What course do you take on serving cheese?
QUESTION: Is cheese really used to end a meal at some dinner parties? Are you supposed to serve anything else with it, besides crackers? How do you figure out what special cheese to pick?
CALLIE’S ANSWER: In some countries, yes, cheese is used to end a meal. You will see cheese ending the meal, along with grapes or some sort of fruit. This is something Google can help you with if you want to get really specific on the cheese to use.
LILLIE-BETH’S ANSWER: I wish I had more context for your question. What prompted you to ask it? Were you in another country where cheeseas-dessert is more common? Did someone at a dinner party serve it and say it was the best way to enjoy cheese? Either of these can be true, as there are advocates for ending a meal with cheese instead of a sweet treat. However, I haven’t seen it done very much here. Cheese sounds like a lovely way to begin or end a meal. As for which ones to serve, I’d go to a grocery store with a large cheese selection and ask the person behind the counter for ideas. You can serve sweet, mild or savory cheeses with crackers, honeys or jams, dried fruits and more, dressing the dish up to be more dessert-like.
If you have been served cheese after a meal recently, it probably came from a person experimenting with food — deviating from the normal sweet dessert that we see in the United States. In France, for example, cheese is often served after the main course but before dessert and with bread instead of crackers. In any case, playing with cheese seems like an interesting way to begin or end a meal.
HELEN’S ANSWER: If you are serving cheese at the end of a meal, you might serve it with a good bread, fruit, nuts, a little chocolate and maybe an after-dinner drink. It makes a fun and different dessert. Serve a cheese that can be cut and eaten using a fork. I
have used Gouda, Brie and chevre with cranberries before and have enjoyed the flavors! But I have always added a little chocolate candy on the plate.
GUEST’S ANSWER: Christina Nihira, community volunteer: To cheese before or after dinner? Indeed, a serious question. In America, we typically nibble on cheese and crackers ahead of the main course. Yet in Britain, France and other far-flung destinations, fromage is served as the final course. British diners like a wedge after pudding or dessert. The English revere their famed Stilton, which is a pungent, crumbly and complex blue cheese. It is a perfect complement to port. This sweet, red dessert wine provides a wonderful balance to the creamy, salty cheese.
The French, who have made cheese since the Middle Ages, take their cheese seriously. It can be eaten after dinner before dessert or served in place of sweet treats. The Talkinfrench.com website notes that cheese should be served in odd numbers like three, five or seven. Ideally, it is presented whole, and placed in a line/circle that features the mildest to the strongest cheese. To easily create a platter, try aged Gouda, fontina, goat cheese, Brie, pecorino and Havarti. Fruit, nuts and bread also can be an accompaniment, but the emphasis is really the cheese and the unique tastes. Think quality over quantity. Consider that red wines pair well with almost any cheese unless it has a strong, overpowering flavor. In that case, opt for a fruity, lighter, red wine. Dry white wines also make a nice match with milder cheeses. And Champagne is another choice. A dessert cheese plate is a marvelous way to complete a meal. As a famous French philosopher, lawyer and gourmand said in the late 18th century, “A meal without some cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.” Bon appetit.
Since 2009 Callie, Lillie-Beth and Helen have written this generational etiquette column. They also include guest responses from a wide range of ages each week. So many years later, Callie is 20-plus; Lillie-Beth, 40-plus and Helen, 60-plus.