Serving daily meals

[jgm]

I have a feeling this may have been covered in other threads, but none of my search terms could produce it. If it has been, the moderator has my permission (as well as encouragement) to combine the threads.

Just curious... when eating regular meals at home, how much do you concern yourself with presentation?

Do you arrange everything "just so" on a platter, and use garnishes? Coordinate plates and tablecloths? Use a centerpiece? (Even when you're not taking pictures to display on an eGullet or blog thread?)

Or do you just put the food into serving dishes, and put them on the table, with a basic table setting?

Dish up everything out of cooking vessels, and balance the plate on your knees as you watch TV?

Eat directly out of the pan, standing over the sink?

Come on, fess up!

[Gifted Gourmet]

(Even when you're not taking pictures to display on an eGullet or blog thread?)

←

as if .... those photos are staged??!!

[redglass]

It all depends, of course! Monday night: homemade pizza that looked bad, tasted good. Eaten in front of the TV, balancing the plate on knees, with paper towels for napkins.

Last night: steak, baked potatoes, green salad. Cloth napkins, eaten at the "dining room" table (well, the only table with chairs in our teeny condo).

I'd say we actually sit down and eat 4 out of 7 nights: 1 night we eat out, the other two more informal. When we do eat at home, I use placemats and cloth napkins, light some candles...try to make the food look nice on the plate, but don't get too fancy- no sauce squirted just so around the dish, no vertical stacks of microveggies, etc.

We usually plate our food straight from the stove in the kitchen. With just two of us, there's not too much need to serve family style.

[I_call_the_duck]

Depends what we’re having. If I’m cooking Chinese food, we’ll generally eat family style. All other meals will get plated in the kitchen and then brought to the table. I also try to make the plate look nice, but don’t spend much time on it.

Dinner is usually eaten in the dining room on place mats, which are used to keep drips off our table. Paper napkins and basic table settings. On the rare occasion when we do eat in the LR, it's usually pizza while watching football.

That eg dinner forum is making me feel inadequate.

[jgm]

That eg dinner forum is making me feel inadequate.

←

I have a personal theory that much of what's on there is nothing but fantasy. Makes me feel less inadequate, as I sit at the keyboard eating my Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup with a Boatload of Saltines, wondering if that's who "the other half" really is.

[M.X.Hassett]

I am a little OC when it come to presentation. I normally eat alone, and I still place the food in an artistic manner, sauce is normally pulled across the plate, garnished, and the rim of the plate cleaned.

[SuzySushi]

I'd say about 90% of our everyday dinners are haphazard. I'll plate the food at the stove, then DH and I either eat at our computers (which are right next to each other) with the plates on the desk, or balancing the plates while sitting in bed, and our daughter balances her plate on her lap stretched out on the living room futon-sofa. Sometimes we all crowd into the bed to eat a "family dinner" like do-it-yourself sushi rolls.

And occasionally one of us gets up the energy to clear off the clutter (papers, toys) from our wraparound kitchen counter and we do nice place settings there.

[goldie]

When DH is here I always set the table nicely, serve a good meal, and try to plate it nicely. By plating nicely I mean I wipe sauce drips, pay attention to the way it might overlap, put out salad dishes. Salad and rolls are on the table, but otherwise I plate it up at the stove. When it is just the kids and I we eat at the kitchen bar, I do set places, and I don't spend as much time plating the dishes.

[tejon]

Presentation has always been a weak spot for me. Part of it is that I see food as mainly something that tastes delicious and less as a visual work of art, and part because I have two small children and don't have a lot of time to fuss with arranging everything just so. I'm working on this and getting better at it with practice as we sit down to dinner each night.

Right now most of my meals fall somewhere between the Dinner thread and the Gallery of Regretable Foods thread. Some nights I'm not sure which I should shoot for.

[Alinka]

I have a personal theory that much of what's on there is nothing but fantasy.  

I only photogrpaph the dishes that I think will look good on photo . (Now, that doesn't necessarily mean I will eat canned food the rest of the time . But I have no problem eating leftovers for 2 days in a row, or just frying a couple of eggs for dinner or making a simple salad, which does not look interesting enough to post on the Dinner thread.)

Presentation-wise, though, even if I am not taking a picture or if I am eating alone, I still like to use pretty plates (dishes are my weakness) and set up the table (with paper napkins, though). Never over the sink, or standing up, or out of a box/can/pan. I love myself too much .

Edited November 9, 2005 by Alinka (log)

[Shalmanese]

Plate haphazardly

Take picture

If it looks good, post in the Dinner thread

If it looks bad, post in the Dinner II thread.

[BarbaraY]

We eat most dinners at home with occasional nights out. Always have dinner in the dining room even though we have a table in the kitchen where we eat breakfast and lunch.

