Building a cold-cut board: contrast beats favourites
The most common board is three things that all taste much the same. A good one lives on contrast — and on rather more quantity than people expect.
A Jause is neither a starter nor a dinner but something in between: cold, no cutlery, with a drink and in company. That is exactly why a board does not work like a plate — it has to stay interesting for an hour while everyone picks at it.
The most common mistake is sameness. Three mild varieties side by side taste identical after twenty minutes. What carries a board is contrast: something strong next to something mild, something fatty next to something lean, something to spread next to something to spear.
Four roles make a workable frame. A strong variety as the exclamation mark — a pepper-crusted salami, say, of which one or two slices per person is plenty. A mild one as counterweight, still welcome at the fifth slice. A spread to ground the board and give the undecided something: Verhackert or a liver spread. And bacon, thinly sliced, mediating between the two.
On quantity: the working rule for cold boards is 80 to 120 grams of cold cuts per person — more if the board replaces dinner, less if something hot follows. Anyone shopping for a group for the first time almost always underestimates it.
Two small things that matter a lot. First, take everything out of the fridge in good time. Cold, every sausage and spread tastes flatter than it is; at room temperature the aromas open up. Twenty minutes is enough. Second, slice thinly. With bacon and salami, the thickness of the slice shapes the impression more than the variety does.
With it go bread, butter, horseradish and pickled gherkins — and more time than you planned for.
Lagerfeuer Feinkost — handmade meat and delicatessen products from Wagna in southern Styria. Our products