HOW TO CREATE A SERIOUSLY INSTAGRAMABLE PLATTER

Ok so this might sound a bit ridiculous, but as they say these days, camera eats first. And if your camera likes what it sees, chances are you will too. But seriously, I came across these platters via the ladies over at Spell Designs (via instagram naturally) and found out they were the creations of my friend Mel. Where she’d been hiding this talent from me I’ve no idea. Of course, when I landed in the same Byron Bay postcode as her last week I couldn’t help but beg her to show me the secrets of the platter craft.

You might be thinking ‘dont you just, like, chuck some stuff on a board?’. But in the same way you don’t just throw your stuff on the ground when you’re doing a flatlay (for some tweezers may be involved haha), nor do you do this when creating a food flatlay platter. In fact, I was shocked at how many steps and rules there are to make this jussssst right. None of them rocket science exactly but not things I would have thought of. Read on to learn more.

Shopping List

• Cheeses – minimum of 3. (catering for more> approx 1 block per 5 people). We chose one brie, one cheddar and one blue. Grab some quince paste if you got blue!
• Dips – minimum of 2 (catering for more> approx 1 dip per 6 people). Choose colourful ones like Beetroot dip.
• Olives, Sundried Tomatoes, Artichokes etc. We got one small tub of these each.
• Assorted salamis and meats. We used one or two packets.
• Crackers. We got 2 boxes but always buy more than you think you’ll need.
• A big bag of rocket
• Fruit: Strawberries, blueberries, grapes, figs (get only a few if they are expensive), passion fruit, pomegranate, one or two pears.
• Nuts like cashews and almonds (pick the salty ones :))
• Chocolate. We got the Lindt with a touch of salt because… no words.
• annnnnnd whatever else you want to add. So long as it’s yummy and colourful.

Tools of the trade

• a large platter or piece of wood (make sure it’s a clean natural piece of wood rather than a composite that may have been treated).
• small bowls
• cheese of normal knives

Before we get into the process, the biggest thing I learnt from doing this with Mel is that you want to fill the whole platter up so it has a feeling of abundance, and it’s overflowing with no holes or gaps. Therefore, your main focus is filling every single gap with something delicious, hence all the smaller items like blueberries, nuts and rocket. By the end you want absolutely no board showing through. Another thing is to embrace the chaos, don’t try to place it all out perfectly in the shape of a clock (or whatever), as that can look contrived. For this, rustic is better. Let’s get started!

1. Lay out a framework

You’re generally going to focus on an organic layout, but first you’ll want to use your cheese as markers on your board. Thus, a little bit of structure. Lay then in a row or on the sides. Break or cut your blocks if they are too big. Then, add rocket underneath to prop them up and fill any black spaces.

2. Add bowls

Think it’s ok to wack those plastic dip containers on your platter? Think again! Probably only one of the major rules for this platter – decant your dips and olives etc into small bowls. Then, place your bowls around the platter. Try to avoid placing them too symmetrically, we’re going for a rustic ‘whatever’ feel here. Remember to keep adding rocket around what you add to fill any gaps.

3. Swirl your crackers

Add a few swirls of crackers around your platter, mixing them between the cheeses and making sure to press them close to what’s on the board already. Don’t put all your crackers on at once unless you’re doing a huggggge board because they’ll crowd it, you can always add more later a people eat them.

4. Create themed sections

Kinda. Now’s the time to start adding more to the board including the cut fruit, rolled salamis and meats, and if you can, it’s nice to kinda group these things together. For example create a Mediterranean area and a fruit area. You don’t have to be too militant about this but it can have a nice effect. If you’re working with a bigger board, you can put a pear or two on whole. You can do a swipe of quince paste if you’re using it.

5. Fill the gaps

Once you’ve added all the big items, go through and fill all the gaps with blueberries and the nuts. Add as many as you can so the platter becomes more of a 3D pile of food rather than being flat. This is gonna get you the ‘oooooohhhhs’ and ‘ahhhhhhs’ (and dare I say…. ‘likes’ without sounding like a tool?).

6. Push from the edges

Once the board is almost done, time for the best bit. The chocolate! Pushing from the outside in, make room around the edges for adding the chocolate. This will help build up the middle of the platter and make it denser. Break up the chocolate in rustic way rather than into squares, and fill the outside gaps with it. Done and done.

Q: But can I do this on a tight budget?

A: The key word for a platter like this is ‘abundance’. You want your guests/friends/etc to be overwhelmed by choice and the sheer size of the platter, so you’re going to have to spend some money to make this happen. That said, I felt this can actually be a rather inexpensive way to casually feed lots of people – I spent $80 on all this food and we felt it could have fed 10/12 at least. Not bad if you’re having a dinner party! Mel also mentioned that with more people it becomes even better value (aka economies of scale blah blah blah). In the past she’s created huge table sized platters for 30 people and spent only a couple of hundred dollars. Considering a caterer will charge you 10x that, DIY really is best! If your budget is tighter, bulk up on certain elements of the shopping list that are better value, like grapes, crackers, less fancy cheeses etc.

Loving this gorgeous picnic rug, a collaboration between Wandering Folk and Spell. Must get one.

We added some grapes around the platter after we laid it on the picnic rug. And poured ourselves some Prosecco because we’d earned it.

Thanks Mel for the lesson and your beautiful photos. Can’t talk. eating.

** And for those of you who’ve embraced snapchat… this is bound to excite all the snappers out there too.