Cheese and charcuterie: Stinky Bklyn

“We wanted to offer some of the best items of the American artisan food movement, some old and some new,” explain Patrick Watson and Michele Pravda, co-owners of Carroll Gardens’ Stinky Bklyn cheese shop. For their plate of nouveau-American nibbles, they selected three cheeses (“served well with the right accompaniments, that’s better than five stuck on a plate”) fashioned from raw cow’s milk, which offer “greater depth of flavor.” As for the two robustly flavored meats, “Salted pork and salted curds go together. Period.”

Cheese

Grayson: This earthy, luxurious washed-rind cheese is made at Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax, Va. The flavor is hearty and rich—think custard with a touch of funk.

San Joaquin Gold: Fiscalini Farmstead, of Modesto, Calif., has created a farmstead take on grana-style cheese. Look for nuances like walnuts fried in butter.

Oregon Blue Vein: Made by Oregon’s Rogue Creamery, this cheese has links to the royal family of American cheese, the Vellas. Ig Vella is the master cheese maker at Rogue, and his father, Tom, created the recipe. Legend is he stole scrapings from the Roquefort caves and developed this blue, which now rivals any in the world.

Meat

Fra Mani Toscano: Made by Berkley-based Paul Bertolli, this coarse-cut salami has a delicate rosy color and porky aroma. Its flavor comes from old-world production methods like mold ripening.

Broadbent Country Ham: Country ham is salt-cured, like prosciutto, but it also has a little sugar and honey in the cure. During the curing it is smoked, and during hanging the hams are allowed to mold. The salty, powerful flavor will awe your taste buds.

Serving accompaniments

Virginia peanuts from Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, dried tart cherries from the Cherry Republic, and raisin-walnut crostini.




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Cocktail: Haute hot chocolate
Mixologist: Junior Merino (Rayuela)

Appetizer: Chestnut soup with candied chestnuts and morcilla
Chef: Alex Ureña (Pamplona)

Entrée: Lasagne verdi
Chef: Marco Canora (Insieme)

Dessert: Sweet potato custard with Grand Marnier meringue
Chef: Jerome Chang (Dessert Truck)