, so really don't worry!

Something blue (adoooooore roquefort, but Stilton is the obvious one I suppose)or a nice Gorgonzola
Somethiing hard (a good cheddar - Isle of Mull is good - v strong (as opposed to Mull of Kintyre, which is ordinary), and maybe also something like manchego, or a nice emmenthal or Port Salut)
Something soft - brie, camambert, or maybe Taleggio
and maybe something like a crumbly goat's cheese or two.

Do not go near the ones with fruit in.

I love cheese.

Also, I think plenty of nice crackers, oatcakes etc, also bread and a few grapes hurled on for good measure.

right thanks. I forgot about grapes. I've got some biscuits for cheese on the order, crackers, some breadsticks, some garlic and herb twist

Depends how normal/special you want to go....

A hard like a cheddar, a hard crumbly like wensleydale, a smoked cheese, a soft white mould like a brie and a blue would be fine.

For variety you could add a sheep or a goat's cheese, red leicester for some colour and perhaps another blue?

Do you have a local Waitrose? Their cheese counters offer really good advice and will let you go away and think rather than pressuring to buy right away.

How many is 'so many people' btw?

I'd go with Midnight - one hard, one soft, one blue, one goat/sheep. Something for everyone!

And you're better off getting really big chunks of just a few cheeses rather than about 8 little slivers - that way people like me can dig in without feeling too piggy and like I'm eating the whole lot

no waitrose around here.

about 20 people up to now....

If you have a waitrose near you - go down and ask their advice. They can be helpful. But largely, you just want a selection of 3 - 5 cheeses that are different to each other.

If I had to choose 5 I'd go with:

a good roquefort
brie
strong tasting cheddar
Something soft like Taleggio
a goats cheese - probably relatively mild.

I love Cheese too ...a good cheddar,stilton/blue/or blue Wensleydale,a soft and a crumbly (i love a good Wensleydale or Cheshire)..cover all the bases..nice whole wheat crackers,breadsticks/some crushed black pepper

Do you ever have one of those French markets anywhere near you? That would be a good one, I usually buy cheeses from there.

Agree the hard/blue/soft/goats combo.

If you do have a French market I would have:

Cantal
Bleu d'Auvergne
Camembert
Any chevre which looks nice!

Served up with grissini, some nice breads, oatcakes, radishes etc.

THINK you can get Cantal from Sainsbos (cantal is a very creamy, but sharp, cheddar like cheese), you can certainly get Bleu D'Auvergne from Tesco and Sainsbos (this is a very tasty blue cheese which is not as strong as stilton or rocquefort).

If there are going to be any pg women there perhaps go for more hard cheeses and fewer of the soft/blue types?

no pg women (unless i am by then but i dont eat cheese anyway!) Theres no markets round here, I live rural but there is a cheese shop nearby. I just wanted to go in armed with a few ideas rather than them try and sell me everything under the sun and baffle me!!

You only need about 4 cheeses then. I had visions of you having to do elaborate cheeseboards for 100 (which would freak me out).

Classic: Cheddar, Wensleydale, Stilton, Brie

Or the French suggestion above.

ooh and roule (i love it)

Be careful if the cheese shop is posh looking.

I went to a very grand looking cheese shop in Cheltenham once, and spent £30 (yes, thirty of our English pounds) on 2 different, normal-sized lumps of cheese and a loaf of bread.

I nearly cried.

Think good Sainsbos cheese will be OK tbh. Frankly if you're having a party people will be too sloshed to be too fastidious about the cheese, plus it will cost a pretty penny to cater for those amounts of people with really decent cheese.

Just get big catering blocks from Makro (joke).

Dairylea?

ooh I am doing a cheese board for party
45 people coming
shall I buy a cow?

45 x mini baby belles
45 x cheese strings
80 x bottles wine

It will be a cracking party

If you're serving good cheese you can get away with serving crap wine!

Unless they are French, in which case you need both to be good, despite the fact that you can only taste one.

ggirl - hope you've got at least a year to make the cheese before your party!

midnightexpress i might resort to that at this rate!! haha!!

ggirl good luck with the cow

getorfmoiland babybels too. Great idea!