A simple cheese platter for a banquet or a buffet with some nice pecan shortbread crisp cookies!
Cheese platters are highly regarded by many chefs. Many chefs like to present traditional cheeses of the region they are working in. Some chefs like to assemble a platter of select cheeses from many countries. Other chefs, like myself, try to make the best out of the odds and ends of cheese that is leftover from another chef’s folly. When given a choice, I prefer to create a fine cheese platter presentation with fine cheese from one region or display cheese from around the globe in an effort to show complimentary flavor combinations. The event that this cheese platter was created for was one of the final simulated buffets at the Le Cordon Bleu Chef School in Las Vegas. A student was put in charge of selecting a group of students to participate in creating items for a buffet. First of all, the two students in charge hated me because I have plenty of professional culinary experience. It seems like stubborn kids resent those who have experience to share these days. Many modern chef school students only seek the easy way to achieve their goals. Taking shortcuts and bastardizing classic recipes is the path that many students take and it does lead to being nothing more than a lackluster second rate chef! When every recipe seems to have a sauce that looks like a dime store canned cream of mushroom soup, then you know that a student has not been doing culinary research on their own. Teachers at a chef school do not teach everything. There are thousands of French entrees and sauces that only can be learned by doing some research. For this cheese platter, I was given the small end pieces of a random bunch of cheese wheel ends and cheese log ends. I was basically working with cheese that would have been better served in sauces, soups or garde mange creations. Some of the cheese that I was expected to work with was very overripe and mishandled. In fact, much of the scrap end piece trimmings ended up being tossed in the garbage. The student that assisted me with the assembly of this cheese platter was very attentive and she was far more talented than the leaders of the group gave her credit for. Her skills in presenting food tastefully, showed that she had some experience dining in fine restaurants. She seemed to be a natural at creating artistic presentations that experienced chefs chose to do. I started the pattern for this cheese platter and I asked my assistant to follow or expand on the pattern. I asked her to place each slice of cheese in its place as I cut each slice. I had a complex wave pattern in mind, but I let my assistant go with her own flow. What we ended up with was a very nice simple presentation. Better still, because the platter was simple, it gave us time to talk. My assistant wanted to learn from my experience. When she asked questions, I had good solid answers. I earned a bit of respect from her and gave respect in return, because she was a talented student that wanted to learn. By the time that we finished the cheese platter, my assistant learned a few things that the Le Cordon Bleu teachers do not know and do not teach. Culinary arts instructors do not know everything and the better ones admit this. I have been a culinary arts externship instructor in the past and I have been in charge of new apprentices of professional cooking. My recent venture into attending a chef school was a required formality to gain a certificate of qualification for an associates degree in culinary arts. I will be starting my associates degree program in October 2012. Next year, during October of 2013, I will be starting my BA degree program in culinary arts. The simple cheese platter that my assistant and I created ended up stealing the show during the final buffet! My assistant and I always seemed to score high marks for our presentations with a minimum of effort, for every required cooking project that we did during the school year. The simple cheese platter was the grand finale. The pecan crisps sold out! The last person going through the buffet got the last pecan crisps and the last of the cheese. I do have an uncanny ability of being able to estimate the exact amount of food that is needed for a buffet or banquet. I never have large amounts of leftover food from an event! This may come in handy when I start working on the Las Vegas Strip. By Las Vegas law, leftovers from a buffet go into the trash to prevent food borne illness outbreaks. During the buffet, my assistant was absent. I wish she could have seen how popular that our cheese platter was with the buffet clientele. It was a hit! I knew every cheese like the back of my hand and I was able to verbally sell every student that passed by the cheese platter on the wares! Being a cheese monger takes some sales tact. Not everybody is interested in trying a new cheese. I literally grasped each passing student with my voice and tactfully sold them on the cheese that was presented. Many wanted to try the strong cheese flavors. Those who were about to pass the cheese