Table is set the way my grandmother taught me and I taught my kids, which is a correct table setting with silverware 1-inch from the table edge, napkins on left, etc.

Dinners are usually plated in the kitchen. No artistic presentation unless it's a dish that really requires it. My daughter says she doesn't like her food to touch and I think that's part of a good presentation. I hate eating in a food service establishment that so loads the plate that it isn't visible. It just looks sloppy.

There is no eating in front of the TV unless it's something truly earthshaking.

I don't do sandwiches at dinner time even though they seem to be popular. In my opinion sandwiches are lunch no matter how elaborate. My own personal foible and I don't condemn others for doing it.

As to food appearance, our dinner last evening was Kielbasa with potatoes and cabbage and it ain't purty but is sure tasted good. Served with honey glazed carrots.

[Alinka]

Plate haphazardly

Take picture

If it looks good, post in the Dinner thread

If it looks bad, post in the Dinner II thread.

←

When I was growing up, we were not allowed to take our food out of the kitchen (we did not have a dining room), especially, God forbid, into the living room. It is still a guilty pleasure to eat sitting on the couch or have breakfast in bed. Feels so grown-up . Then again, our parents did not spoil us too much: ice-cream was a rare and special treat. When I grew up and could buy my own, I OD'ed on it I'm afraid .

[Busboy]

Most nights -- ok, many nights -- we try to sit down to a "civilized" meal. Proper settings, cloth napkins (I loathe paper napkins), flatware set out nicely. If there are flowers around, we'll get them out and we candles a lot. We have a variety of options when it comes to plates (from bone china to tin bowls), napkins, and silver, so sometimes there's a brief discussion about that. Nora (12) sets the table and has been given her Lala's admonition to "set the table with love" so many times she usually does a nice job.

Sometimes we plate and pay a little attention to presentation, sometimes we serve family-style and don't, depends on the dinner -- and the cook's mood. I think, on a Wednesday night, the idea is to have the nicest dinner you can have, for the least amount of fuss. We're lucky that over the years we've accumulated enough serving stuff and cooking experience that it's fairly easy to do.

Of course, some nights we just eat a carry-out pizza in front of a video. But, to echo Alinka, for those of us raised to eat "properly," there's a cheap thrill in that, too.

[bleudauvergne]

Cloth napkins is the rule at our house too, the paper ones just take up way too much space. No paper towles either. We normally use either cloth placemats or a tablecloth on the table. I plate in the kitchen unless serving from the dish is going to add to the experience of eating it. Something that makes me happy is using different sets of dishes for variety. I normally take pictures of everything from prep to plated dish even if I don't plan to share it here. Sometimes nice suprises happen and you must be ready for them. We sit down to eat almost always but sometimes we also have something simple in front of the TV just for a change as Alinka and Busboy say (when I'm pooped). I sometimes eat lunch while doing something else like writing, bad habit.

[mikeycook]

When it's just my wife and I for dinner, particularly during the week, I would say the overall table setting is sparse, but I do make an attempt to make an interesting presentation if possible. Really, most of the thought that goes into it happens right before plating, unless I've had a thought ahead of time. I will usually try to choose a plate of the right size and the right color to show off the food best and do the best arranging I can with what has been cooked, but I usually don't prepare specific garnishes unless they are already close at hand.

When making a rustic type preparation, I will give some thought to color and composition in the dish, maybe choosing a particular color pepper (red vs. green) to add color variety, etc. Or I might prepare a different color sauce for a green asparaus vs. a white asparagus. But that's about it.

[Priscilla]

While the menus vary in complexity and seriousness, tablesetting and service standards remain the same.

All cloth napkins, all the time. Occasional tablecloth, although it's usually just the scrubbed butcher-block tabletop. Candles, always. There is certain to be brief discussion about which dishes, which linen.

While all this predated his arrival, the now-14-year-old has been setting the table since he was really little. He also likes to serve, French-style, when the meal suggests it, and his father has trained him in dressing the salad, although that job still falls to the Old Man most nights.

We determine service by the particular menu -- pre-plated, or at table French style, or the dread family style, depending.

TV Dinners, as we call them, are a sometime guilty pleasure, and distinct from dinner at the table. Table-setting standards remain, cloth napkins, proper silverware & glassware. Pizza & movie nights get the same treatment.

[MarketStEl]

All casual, all the time, except on four occasions:

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Easter

Whenever I invite someone who doesn't come by often to dinner

On those occasions, the table is set and I pull out the cloth napkins.

Otherwise, it's clear space on the coffee table, pull out the TV trays or balance the plate in your lap.

