How to Make Meat Roses for Charcuterie Boards

Have you seen the popular meat roses on charcuterie boards? If not - they are so fun to add to any grazing board! Whether you are doing it for a party, or just to make your appetizer tray look a bit "extra", this tutorial is tons of fun to add to your next charcuterie board or serving tray!

Meat Roses on Charcuterie Boards

It's easy to take just a few items you have on hand and turn them into a wonderful grazing board. Whether it is a way to cut back on dinner preparations or a fun way to serve to friends, you'll love using the meat roses as a great addition. They look beautiful and turn what might be ugly otherwise, into a fun charcuterie option.

For more inspiration, you might like this hot cocoa charcuterie board, a holiday dessert charcuterie board, or this fun kid-friendly board idea.

What is a Charcuterie Board?

A charcuterie board is just a fancy way of making a snack tray or grazing board. It is typically made with cured meats, cheeses, crackers, and a few sweet items like fruit, honey, or chocolate. They come in many different sizes and in recent years have expanded into holiday-specific or even ones just for breakfast.

What Should I Put on My Charcuterie Board?

Most boards include a mixture of meats, cheese, crackers, fruit, and dipping sauces. Depending upon what you prefer, there are amazing combinations that fit onto a snack board. Below are some of the things I prefer to use, but you can get creative and use anything that you prefer.

• Sliced or cubed cheeses: cheddar, swiss, gouda, muenster, gruyere, or feta are great flavorful choices.
• Crackers or toasted bread: whole wheat, whole grain, vegetable crackers, butter crackers, melba toast, toasted baguette, or Wasa crackers. You could even add these soft pretzels.
• Fruits: grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, pears, dates, figs, or apricots.
• Nuts: cashews, pistachios, honey roasted peanuts, flavored walnuts, roasted pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, or almonds.
• Meats: sliced luncheon meats, salami, pepperoni, capicola, culatello, prosciutto, Canadian bacon, beef sticks, turkey sticks, or similar meat snack pieces.
• Dips or sauces: honey, sriracha, salsa, honey mustard, dijon mustard, Verde sauce, fruit jams, preserves, or this brownie batter dip.
• Sweet additions: dark chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate-covered raisins, bon bons, macaroons, or toffee pieces.

Other items I would add would be this jalapeno dip, homemade hummus, or even this blue cheese dip. They are all great ideas that serve well with many different snack items on this list.

What's the Best Meat to Use for This?

Any deli meat or sandwich meat will work for this process, as long as it is round. You can ask your deli to slice thicker cuts to work for this, or stick with things like pre-sliced ham, pepperoni, or salami in larger rounds like shown. The best results will be when you use a thicker sliced and medium-sized piece of meat.

What Do I Need to Make This?

What type of cheese, meats, crackers, and items you use will vary so tools may vary also. Below are just a few of the things that are a must for this particular board.

• Wine glass or glass with a wide brim
• Platter or charcuterie board

While you can use any platter or tray, there are a few that I prefer. A large charcuterie board with divets or spaces made just for dividing items is a favorite. You may also want something just for beauty like the stained wood slice boards. My favorite for style, however, is the slate grazing board. All have merits, but none are necessary.

How to Make Meat Roses for Charcuterie Boards

Set up your board so the roses can be put into place as soon as created. Have the rest of your supplies and foods on hand so you can assemble everything right away.

Using a clean wine glass, place sliced meat over the rim of the glass so that it creates a layer that covers all of the rim and overlaps each other. This usually needs only 3 to 4 slices and will be the layer with the least amount of sliced meats.

Add a second row of sliced meat so that it overlaps the first layer of meat covering the "seams" with a fresh piece of meat.

Continue the same process for 4 to 6 layers until you are happy with the size of the rose.

On the clean prepared board, flip the wine glass over so the meat is on the platter. You will leave the glass in place until you have finished preparing the board.

Around the meat roses, you will add all other ingredients. I start with larger items first, then fill in any gaps with small pieces like grapes, chocolate, or nuts. Use small bowls or ramekins to hold sauces or jams.

Before serving, gently remove the wine glass to display the meat roses.

You can come up with your own decorating ideas!