Back of the spoon...

[marcusjames]

.. through the sauce / puree / chutney etc

So many British restaurants are doing this. Does it have a future? Or has it had it's day? It's beginning to get on my goat a little bit. Am I the only one?

[Man]

.. through the sauce / puree / chutney etc

It's beginning to get on my goat a little bit. Am I the only one?

No.

[Harters]

Am I the only one?

No.

I've been watching Masterchef and I'm not sure whether I'm more irritated by the voice-over (s usual) or the fact that every sodding plate of food seems to get the spoon treatment.

[sunbeam]

I cannot watch it anymore, surely it's time this program was consigned to history? It's repetitive and dull and the presenters are now just caricatures of themselves. I know it's cheap to make, even throwing in the cost of lugging everyone off to a foreign place in order to try and inject some entertainment value, but come on BBC!

As for the spoon dragging, well these fashions come and go. I'm looking forward to the dollop!

[david goodfellow]

I'm not bothered either way. Its virtually part of every dish that is served today.

We still watch Masterchef and yes it is very repetitive, especially Greg and John banging on all the time about the

[Harters]

I'm a tad ashamed to admit it - but I've come to quite like Greg in recent times.

[naguere]

He's a green grocer trying to fizz us all up over nowt.

What a waste of time it is.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Until you've seen puree of purple potato given the back of the spoon treatment, then left under a heat lamp while the rest of the plate was readied, you don't understand the ultimate travesty of this trend.

[Mjx]

Okay, I'm trying to feel embarrassed (not having much luck with that) about not knowing what the back of the spoon thing is, but... well, what is it? Someone, please explain (and what, if anything is it sopposed to convey?)!

All I can conjure up is someone drawing the spoon backwards through something, or possibly patting it with the back of the spoon, both of which seem random/unremarkable actions. What am I not getting? Before you ask, nope, I don't really have access to a TV.

[ajnicholls]

The trend for the blob of sauce pulled into a comma shape that seems ubiquetous in every restaurant in the UK right now.

[david goodfellow]

Some classic spoon work in my recent Aumbry meal.

[Mjx]

Aha. Thanks!

[pastameshugana]

Back of the spoon.... we (my family) have always called it the 'boxer shorts design' because it so often looks like a paisley.

I'm sure that's NOT what the 'up scale' restaurateurs wanted to hear when their plates were delivered!

[Gareth]

Of course, the terribly modish "spoon-smear" will come and go like any trend. It, in its turn, merely replaced the fad for foam, airs and general frothiness which was itself just the successor to a time when some pretty alarming zig-zag work with the squeezy bottle was de rigeur.

I wonder if anyone has any photos, like Mr Goodfellow's, showing classic examples of these or other previous trends?

And whether people are willing to speculate on what the next trend will be; could it be that dot compositions are the way forward, just as they once were for the Young British Artists movement?

Gareth

[Matthew Grant]

We've already had dot compositions, I'm just racking my brain trying to remember where

[Mjx]

We've already had dot compositions, I'm just racking my brain trying to remember where

This was popular in NYC in the mid-90s. Although for all I know, City Bakery is still decorating its cakes with dots (I have to admit, I kind of liked this minimalism).