[jennahan]

Having a very rambunctious two year old pretty much limits how "done-up" our meals are. I insist on eating meals with him so instead of napkins, its wet-wipes for all; plastic/melamine for BB and any breakables are placed far from him as possible thus limiting how formal the table setting gets. Unfortunately, he also limits what we eat on a normal day since I want him to eat what we eat. So, that means lots of baked fish dishes, casseroles, stir-fries, and pastas and a maximum of two courses. I'd love to have more multi-course, preparation-intensive meals, but I guess I'll just have to wait a few years. I guess I could post what I do make for him, but it would definitely lower the caliber of the dinner thread!

That being said, I do insist on proper meals (no sandwiches or prepared foods), conversation, and definitely no television.

Edited November 10, 2005 by jennahan (log)

[Marlene]

During the week, it's pretty haphazard since no one here seems to eat at the same time. Weekends are different and we make more of an effort to set the table, use the china and cloth napkins.

However, I always serve family style, even when entertaining. Probably because I suck at plating and presentation.

[therese]

We (two adults, two kids) eat at a large butcher block style table in our breakfast room, the same table where newspaper reading, chess lessons, and homework occur. Setting the table requires that the table be entirely cleaned (not strictly necessary, as it's so large, but it makes me crazy to eat with stuff shoved down to the other end) and set according to that night's meal: usually plates/cutlery, sometimes small dishes/chopsticks or bowls/spoons. The napkin question is problematic, as I don't like paper napkins but I'm unwilling to wash that many cloth ones routinely and it's unusual in the U.S. to re-use them (in my experience). So we use paper ones, the sturdier large ones rather than the little square ones.

Food served family style, not infrequently directly from the cooking vessel (placed on a hot pad) if it's a hot dish. Generally a main and two sides.

We never eat meals outside of the kitchen, and only adults are permitted to consume food or drink of any sort outside the kitchen.

[Peter B Wolf]

I have a feeling this may have been covered in other threads, but none of my search terms could produce it.  If it has been, the moderator has my permission (as well as encouragement) to combine the threads.............

←

Agreed, I posted three years ago about this.

[Daniel Rogov]

Lucullus, perhaps the first true gastronome and certainly one whose name will always be associated with fine dining was used to entertaining lavishly. Once, when dining alone at home, the famed gastronome was shocked when his servants presented him with a simple supper of eggs and porridge and demanded of his servant: "What, were you not informed that today Lucullus was dining with Lucullus? Where is the feast befitting the honor and station of my most esteemed of guests?"

My attitude is precisely the same as that of Lucullus.

[Rebecca263]

Oh, I live with my kiddle and kiddle has definite ideas of meals being 'romantic', you know, so there is a lot of plating and such going on at our house. We have had a number of, um, singular, centerpieces over the years, as well. Legos or macaroni/glitter sculptures were big in the early 90's, now it's tape sculptures. You should see the hollow hand that we have this week, it's, um, singular.

edited to add: kiddle has quoted that Lucullus bit to me , MORE THAN ONCE!

and: PS: we only use cloth napkins, paper is for coffee shops and bakeries.

Edited November 10, 2005 by Rebecca263 (log)

[Daniel]

I have a feeling this may have been covered in other threads, but none of my search terms could produce it.  If it has been, the moderator has my permission (as well as encouragement) to combine the threads.

Just curious... when eating regular meals at home, how much do you concern yourself with presentation? 

Do you arrange everything "just so" on a platter, and use garnishes? Coordinate plates and tablecloths? Use a centerpiece?       (Even when you're not taking pictures to display on an eGullet or blog thread?)

Come on, fess up!

←

I spend time on presentation.. Not just on the plate, but on the room we are eating in, and the apartment after that.. Living in Manhattan, with all the craziness and confusion, We take great pride in our house, decorating it, keeping it clean and comforting..

I read a book a long time ago that had an affect on me.. It was about this guy who achieved some sort of Zen.. Anyway, one day, a friend of his was eating a salad he made.. And there was nothing to the salad but lettuce.. Not dressing even.. But the way the guy arranged the leaves, and the love he put into the salad.. From growing the lettuce , to washing, to the hours he spent caring for the tiny plants.. It all came through and it was unbelievable.. The best salad or thing this man had tasted.. Sure its a made up story, but I remember it all these years later..

So even when I am making a salad, or a burger, or chili or fried chicken.. I really try to make it perfect.. If its a burger, I will go to great lengths to decide on the bun.. I will most likely grind my own meat, I will not cut corners..If I tell you the effort I put into making a grill cheese sandwich, it would make you think I was crazy..

I wont use can soup, pre-made dinners, or anything in a box.. I will miss a meal before settling.. Which is good, because many times I dont eat, instead of getting up to cook something.. If I had a hot pocket to heat up, or a bag of doritos laying around I would indulge for sure.. Its a lot easier eating a box of cookies then baking a batch..

This is while at home.. I travel often and dont follow the same philosophy on the road.. And its sad that most restaurants dont have the same love of or concern with food that I seem to..

Edited November 10, 2005 by Daniel (log)