platter by were directed to the milder flavored cheese and they accepted. I said things like “If you are interested in fine dining, it is a must to experience these fine cheeses, so you can market them during your career!” For those who were going to take a pass, I said "If you prefer a milder tasting cheese, then this Mexican Manchego or Basque Sheep's milk cheese is worth tasting!" I used a food expo sales tact and the information about each cheese to turn this simple cheese platter into an event worth remembering. A few students asked questions about the cheese on the platter, with an attitude of expecting a dumb answer from me. I knew every detail and history of each cheese on the platter. Before the students knew it, they were actually standing there, listening to me deliver some cheese education. Many instructors noticed what I was doing and they smiled. Of course the students with attitude problems within my class, simply became jealous, because my cheese sold out and because their poorly prepared hors d'Å“uvres recieved criticism. Oh well. More hate from those who were inept! All that was left of our cheese platter was crumbs of second rate bulk American parmesan cheese. The parmesan was a tough sell, because it was not the real Italian thing! The parmesan was placed on both ends of the cheese platter in an effort to pawn off more of it. The brie was easy to pass off, even though it was stale, mishandled and slightly overripe. Everybody seems to like a double cream brie. The brie is second in from the right on the cheese platter. The French aged chevre fromage was terribly overripe and abused, yet by using the words “an acquired taste,” student customers felt like they were obligated to taste the forbidden fruit! There is a fine line between ripe and overripe for aged goat cheese. The aged goat cheese in the pictures is a good example of what a a fine aged cheese looks like after it was left warm for far too long and then refrigerated as if it were still okay. The tasteful ripe aged flavor was on the verge of smelling like a laundry basket of stinky socks. The aged goat cheese is to the left of the Danish bleu in the pictures. The overripe Danish Bleu cheese was actually better off being dumped in the garbage, yet I was able to salvage small sections from the center. The Danish Bleu was well past its prime and it was terribly discolored. Those who liked bleu cheeses actually complimented the flavor. The aged Basque sheep’s milk cheese was actually as it should be, yet it took some crafty sales tactics to get the "middle of the road" students to try a cheese that was made from a milk that was not from a paper carton with a picture of a cow on it. This Basque sheep's cheese is very mild and it does not have a sharp goat's milk cheese flavor. I do recommend trying this cheese. The Basque cheese has a wax rind that is trimmed off. I trimmed the rind, so the orand color of the rind was still retained as you can see in the pictures. The Mexican manchego cheese was a very easy sell. All I had to do was mention that it had a very gentle delicate flavor with no strong aged cheese aftertaste. The manchego was perfect for the students that had midwestern tastes. There were two rows of the mild manchego next to the parmesan on the left side of the platter. Each cheese was aligned with a grande piece. Experienced chefs like myself call the large grande piece a tombstone. I use the word tombstone several times during my sales pitch and it seemed to generate interest with the students who recognized and respected those chefs who have experience. Kitchen language is not always proper food language! I received many compliments about the simple garnish of tomato roses and crisp green fresh Italian parsley. That combination is a classic european garnish for a simple cheese platter. Why garnish a simple cheese platter with garnishes that are meant for higher class items? It does not work! The garnish should be on the same level as food that it is matched with. For a simple cheese platter, choose a simple classic cheese platter garnish! Part of the success of the cheese platter was the two perfection accompaniments that I prepared. A classic olive oil crostini and a classic pecan shortbread crisp. Simple Cheese Platter Requirements: A clean, spot free mirror surface. A variety of ripe cheese. A variety of fresh cheese. A variety of aged cheese. A variety of soft cheese. A variety of semi soft cheese. A variety of firm cheese. A variety of bleu. Goat, sheep and cow’s milk varieties. A double cream or triple cream cheese. A presentation pattern that flows. A sense of proportion. Secondary focal points like a grande piece beyond the main focal point of what is displayed to be consumed. (Many say the grande piece is the prime focal point, but a consumer's eyes are usually fixated on the items that are ready to be consumed.) An overlapping presentation, rather than a flat adjacent presentation. A tastefully displayed simple garnish. These are some of the guidelines to consider for creating a nice simple cheese platter!
