How to Choose cheeses

Master cheesemonger Steven Jenkins gives a quick primer on putting together a selection of cheeses. Stop at four cheeses: "To serve more than three or four cheeses at a time is an insult to all the other ones that you've chosen."

Offer variety: "Make sure that all three or four cheeses you've chosen are as different from each other as possible ... in terms of intensity of flavor, the style of flavor, the texture, and the animal." Get a goat, a cow, and a sheep, Jenkins says. "Get something that's gushy, that you could just poke at and not even use a knife with, and then I want you to go increasingly more firm texture."

Ugly is beautiful: "Opt for cheeses that are funky-looking, that are rustic-looking, that are primitive-looking—cheeses you never see in a supermarket because they're rough or pebbly or gnarly or moldy. That's going to be a cheese that's worthy of you."