The Best Ingredients For A Southern-Style Charcuterie Board

Creamy, cheesy grits; succulent, crispy fried chicken; flavorful collard greens with smoked ham and bacon: If there's one thing the South does well, it's cook. Though mouth-wateringly delicious, Southern food can be a bit heavy. What better way to indulge in the decadence of Southern cuisine without the hefty portions than by turning to other classic Southern staples on a charcuterie board? Food Republic reached out to Southern chefs for the must-haves on your Southern charcuterie board.

Many Southern dishes are steeped in tradition going back generations, which is an aspect that Chef de Cuisine Collin Clemons of 1540 Room in Savannah, Georgia, loves about the cuisine. His mission at 1540 Room is to highlight local proteins and produce as much as possible. For Clemons, though, there's a distinction to be made when categorizing a food board. "Charcuterie literally translated is cured meat ... ultimately, charcuterie is the meat itself," he says. The omission of cured meats would make this project more of a cheese board or snacking board, depending on the other ingredients. To ensure a well-rounded charcuterie board, the rule of threes – three meats, three cheeses, three starches, and three accessory items — is a solid tenet to follow.

Chef Collin Clemons as well as Chef de Tournant Frank Camp of The Collins Quarter, also based in Savannah, regard country ham as the Southern must-have for a true charcuterie board. Country ham is the only style of cured meat unique to the American South. The ham leg is cured whole with salt and then sliced razor-thin, essentially like prosciutto. Camp enjoys regional country ham so much that he prefers it to store-bought prosciutto. Country ham can be found in stores across the South; Bob Woods, now of The Hamery in Tennessee, is a favorite purveyor of Camp, and he has specialized in artisanal cured ham for decades.

Pork is so ingrained into Southern cuisine that they even put it on spaghetti in Memphis. This love affair of pork could stem from wild boar and other feral pigs being an invasive species after the Spanish introduction of them in the 16th century. Clemons recommends Spanish-style chorizo and other hard salami like those from forest-raised pigs from Whippoorwill Farms in South Carolina for your Southern board.

While European-style cured meat like salame Napoli isn't unique to America, picking one up that includes other Southern ingredients like peanuts is a fantastic choice for this style board. The Spotted Trotter in Atlanta puts a Southern spin on French noisettes saucisson — cured meat with nuts — by using boiled peanuts instead of traditional hazelnuts in its "Southern Smash." With each bite, Clemons noted, "You're getting these little sweet Georgia peanut morsels inside the salami itself."

Both chefs rave about delicious Southern-sourced cheeses like Sweet Grass Dairy's Thomasville Tomme, Boxcarr's Cottonbell, and Sequatchie's Walden. Each of these styles of cheeses brings something unique to your Southern-style board. Cheeses like Thomasville Tomme have subtle grassy notes and are semi-soft, giving a bit of texture and structure; Cottonbell style cheeses provide a funky, bloomy option that melts as soon as it's sliced; and quick-pasteurized cheeses, similar to French Brie, like Walden will provide a creamy, slightly nutty choice that pair perfectly with cured country ham. You can look for these cheeses or similar ones at your local specialty shop, which will have a better selection than your typical grocery store.

No Southern charcuterie board would be complete without complementary starches. A couple of solid choices these chefs love include any kind of crusty bread that holds up to the chew of cured meat and benne wafer crackers, which are popular in low-country cooking thanks to the enslaved peoples who brought them from Africa. If you don't want to have bread, try a few fried green tomatoes for a starchy vegetal combo iconic to the South, or even a salty-sweet option like homemade poppy and onion crackers. 

For the accessory bites, peanuts are a must-have, and what else is more iconic to the South than pecans? Chef Collin Clemons recommends boiling your pecans in heavy simple syrup for a few hours before patting them dry and flash-frying them for a crunchy, sweet balance to the savory selection. Pickled okra is another favorite for your Southern board, and Chef Frank Camp includes spicy pickled okra on his menu to balance the richness of cheese and meat. Of course, you'd be remiss if you didn't include a couple of spreadable options like a persimmon jam or classically Southern pimento cheese.