Pecan Shortbread Crisps: This recipe makes 35 to 40 thin crisp cookies! These pecan crisps are only slightly sweet and they are savory enough to match with the cheese. The instructor at Le Cordon Bleu made a sour comment about how my pecan crisp cookies were going to be too sweet, because I did not use a recipe to make them. That rude teacher really didn't know me too well! I never over sweeten food, especially a very simple pecan crisp recipe that I have made thousands of times. My pecan crisps turned out perfect! I cannot say the same for another student in the class that made the same pecan crisps. He made the mistake of following the teacher's recipe, which was far too sweet. Then the student ended up burning the first batch! Ha! Ha! Ha! I really should have gone to Cordon Bleu of Paris, instead of the American school. Ce est la vie! This recipe is far easier to make with a mixer. This recipe can be made by hand, but creaming butter is hard work. A paddle attachment on an electric mixer is the proper attachment to use for creaming. Place 1/2 cup of unsalted butter in an electric mixer bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Cream the butter mixture at a medium high speed, till the butter becomes a pale, whitish yellow color. (Do not over mix or the friction will heat the butter!) Turn the mixer off. Add 1 cup of all purpose flour. Add 1/4 cup of finely chopped pecans. Add 4 to 5 pinches of sea salt. Mix at a low speed, till the ingredients are combined. Turn off the mixer and set the pecan shortbread crisp dough aside. Note: After the shortbread mixture is made, it should be formed as a cylinder shape, before it is chilled. A sheet of parchment paper works good for making an even round long cylinder shape. This recipe will require 2 to 3 parchment paper tubes. Extra long cookie dough tubes can be difficult to handle and the chilled dough may end up being out of round. Tubes that are about 1' long are easy to handle. Place a 16" x 12" sheet of parchment paper on a counter top. Place a mound of dough that is 1 1/2" tall and 1 1/2" wide across the length of the parchment sheet. Leave about 2" on each end with no dough on the paper, so the paper can be twisted tight to seal the tube shut and to press the dough into an even cylinder shape. (Picture the tube as being a like the wrapper on a Tootsie Roll candy!) Use your hands to roll the paper around the even long row of dough and to roll the dough and paper together into a cylinder shape. Twist the bare ends of the paper to seal and compress the dough into an even cylinder shape. Refrigerate the dough, till it becomes solid. Remove the parchment paper. Cut the dough on a 45 degree angle (bias slice) into slices that are no thicker than 1/4" thick. (A 3/16" thick slice is ideal. The thin pecan dough slices must be handled gently! Set the uneven end pieces aside and make large snack cookie with them, if you wish.) Place a sheet of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Place rows of the pecan crisp dough slices on the parchment paper lined sheet pan. Be sure that there is about a 1" space between each cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven, till the pecan shortbread crisps turn tan in color and till they become crisp. Set the pecan crisps aside to cool. Carefully use a thin cake spatula to free the pecan crisps from the parchment paper. Arrange to pecan shortbread crisps on a platter or in a cloth lined basket.
Crostini: Bias cut (45 degree angle cut) a baguette loaf into thin 3/16" to 1/4" thick slices. Place the baguette slices on a sheet pan. Brush the baguette slices with olive oil. Flip the slices over and brush the slices with olive oil. Bake the baguette slices in a 350 degree oven, till they become crisp and golden in color. Arrange the crostini on a platter or a cloth lined basket.
If you are planning an event or party of your own, then this cheese platter article may come in handy. Even for just an afternoon ball game snack, cheese with crostini and pecan shortbread crisps could be nice. The pecan shortbread crisps are definitely worth trying on their own! Yum! ... Shawna
