We teamed up with Wegmans and Vietri to bring you expert tips for holiday entertaining – from selecting tableware to curating tasty bites
Photography by John Michael Simpson
“Holidays at home are centered around creating memories that everyone looks forward to,” says Katie Duchnowski, store manager at Wegmans. “We focus on creating special moments and hopefully giving our children traditions they will someday build on.” During the holidays, Katieʼs kids look forward to evenings filled with fondue, decorating cookies and games alongside their favorite snacks. Katie says the whole family loves the Celebration Ham (“Run, don’t walk – it’s amazing!”) and roasted beef tenderloin. “Our top go-to appetizer is anything cheese and charcuterie; if we could only pick one entertaining dish, it would be San Daniele prosciutto, caveripened Bon Vivant brie, Miche sourdough bread and Wegmans Frizzante (European soda),” she says. Snack boards are a huge crowd-pleaser, and their family even makes sweet versions that include mini tarts, brownies and cannolis. “We enjoy the simple pleasures of a warm drink, candlelight and taking shortcuts with catering that allow us to connect and have more time for fun together,” Katie says.
Graze Craze
Grazing boards are a fun way to feed a crowd in lieu of a more formal dinner, and the options are endless. Here are some tips for building out your best board:
DO
•Use a wide variety of items and flavors, including a mix of 4-5 hard or soft cheeses and 2-3 meats
•Balance out your richer items with lighter items – like dried fruits, vegetables and nuts
•Include bowls of different shapes and sizes to hold your accompaniments
•Make your board right before serving to keep everything fresh
DON’T
•Leave any gaps in your design
•Pile your ingredients instead of spacing them out
•Keep your boards out for longer than a couple of hours
Cheese, Please
“Our cave cheeses are one-of-a-kind,” Katie says. “… It’s not a real cave; it’s a state-of-the-art, climate‑controlled facility designedto embody the conditions of European cheese‑ripening caves, including the temperature, humidity and airflow. The process of aging cheese under this environment is known as affinage – the art of finishing, maturing and developing flavor in cheeses. Our facility has multiple independent ‘caves’ or ripening rooms so that different types of cheese can ripen in their ideal conditions. Our incredible affinage team takes amazing cheeses, creates the perfect environment for them to mature and develops products that are outstanding and can’t be found anywhere else. Once they are at their peak of perfection, our cheeses are shipped to our stores, allowing customers to have amazing products from around the world at the peak of their flavor.”
Cheeses come in all shapes, textures and firmness. Be sure to have the right tool on hand for serving your favorites.
Serrated Knife
Use this knife to cut soft cheeses like brie, hard cheeses like Parmesan and charcuterie favorites.
Bell Knife
This short yet strong blade is designed to cut through heavy or mature cheese, such as Parmesan. Use the tip of the blade to score the rind and divide wedges and chunks into bite-sized pieces.
Blade Knife
This versatile knife has a sharp, thin blade to glide through firm to semi-firm cheeses like cheddar or Gouda. It can also be used as a flat knife to wedge firm cheeses with ease.
Chisel Knife
Use a wide blade to slice through soft or crumbly cheeses like brie or feta. It’s also perfect to chisel or shave down on hard cheeses.
Sip & Savor
Serving turkey, ham or something else entirely? Stock a few wines to suit every palate.
