Serving daily meals

[BryanZ]

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.

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A great little story.

And I completely agree on trying to do one's best, no matter how simple the task. Most people think I'm neurotic, too, when it comes to everyday meals, but I'd rather not eat that eat crap.

[Katie Nell]

Every once and awhile we actually eat at the dining room table, but I'm afraid we've gotten into the bad habit of the balancing act. This is partially my fault, because there are just certain shows I can't miss!

Growing up, we always ate at the dining room table, but it was always casual.

And alas, I can't do presentation plates, because if I did, the food would be cold before I was done "decorating!" I got in trouble for this much as a kid!

[racheld]

My name is Rachel and I'm a dish junkie.

Edited November 11, 2005 by racheld (log)

[Hest88]

You must be kidding. I only plate when we have company or for special occasions. Otherwise we eat family style or I just throw the food onto plates. When I make one-dish meals, such as pasta, we just throw the food into big bowls.

[Daniel]

Hest,

When you plate family style.. Is there a special bowl or story behind the pot you use.. Or anything special about what you cook.. What type of food do you make.. Whats the thing you make that gets the best compliments

Edited November 11, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Susan in FL]

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

The visual part of a meal is almost as important to me as the taste of the food, so I spend time and effort on presentation. I do so because I love doing it. I even enjoy the planning of the presentation as much as planning what to cook!

Do you arrange everything "just so" on a platter, and use garnishes? Coordinate plates and tablecloths? Use a centerpiece?   

Yes, not always, yes, yes.

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

Yes, absolutely. I go for an attractive presentation of food even when I'm home alone and do not photo.

I do hope those of you who said the dinner thread makes you feel inadequate were joking. I don't think there are right or wrong answers to these questions, and I don't think one way is better than another. We all have our own styles.

Please don't hold it against those of us who have a passion for beautiful food and tablesettings! (...Just joking in implying that any of you would. )

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

Once in a while, we serve family style, but plating the food is our usual style of serving daily meals.

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

We almost always watch TV when we eat. There is a TV on our porch, and when we eat inside, the living room TV is in sight from our table. Often our most romantic dinners are centered around a certain sports event. World Series games, the football playoffs and Superbowl, and certain races, etc. are the occasions for extra special dinners while we watch. Routine weeknight dinners include Fox News shows and Jeopardy. Sometimes we eat sitting on the couch, and once in a while Russ does the balancing act, but I always use a TV tray.

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

No. Except for when I eat a whole tomato.

We use cloth napkins and always have candles or flowers. Our style is definitely casual; I am a plate junkie too, but don't use china often, and we don't even own a set of what I would call formal (or expensive) silver ware.

Come on, fess up!

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I did. Fun topic, jgm! I love this discussion, as you could probably tell from my lengthy reply!

I like what Priscilla said...

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

That describes us well, too.

Priscilla, what is serving French-style?

I never have served food haphazardly, even when the kids were little. However, the one thing I can least imagine is family members not eating dinner at the same time and not eating together -- no matter if the family is two people or eight, or what the circumstances. ...Interesting about how food lovers are different in their eating habits. Family eating together is the most important of it all to me.

[Priscilla]

Susan--French-style, arranging the food on platters and then serving from the platter at table, with two spoons, or in our case, a large spoon and fork, held in one hand. I have seen it called Russian style as well. Starting with the most special guest or eldest female and working down through the hierarchy.

When our child was very little, before he was doing the serving, we served him first. When everyone is served, we say cheers and clink glasses, and only then we begin eating.

[ghostrider]

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

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Almost, but this is why there are coffee tables. Saves the balancing act.

Folks often wonder why we keep the EVOO & vinegar on the living room coffee table. Seems self-evident to me.

We tend to be late diners so this is the most efficient way of keeping up with The Simpsons / Lost / Globetrekker etc.

I also spend approximately an hour preparing dinner every night that I cook. No microwaves or convenience foods in my home.

[purplewiz]

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

If there are no guests, almost not at all. I like doing the layers of salsa, avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, scallions, etc. when I'm cooking something Mexican-themed, but that's the exception.

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?)

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Good heavens, no. There is barely enough clear space on the kitchen table for my husband and I to put our dinner plates, salad bowls, and glasses on actual table surface instead of on top of the junk that takes up the rest of it. If the plates aren't resting on catalogs or junk mail or the rest of today's paper we never got to, I count us lucky.

I plate up the food on the counter, bring the plates to the table, put them down, and call my husband that it's on the table. Sometimes, if I'm feeling proactive, I call him when I'm plating up.

When I decide that the night's dinner is worthy of being photographed, it's always a comedy of errors to push the papers, etc. JUST beyond the range of the camera....or leave them in where I can easily edit them out (photoshop is your friend).

I use the same Pfaltzgraff stoneware dishes we've had for about 13 years which are showing their age, and the stainless cutlery we've had a couple of years longer, several pieces of which have done their time (briefly) in the garbage disposal. We've talked about replacing them, but haven't done anything about it. It's just not important enough to me.

Now, when we do have guests, things are quite different. The only room in the house that is even remotely decorated/coordinated is the dining room - it is kept neat, uncluttered, it's even furnished with real cherry furniture that matches. I have our set of wedding china and stainless flatware (neither of us are going to polish silver, not even for guests) and matching wine glasses. I get out the serving pieces, I take care to arrange the slices of roast, the vegetables often get a sprinkling of parsley. etc. I use the only tablecloth we own, and get out the cloth napkins.

