Upgrade Your Meat And Cheese Board And Build A Charcuterie Chalet
Food is an essential part of the Christmas season, but the traditional offerings lean disproportionately toward the sweet end of the spectrum. Treats like candy canes, sugar cookies, puddings, pies, and eggnog define the holiday. These have been the seasonal foods of choice for generations, and there's little to offer those whose preferences lean more toward the savory. But a change is coming. For too long, sweet-toothers have exercised yuletide supremacy. Not anymore! A growing holiday craze has people swapping salt for sugar in not just any food but the veritable king of all Christmas sweets: The gingerbread house. Say goodbye to the stale cookie shacks of old and welcome a delectable new dwelling: The charcuterie chalet.
Alternatively dubbed the charcuterie chateau, keto cottage, meat mansion, or kielbasa casa, the building of charcuterie chalets is a relatively new holiday practice. It took off at the end of 2020, as a year of quarantine isolation drove us to reach new levels of creativity (or perhaps derangement) in the kitchen. The concept is simple — take all the ingredients of a classic charcuterie board and use them to build a house, gingerbread-style. In the years since the first charcuterie chalets caught our eyes, each Christmas season has seen a new set of meaty, cheesy architectural marvels make the rounds on Instagram and TikTok. It's not often that a new holiday tradition manages to stick, but the charcuterie chalet has done just that. This year, you don't want to miss out.
Tips for assembling a charcuterie chalet
Building a charcuterie chalet can be a wonderfully freeing experience, as it isn't bound to conventions like the traditional gingerbread house. Some charcuterie chalet kits are available online, but they are rather expensive, and the shipping time could affect the freshness of the ingredients. Perhaps someday, charcuterie chalet kits will be as common in stores as the classic gingerbread ones, but until then, you're best off assembling your house from the ground up. It's more challenging, but it also gives you far more creative freedom.
To start your chalet, you'll need a strong foundation. Use a traditional wooden charcuterie board as a base. Next, as you would use icing on a gingerbread house, you'll need something to glue everything together. The best option here is a thick, spreadable cheese such as cream cheese or Boursin. Spread it onto your charcuterie board base, and you're ready to start assembling.
When it comes to the walls of your charcuterie chalet, you have a couple of options. A large, sturdy cracker works great. Some people use matzo, but it's a bit thin, so you might want to save it for the roof, where it won't need to bear as much weight. For the walls, a denser cracker like rye crispbread would be optimal. Another option is to use breadsticks or pretzel logs and stack them Lincoln Log-style, using cream cheese to secure each piece.
Tips for decorating a charcuterie chalet
Once you've got the basic structure of your charcuterie chalet in place, you're ready for the best part: decorating it. Stock up on your favorite charcuterie board ingredients, and let your imagination run wild. Here are some ideas for transforming an ordinary appetizer into an architectural masterpiece to get your creative juices flowing.
For the roof of your chalet, try making shingles out of overlapping salami slices. They add a great pop of color and the flecks of white fat throughout the meat have a snowy quality that perfectly fits the season. You could also make roof shingles from thin crackers, such as bagel chips or small cheese slices. Crackers make great windows, as do pretzel squares, and a half slice of candied orange makes an excellent transom for over the door. Make a path to the front using almond slices or chopped nut cobblestones.
To complete the scene, turn the rest of the charcuterie board into a winter garden. Make some bushes from Brussels sprouts or broccoli florets, and use rosemary sprigs for trees. For smaller shrubs, try using thyme sprigs, chive stalks, or parsley leaves. You can make a stack of firewood logs using beef sticks or add a campfire made from pretzel sticks. Of course, no holiday home is complete without a snowman out front, so try building one from goat cheese or mozzarella balls stacked on a skewer. For the finishing touch, add a generous sprinkling of parmesan snow.