Q&A: Plating and Presentation

[AlexP]

Thanks Susan for the comments. Actually, I did go to Hockenbergs. I enjoyed the store and I've got a couple baking pans and some plastic bottles (ketchup style). However, they did not have anything for planting food on a plate.

I have not checked Kitchen Window or Cooks of Crocus Hill yet. But I will in the short future. I have also considered getting a PVC pipe and cutting it up. I am looking for 12 rings and the PVC route would probably be the cheapest.

Anyway, hopefully somebody else has other suggestions.

Thanks

Alex

[skunkbunny]

http://www.villagekitchen.com/mfg/matfer/b.../flan_ring.html

www.bakerysupplies.net/AMAZING/searchresult.asp?CartId={D6F392C0-DB22-4416-9EVERESTC63-BBE2FCF94D51}

http://www.bigtray.com/productdetails.asp&...atid.14770.html

These three places seem to have them online although I have never bought anything from any of them. PVC pipe works well but if they're metal then you can heat them which can be handy/fun/necessary, PVC can be a bit clunky as well. If you can find someone who will cut you lengths of large metal pipe that would probably be ideal. it is hard to cut straight.. I have never managed/bothered.

[AlexP]

Skunkbunny,

Thanks for the links. I was hoping that the prices were for 1/2 a dozen Unfortunately, I just cannot spend that amount of money right now.

Before I read your post, I purchased two PVC pipes last night of two different diameters. If I remember correctly 3 and 2 inches.

I have cut PVC pipes while working on our house bathrooms and I have all the necessary tools. So it should be easy to get them cut. With a blade with enough teeth, I might be able to get a nice smooth edge. The total price for the pipes was $7 so I will not lose much if it does not work. I understand that I will be limited by not being able to warm up the pipe, but for this dinner party that I have coming up will have to do.

I enjoyed checking out briefly your website and your blog. There is a photo in your website (in the gallery) of a fish dish in a bowl with some broth. Nice presentation, is the recipe or a description in your blog?

Thanks

Alex

[Tonyy13]

Hey guys, long time since I have visited, I have been super busy, sorry. Here is the newest dessert that I have come up wiht, it is a warm lemon curd tart with homemade vanilla marshmellows. Enjoy your cooking!!

Edited January 16, 2006 by Tonyy13 (log)

[joiei]

Hey guys, long time since I have visited, I have been super busy, sorry.  Here is the newest dessert that I have come up wiht, it is a  warm lemon curd tart with homemade vanilla marshmellows.  Enjoy your cooking!!

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Very nice, is that a candied lemon peel twist on top of the tart?

[andrewB]

2. What about soups? When you have a nice bright color to work with -- like a zucchini soup or a coral-colored shellfish soup -- it's easy to present it well. But I find that a lot of my soups look really bad -- like lentil, split pea and all those other soups that look like greenish-brown goo. What can you do to make those look more enticing, without resorting to tired old tricks like sprinkling tons of parsley around the bowl? Here, by the way, I'm talking about individually plated portions.

.. For green soups there are a few tricks to the trade on it. for a zucchini soup for example, before you blend the braised zucchini, quickly wilt spinach and puree and strain with the zucchini. My reccomendation is to strain into an ice bathed container as it will help to bring down the heat and retain more of the bright green color. Careful while heating though: it should be heated slow, continuously stirred, and never boiled.

Another trick for split pea soup is to make something we simply call 'chlorophyl.' You can do this with with anything green really, but the more innert, the better. I find spinach and the outside bruised leaves of lettuce work the best. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 20seconds and then shock in ice water. Puree this in a blender with stock or water, the more liquid the finer the puree will be. When finished, strain out the liquid and you are left with 2 versions which can be used. One is a chlorophyl liquid for a la minute coloring, and the other is a fiber pulp which can be added to thicker soups for color (also to correct color on a zucchini soup gone bad for example).