But for just us, doing fancy presentations just doesn't satisfy me very much. The few times I have, I looked back and thought "that was a lot of work for nothing". I'd rather spend my time doing the actual cooking.

Marcia.

Edited November 14, 2005 by purplewiz (log)

[Hest88]

Hest,

When you plate family style..  Is there a special bowl or story behind the pot you use.. Or anything special about what you cook.. What type of food do you make.. Whats  the thing you make that gets the best compliments

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It's mainly Chinese food, so that means stir-fried meat on a bed of pretty greens, or extra embellishments such decorative slivers of red pepper of the sort I'd never eat myself. If I cook for company using a Chinese clay pot I'll usually bring that straight to the to table, since the rustic shape looks so nice. My favorite Chinese dish for guests is my dad's catfish steamed with black bean sauce, ginger, and scallions. Easy to make, attractive, but with a wonderful flavor.

[Chris Amirault]

Family style always, and we eat meals I prepare at home 5 or 6 nights a week. Cooking vessels if I don't mind the residual heat, bowls otherwise (Blue Heaven or Pyrex, for those who care about midcentury modern stuff). The rice machine bowl usually makes an appearance.

No linens or tablecloth, I'm afraid, either. Food and conversation are the main focus for us.

[BubbleheadChef]

Hello All

With my job (I am the lead Chef aboard a submarine), I work with a lot of "blue collar" types and A LOT of single guys whom I usually invite to eat with the my wife, daughter (2 years old), and myself. We have a hard and fast rule that dinner is to be eaten in the kitchen with the TV off (with the exception of major sports events, I am after all a sports junkie) and family style service. Most of the guys that come over seem to appreciate that a lot more than fancy plated presentations and our overall goal is to show these young guys that you can "live to eat and not just eat to live". The majority of thier diets in port are along the lines of chicken wings and beer at the local bars. So we may do something they are not used to eating but "present" it in a fashion that won't make them feel uncomfortable or out of place and worrying which fork to use and what kind of wine to drink with what meat and all those other things that "non-foodie types" usually don't understand. The average age of these guys is about 20-22, so not a lot of experience with REAL food and wine. When it is just family however, my wife usually breaks out the dishes appropriate to the meal, such as the pasta plates we picked up in Italy if we are having italian, or the asian themed plates if we are having an asian meal. The basic rule is whatever dish we are eating on usually has a story associated with it. Ultimately, I think whatever makes the meal special for you, should be done.

[jgm]

I do hope those of you who said the dinner thread makes you feel inadequate were joking.  I don't think there are right or wrong answers to these questions, and I don't think one way is better than another.  We all have our own styles.

Please don't hold it against those of us who have a passion for beautiful food and tablesettings!  (...Just joking in implying that any of you would.  )

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Actually, the dinner thread does make me feel inadequate. The great part about that, is that it also gives me something to strive for.

I have come to realize that after a tornado hit our home in the spring of '99, and I lost so many things (including 20 years' worth of cookbooks), I went into a grieving phase that I didn't recognize. I dropped my interest in cooking, and in decorating my house. It was hard to care about things that might be lost again.

Joining eGullet has helped me find my lost interest in cooking, and in living my life every day. I'm old enough now that I recognize that owning a lot of cooking equipment --things I wish I needed, in other words-- doesn't make me a cook. But actually cooking, and making things I've only read about in the past, is adding a richness to my life that I've never had before. The grief is turning to enthusiasm; the depression is fading as energy emerges. The next step, inevitably, is presentation.

The dinner thread is helping me to understand the possibilities. And this thread is giving me a lot of food for thought about even more possibilities.

[M.X.Hassett]

Hello All

With my job (I am the lead Chef aboard a submarine), I work with a lot of "blue collar" types and A LOT of single guys whom I usually invite to eat with the my wife, daughter (2 years old), and myself.  We have a hard and fast rule that dinner is to be eaten in the kitchen with the TV off (with the exception of major sports events, I am after all a sports junkie) and family style service.  Most of the guys that come over seem to appreciate that a lot more than fancy plated presentations and our overall goal is to show these young guys that you can "live to eat and not just eat to live".  The majority of thier diets in port are along the lines of chicken wings and beer at the local bars.  So we may do something they are not used to eating but "present" it in a fashion that won't make them feel uncomfortable or out of place and worrying which fork to use and what kind of wine to drink with what meat and all those other things that "non-foodie types" usually don't understand.  The average age of these guys is about 20-22, so not a lot of experience with REAL food and wine.  When it is just family however, my wife usually breaks out the dishes appropriate to the meal, such as the pasta plates we picked up in Italy if we are having italian, or the asian themed plates if we are having an asian meal.  The basic rule is whatever dish we are eating on usually has a story associated with it.  Ultimately, I think whatever makes the meal special for you, should be done.

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Chef of a submarine, this must present many challenges us landlubbers never even dream of coming across. Many Kudos to you chef, and welcome to eGullet.

[Alinka]

With my job (I am the lead Chef aboard a submarine

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Wow. I love eGullet: such a diverse crowd!

[Daniel]

Hello All

With my job (I am the lead Chef aboard a submarine),

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Wow.. Do we get to see photos of what the kitchen of a sub looks like.. How have you had to adjust cooking times? Anything works better or worse Under Da C.. Would love to hear more about it..

[Katie Nell]

Sara Moulton did a show once with a submarine chef and helped him cook and serve a meal to all the men on board. It was very interesting!