A beautifully composed cheese board is a great way to start or end a meal or dinner party. Three basic principles make selecting and displaying cheeses easy: various textures, various strengths, and various cuts.

Textures of cheese are based on firmness — Parmigiano Reggiano is hard, aged cheddar is semihard, Havarti and Gouda are semisoft, and Brie is soft. You should have at least three cheeses on a board, and they should be of different textures.

Strengths range from mild to very sharp. Sometimes very pungent cheese, such as raclette, is very mild in flavor. You should have at least one strong cheese, such as cheddar, blue, or goat cheese (chèvre), and one mild, like the beautiful Morbier (which is decorated with a central layer of ash).

Finally, some of the cheeses should be left whole, uncut, until all of the cut pieces are gone. This creates an especially nice look with cheeses bearing an attractive rind, such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Stilton (an English blue cheese). The rest may be cut into attractive slices, crumbled for easy access (as in Roquefort), or left alone (as with soft, ripened cheeses like Camembert or Brie). A basket of sliced French bread, crackers, and a bunch of grapes is all that's needed to complete the picture. All wine goes well with cheese.