Filipino charcuterie boards are your new favorite appetizers
Photo by Samantha Ong/Nolisoli.ph
Charcuterie boards are all the rage for gatherings and events. It’s the perfect appetizer with a selection of cured meats, cheeses, jams, and other small bites. While most charcuterie boards feature cheeses and meats of European origin, there’s nothing stopping us from making a Filipino version of the beloved party dish.
Filipino culinary consultant and food stylist Grai Alvar’s version of the board features a spread of uniquely Filipino ingredients like longganisa, mango pineapple and bignay jam, kesong puti, and biscuits like broas, londres, and otap.
Admittedly, many of those ingredients are difficult to find in North America. And sourcing the rest of those ingredients fresh can depend on how close (or far) you live away from the closest Filipino supermarket.
Still, it’s not impossible to make a Filipino-inspired charcuterie board with what you’ve got. What you need to remember are the main components of the board: cured meat, cheese, some jam, and crackers.
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For cured meat, you can always go with some sort of tapa, longganisa, or even some tocino. For the cheese, kesong puti (traditionally made with carabao milk or goat cheese) can be substituted with another type of goat cheese. Queso de Bola is also basically just Dutch edam cheese.
Coconut and ube jams are also gaining popularity and are more easily accessible these days, thanks to some savvy Filipino entrepreneurs.
You may also like: 5 easy ube desserts you can make at home
And for biscuits, you can’t go wrong with the household favorite Skyflakes variety. Or if you want to make it a little more special, you can also thinly slice and toast up some leftover pandesal.
The possibilities are endless, and it’s all up to your creativity.