Edited January 25, 2006 by andrewB (log)

[andrewB]

think i figured out how to add some pics, so here's a few from my new years eve menu...

new years ever set up

lobster salad with avocado and apricot vinaigrette

local artic char with baby veggie ragout and truffle beurre blanc

herb crusted filet of beef with apple filled pommes anna

molasses roasted pears with gingerbread genoise and cinnamon ice cream

mignardise

enjoy!!

[ghost]

So here are two things I've done that I figured I'd put on the forum here. Please give me your feedback! I had lots of chicken in the fridge, so here are two chicken dishes.

Sauted Chicken Paillard over Asparagus with diced Red Pepper, Onion Confit, and Parsley oil.

The following dish is very simple, but I think it looks really appetizing. The chicken was marinated in a spicy dry rub overnight in a vacuum sealed bag. It was sauted and then topped with chopped green onion.

[andrewB]

here's some previews of the new menu. a bit earlier here in eastern Europe, but with another restaurant in the works, now had to be the time... enjoy folks...

preview mailer for the new menu

onion shiitake tartlet

glazed salmon

scallops with spring veggies

Artic char with a morel cream

fried coconut ice cream with genoise crumble and candied roses

Edited March 14, 2006 by andrewB (log)

[SWISS_CHEF]

here's some previews of the new menu. a bit earlier here in eastern Europe, but with another restaurant in the works, now had to be the time... enjoy folks...

preview mailer for the new menu

onion shiitake tartlet

glazed salmon

scallops with spring veggies

Artic char with a morel cream

fried coconut ice cream with genoise crumble and candied roses

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Wow, beautiful food!

[gruntermen]

HELP !

I decided to try and see what I could do with chili and saltines. It's not haute cuisine but it is one of my favorite meals. Unfortunately what I got was this:

Where do I begin?

The chili isn't as dark as it looks, thats just my lousy photography skills. As far as garnishes go, cheese, rice, pasta and sour cream are out of the question. I just don't want them in my chili. I love white onions and cilantro. I was thinking of something like chopped yellow or red habaneros but my chili is pretty spicy as it is and my guests might try to kill and/or sue me.

Anyone… Constructive criticism? Destructive witticism?

[JAZ]

Here are a few things that come to mind:

The chili would probably stand out more if it were in a solid color bowl, rather than glass -- if you had a yellow bowl, that might look good.

Also, ordinarily I prefer white plates to colors, but since all that's on the plate in this case is the saltines, a darker plate might provide some contrast.

As far as the contrast goes, some chopped cilantro would be nice, or -- since you don't want to add more heat to the chili, you could try a little diced red or yellow bell pepper (or both). Slivers of the peppers might be interesting too (instead of the dice).

[gruntermen]

Here are a few things that come to mind:

The chili would probably stand out more if it were in a solid color bowl, rather than glass -- if you had a yellow bowl, that might look good.

Also, ordinarily I prefer white plates to colors, but since all that's on the plate in this case is the saltines, a darker plate might provide some contrast.

As far as the contrast goes, some chopped cilantro would be nice, or -- since you don't want to add more heat to the chili, you could try a little diced red or yellow bell pepper (or both). Slivers of the peppers might be interesting too (instead of the dice).

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Thanks!

[chefpelon]

i would like to personally thank you tony for taking the time to explain principle and matter when it comes to plating

as a restaurant owner and chef ,im always looking for a little something refreshing

i was just in the middle of teaching a new cook in my place when i seen the course

i would like to show you a dish that this NEW cook came up with as anddition to the platting structure we use in my place

im particularirly proud of this young man because the poor guy dont speek any english ( i live in puerto vallarta ), and he took the time to actually use a online translation site to make use of your course

anyway here you are with a pic ok

after all this will someone please give me instructions on how to post the photo!!!!!

thank you

bruce

chef pelon

[fawn]

I was assigned to make chocolate cake (sponge layers with chocolate butter cream) topped with runny chocolate icing.

I have no idea what to put on the plate.

The chef suggested, Tuile, brandy snaps, whipped cream, mint leaves.

Any link to a site where i can get ideas?

Thanks

[Gifted Gourmet]

Any link to a site where i can get ideas?

