Putting a meat platter together

How much to buy per person, how many kinds to take, how to lay them out and what to put alongside so the board looks right.

How much to buy

Count on 80–100 grams of sliced meat per person if the board is a starter before a main course, and 150 grams if it is the centrepiece with wine.

For a party of six that is roughly 600 grams as a starter — three or four kinds of 150–200 grams each.

Choosing the range

Three to five kinds works best. Fewer is dull; more and the flavours start to blur and the guest stops telling them apart.

Use contrast: something firm and salty (basturma, sujuk), something soft and mild (pastrami, cooked and smoked) and something with a clear character (salami with truffle, smoked tongue). Take the firm things from air-dried and the soft from pastrami. If you take both kazy and sujuk, here is how they differ.

Laying it out

Slice everything thin except the cooked and smoked meats, which want medium slices. Lay them in loose folds rather than flat: folded slices catch the light and look generous.

Keep each kind in its own group instead of mixing them, and take the board out fifteen minutes before serving so the fat softens.

What to put alongside

Hard cheese, olives, pickled vegetables, fresh bread, a little honey or fig jam. Nothing with a strong sauce — it will bury the meat.