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1
Remove all refrigerated components — Caciocavallo Podolico, Lucanica, and Soppressata — from cold storage no less than 30 minutes before service. Components are ready when they yield slightly to finger pressure and carry their full fragrance.
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2
Slice the Caciocavallo into thick shards or irregular pieces suitable for spreading and eating from the hand. Arrange on one section of the board. Lay the Lucanica and Soppressata in overlapping but distinct groupings so each salume is legible individually.
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3
Slice the Pane di Matera to 2 cm. The slices may be presented as cut or lightly toasted — the crust must hold firm and the crumb remain dense enough to bear the weight of cheese and salumi without yielding. The interior should smell of active sourdough fermentation, nutty and faintly sour.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: fry the Peperoni Cruschi to order, using the Peperone Crusco Fritto technique as specified. They must be fried and transferred to the board immediately — crunch is total within seconds of leaving the oil and gone within minutes. Crumble them directly over the assembled board at the moment of service. The sound of the crumble is the test: a dry, papery snap confirms they are ready.
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5
Arrange the bread slices separately from the cheese and salumi, not pre-assembled. If using the optional additions, place dried figs, raw walnuts, and wild honey in their own zones at the board's perimeter. Each component must remain visually distinct. The board is complete when every element of the Lucanian pantry — bread, cheese, cured pork, dried pepper — is independently legible and the cruschi are still audibly crisp.