Texture, Flavor, Funk! Six Rules for Building a Better Cheese Board

Cheese board: Two words that have come to mean much more than the sum of their parts. The go-to appetizer platter has become a competitive sport among hosts, driven by a fanaticism for curds from around the world, from supremely creamy to challengingly funky. But even though these plates have inspired Instagram pages with hundreds of thousands of followers, like @ThatCheesePlate, creating your own photo-worthy selection is as simple as following these six rules—and bending them when you need to. Because the true joy of filling up a fantastic cheese board is watching it empty out as people dive in.

Besides a mix of base milks—cow, goat, sheep—consider textures. Arrange crowd-pleasing classics such as Camembert and the goat cheese Bucheron alongside adventurous, full-flavored cheeses like the blue-veined Red Rock cheddar and the bloomy-rinded Italian buffalo cheese Casatica. Plan for 1 or 2 oz. per person per cheese.