This is how you make the perfect cheese board tonight

With a good cheese platter, you can achieve eternal fame with zero effort, as long as you have something for everyone on the board. Are you having guests tonight and want to avoid ending with that eternal dame blanche or chocolate mousse? With these golden rules, you will set the perfect cheese board on the table tonight. The only thing you need to do is visit the cheese shop with this list and the bakery around the corner. Oh, and uh, not entirely unimportant: the liquor store.

1. Quantity
Choose a maximum of five cheeses. Fewer is fine too, but more is absolutely not necessary. Something about choice stress and space. Cheeses should not touch each other.

2. Composition
Make sure you have at least one cheese from each cheese family. That means: a hard cheese, a blue-veined cheese, a white mold cheese, a red mold cheese, and a goat cheese on the board.

3. Ripeness
Inform your cheesemonger when you will be serving the cheese board. For a soft cheese, for example, it is important that it is ripe at the moment it goes on the board.

4. Board
Choose a wooden board where you can cut the hard cheeses well. Also, make sure you have a separate knife for each cheese.

5. Temperature
Take your cheeses out of the fridge in time so they are at the right temperature when serving. But also ensure they don't sit out too long, otherwise your cheese will start to sweat and you don't want that.

6. Wine
Now you will probably reach for a glass of red or even a port with that board, but you could just as well, or perhaps even better, serve a nice glass of white. This champ, for example. Especially with goat cheese, white wine shines better. Red wine is often overpowering, which detracts from your cheese. If you still prefer red, opt for a lighter variant like a Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais.

7. Sweetness
Make sure to serve something sweet with your cheese board to neutralize between the cheeses. For example, a chutney, a bunch of grapes, or a fig/date bread.