The art of the board Fun & fancy snack boards, recipes & ideas for entertaining all year

Streamlined. Simple. Two words that characterize today's new cooking style. Boards of foodstuffs assembled for deluxe grazing might be the appetizer version of the sheet pan meal. As the first to offer an "ultimate" guide to creating these boards, Carney (aka @charcuterie.chick) goes beyond the expected with plans for 40-plus seasonal boards, along with more than 30 recipes for dips, snacks, cocktails, and more: mulled wine, elote dip, an easy-to-develop "cake" made from stacked wheels of cheese. After the upfront how-to's on accessories and ingredients, the fun begins, with each creation including board size, serving numbers, foodstuffs, any needed step-by-step instructions, and grand color photographs. Readers will find plans for "build your own Bloody Mary" and "towering tea party" as well as a Thanksgiving-themed desserts board and the patriotic red, white and berries. Added value lies in Carney's "hopeless hostess" tips and tricks--covering board care to presentation, embedded in each recipe, then compiled at the end--and a wine pairing guide. A new kind of board game.

Charcuterie maven Carney debuts with an inviting take on serving boards, using them as staging tableaux for snacks and full-on meals. She offers extensive instructions for building a board (position cheese before carbs) with bonus "Hopeless Hostess Tips" (such as sourcing mismatched utensils at thrift stores for a quirky tablescape), and labels recipes according to difficulty, budget, and dietary restrictions. The highlight, of course, is the food design, which is inspired by the seasons and showcases ingredients including cured meats, cheese, and seasonal fruit, as well as treats such as chocolate bars and graham crackers, which show up in the cleverly titled "S'more, Please" board. Other delights include cracker-crusted baked mac with Brie or showpiece drinks like an elderflower gin sour. Each board is a dynamic interplay of shapes--from fanning, folding, and twisting ingredients into such decorative edibles as a salami rose, as seen in the "So Very Fondue You" board. With its S-shape ribbon of prosciutto tucked among chunky slices of double-crème Brie, fruit, and honey, the Winery Tour to-Go Box is a gift-worthy display that can be wrapped up. Fuel for "likes" when the inevitable snapshot gets shared, this foolproof guide's for anyone who wants to play and have fun with their food. (Oct.)