GarnishFoodBlog - Fruit Carving Arrangements and Food Garnishes: Rules For Food Garnishing

Today I want to present a host post from Essentially Healthy Food about plate garnishing. Please meet Suzie Banks and her article

Plating Techniques - Follow the Shape of the Plate

Plating is a very subjective area. The plate is to a chef or cook what a canvas is to an artist and like a piece of artwork, the end results often provoke mixed reactions. Styles of food presentation are also very fashion led. Creative chefs tend to lead the way with new plating trends, ideas which eventually become the 'current style' in plating which means that plating styles are continually evolving.

This results in countless different plating styles. Some rely on using hidden grids and other design principles to accurately position food whilst others are more random in appearance.

So how do you decide how you are going to plate your food? The easiest style is dictated by the shape of the plate you use and then you simply follow that shape. Round plates lend themselves to circles and curves whilst straight lines suit square and rectangular plates.

When I'm planning a dish, particularly for a special occasion, I like to sketch out some plating ideas on a piece of paper. I find it saves the mad panic of where to put the food when you're in the middle of plating up and also you can work out exactly what accompaniments and garnishes you'll need so you can factor these into the design and preparation. With this in mind, I've produced some sketches to give you some ideas for various different shaped plates.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to plating, you are limited only by your own creativity and imagination. However, remember that the objective is always to tantalise the taste buds by making the food look deliciously tempting.

Round & Oval Plates

Think Circles, Curves, Sectors & Swirls!

The plating style of the Strawberry & Passion Fruit Tarts is a classic design. The round tart is placed centrally on a round plate and is surrounded with a circle of strawberry quarters and passion fruit seeds which are roughly placed using a hidden 16 point radial grid. for guidance. Not positioning them too uniformly gives the dish a more natural feel and the casualness of the passion fruit seeds helps to soften the appearance even further. The single strawberry placed centrally on the tart gives the dish a prominent central point.

Square & Rectangular Plates

Think Straight Lines, Squares, Rectangles & Corners!

As you can see in the photograph, the Chicken & Asparagus Terrine with Grape Salsa follows a rectangular design with the sliced terrine and salsa placed in two parallel lines down the length of a rectangular plate.

On the other hand, the Smoked Haddock with a Sun Dried Tomato & Pine Nut Crust makes full use of the corners of the square plate. The potatoes and fish are placed on a central line with the watercress dressing drizzled in two parallel lines either side whilst the cherry tomatoes and beans fill the corner positions.

Triangular Plates

Think Triangles, Straight Lines & Points!

Obscure Shaped Plates

Think Creatively - Follow the Curves, Lines or Angles!

When I started learning fruit carving art I asked myself how I could use all those wonderful edible crafts for my routine life. I have cut in total more than 100 kg of roots, fruits and other product for hobby. Some of my creations were large and impressive and suitable for a feast, but not a proper one for a daily food presentation. I was wonder how to use carving centerpieces for garnishing meat, fish, starters, salads and soups. Once I came across practical rules for food presentation which were highly helpful. Following the rules you will succeed in food art.

Rules For Serving Food Attractively

By Old And Sold Antiques Digest

Garnishing is an art that can easily be acquired by following these few simple rules. It can be done with little or no additional time, effort, or money expenditure on the part of the culinary artist, and the results are far-reaching. Not only will the homemaker derive joy from the art, but the members of her family will sense the love and the thoughtfulness which prompted those extra little touches. Try it, and see for yourself.

1. Generally speaking, garnishes should be edible. However, there are a few exceptions, as will be seen in the following chapters.

2. Beauty is obtained through simplicity. Garnishes should appear natural, fresh, and dainty-never overworked or overdone.

3. All garnishes should be suitable in character and size to the food adorned. For example, a pickle fan would be out of place if served next to a piece of cake, just as a large calla lily arrangement would be out of proportion on a small platter.

4. The flavor of edible garnishes should be in keeping with the food. Bland foods require more highly seasoned garnishes.

5. A few small groups of garnish are often more attractive than a continuous decorative scheme. For example, to carry out a Christmas theme around a salad mold, green-tinted mayonnaise may be fashioned into the shape of leaves with specks of candied cherry to simulate holly arranged at intervals instead of forming a continuous border. Elaborate wheels, flowers, chains, diamonds, or circles are lovely if carefully done. Use either whole or clean-cut pieces of fruit or vegetables and arrange in an orderly design around ring or loaf molds.

6. A garnish must be neatly arranged in a fashion that will enhance the food with which it is to be used. A flat-spreading garnish will make a mold appear smaller whereas perky lettuce will give it height.

7. Colors should harmonize-never clash. Small quantities of the more vivid natural colors may be used to accent a food. In using artificial coloring, great care must be exercised in producing tints that will be in keeping with the occasion and at the same time produce a pleasing effect rather than one which is repellent. Contrasting colors usually produce an artistic picture. So much of our food is neutral that a wide range of color treatment is permitted.

8. Garnishes which are too highly seasoned are not in good taste.

9. The serving dish as well as the garnish used must be considered. A beautiful dish serves as an accessory to the food. Do not hide it.

10. Temperature is a factor that will make or mar a garnish. To serve cold sliced frankfurters on a hot soup as a garnish would be most unsatisfactory. Any frozen food that is used as a garnish should be sufficiently cold to hold its shape.

11. The consistencies of garnish and food can be contrasted with excellent results, such as sauce over molded food.

12. Garnishes need not be expensive. Properly used, almost any leftover material can do wonders to make a drab or uninteresting dish take on a regal aspect.

13. Garnishes should not be used to disguise deficiencies or food of poor quality.

14. The setting must be viewed as a whole. Harmonious plate or platter arrangements can be ruined if they clash with the table color scheme or the lighting of the room.