I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved eating cheese in New Year. Maybe it’s because we are all cheesaholics in my family, but also because it’s very convenient: you just have to plate them and they are delicious.

Tips for the perfect cheeseboard:

• Choose a blue cheese.

I really love blue cheese. Sometimes, if the cheeseboard is big enough I add two or three types of blue cheese. If I had to pick one, I’ll go for a Stilton or a Rochefort. It depends on your preference and the other cheeses. A Stilton that is sweeter and melts in your mouth, but strong and pungent will combine perfectly with some sweet crackers. Melty Gorgonzola is a good option too.

• Hard cheese

Always choose more than one. You can choose a Comté or Gruyère, which is a strong cheese, with a sweet aftertaste. Adding a very strong Manchego is always a great idea. Try to combine different types of milk: cow and sheep’s milk are more similar, while goat has a very distinctive flavour. Extra mature cheddar is usually a must in my case.

• Medium-hard cheese

Here you have plenty of options. Choose wisely, because if you overdo the cheeseboard with medium cheeses, you’ll ruin it. I usually go for Emmental, Double Gloucester or a medium-hard goat milk’s cheese. In this case I went for a Double Gloucester with herbs added depth to the cheeseboard

• Fresh cheese

Not everyone likes adding a fresh cheese, but I assure you it’s worth it. Burrata with some olive oil, salt and black pepper makes the perfect palate cleanser. It’s refreshing while it has an amazing flavour.

Mozzarella is similar and admits herbs and oilve oil too. You can also try some powdered chilli.

Even cream cheese with some minced garlic and herbs can make an appearance on your cheeseboard.

• White mold cheese

At least one. They are creamy and mild, but the mold is strong while not overwhelming (most of the time) I always go for camembert or brie. I’d rather go for unpasteurized camembert, but I know it’s not legal in some parts of some countries.

• A special cheese

Such as cheese with walnuts, Mexican spiced cheese, cheese with apricots or any other flavoured cheese that you fancy

• Fruit

I am very traditional, so I usually go for grapes. Not sure which colour? Do as I did and pick three different types of grapes. Green grapes are usually more acidic. They will go great with fattier cheeses. The sweetness of the fruit is perfect for fighting the big amounts of fat and also work as a palate cleanser in order to keep eating cheese.

• A special item (or two or three)

In this case I chose caviar. You can use this made of seaweed “caviar” you can find in any supermarket. Salmon or trout roe is a good option too.

Smoked salmon is another option (or maybe smoked trout, because it has less fat and I think we got it covered with the cheeses)

Maybe some fuet, chorizo, mortadella, and some pickled stuff (like gherkin, tiny onions or cauliflower).

Branston pickle is one of my favourites because it’s sweet and sour. It goes great with hard cheeses such as vintage cheddar.

You can add nuts for more texture. I used raw peanuts, but anything will work. The same happens with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Dried fruit works too.

I also recomended hake roe on Instagram yesterday. So choose whatever comes to mind that you’d love to have on your table.

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Choose wisely, because there’s too many options, so make sure your guests are nice and you enjoy the dinner 😉

Have fun, keep fooding and Happy New Year!