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Here is one of the very best resources and it is right here on eGullet:

course from eGCI on presentation

The final elements that will enhance your food presentations are some things you might not think of, but they are an essential part of making food look good: your imagination and brain. These need to be focused if you expect your food to look focused; if they are sloppy and distracted, your food will look sloppy and distracted.  Your imagination and brain need to be fed new ideas as often as possible as well.

[pupkinpie2]

How you plate the dessert kind of depends on the style of your restaurant and how fancy or complicated you want to get. For something simple I would suggest a quenelle of chocolate mousse and chocolate sauce. You can also bring flavor into the dish by flavoring the mousse with orange and using a orange vanilla orange caramel sauce for the plate.

If you wanted to get fancy you could wrap the cake in a tuile and have it come up - to give the plate height. On the side you could serve qunelle of chocolate sorbet, and sauce the plate with a salted caramel sauce.

Good luck! Take pictures and put them up on here when you get it perfect.

[CanadianBakin']

I can't find a picture but a simple presentation that I have done is as follows. I cut the cake into squares, piped mousse over (buttercream would work too) and topped with another square. Then I poured a chocolate glaze over top to cover the surface and drip down the sides but still show the layers. Garnished with larger chocolate curls and dusted with icing sugar. The icing sugar that hit the glaze absorbed in but what stayed on the chocolate curls really showed them off well. It was plated on a swirl of the chocolate glaze. Very simple but looked good.

[fawn]

thanks for the link Gifted Gourmet i will have a look on that

thanks for all the suggestions, i'll think about what will i do...

As for the sauce on the sides of the cake, i am thinking of putting chocolate sauce, that is ok instead of caramel sauce right?

[Chris Amirault]

That's an awful lot of brown on a plate, fawn! As much as I hate mint sprigs as garnish, the impulse to provide variety of colors really makes sense to me....

edited to fix typo -- ca

Edited December 23, 2006 by chrisamirault (log)

[tammylc]

Here are a couple shots of the dessert I made for the eGullet Baking and Pastry Challenge.

I'm reasonably happy with the way the plate turned out, but the process did raise one constant issue I have, which is getting sauces to be the "right" consistency for plating. In this case, I ended up over-reducing both of the sauces, so they were too sticky. I was fighting with the port wine reduction not coming out of the bottle, so I cut a larger tip and then it came out too thick and spread instead of being the nice crisp lines I wanted. The caramel sauce was way too thick and gloppy. Other times I've tried to sauce plates, the sauce has been too thin. I just can't get it right! Any advice?

And while I'm here, any advice on plating a dish that has a single sleeve boned stuffed quail, some mushroom risotto and some haricots verts? I could use a ring mold for the risotto, then lean the quail up against it, I suppose. I'll have some pan drippings to drizzle, and could saute up some pretty looking mushrooms for an interesting shape...

[Shalmanese]

Dip your spoon in the sauce and take it out. If it just coats the back of a spoon, then it's at the right consistancy. Many sauces also vary in consistancy at different temperatures. Sometimes it can be as simple as waiting 2 minutes for the sauce to cool down before spooning or putting a squeeze bottle in some hot water to get it flowing again.

[origamicrane]

hello I's like some help plating a souffle.

This was what I served yesterday in a little cooking competition I am in. I managed to get through the first round but as you can see this is not particularly pretty.

Ideas i've had: chocolate sauce drizzled around , some icing sugar, seperate dishes for the fruit and ice cream? fruit arranged around the ramekin.

as you can tell i'm pretty crap with plating

so any ideas,help, advice, inspiration, photos would be appreciated

thanks

[Mallet]

Can you get it out of the ramekin? This might give you some more flexibility.

[origamicrane]

Can you get it out of the ramekin? This might give you some more flexibility.

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I'm actually looking into that right now.

will probably use a heavily buttered metal ring mould and line the bottom with parchement but just worried that by the time i got it out and moving it around the souffle will have collapsed.

but will definitely have a look into plating without the ramekin