Lesson 5 Flashcards
the attractive and appealing presentation of food on the serving plate.
Plating
involve placing the food on the plate in a way that is both attractive and sensible for eating
Plating, or food plating
Three main elements of plating
• plate
• food
• arrangement of the food
T or F
All foods put on the plate must be edible, including the garnish.
T
T or F
As for the plates themselves, most chefs prefer COLORFUL plates as they showcase foods rather than being too showy.
F (plain white)
T or F
Plate shapes should be simple geometrics and patterned plates are rarely used in professional food plating.
T
Conceptualize plating as an art form:
Who is the artist?
What is your canvas?
Medium?
you are the artist;
the plate is your canvas,
the food is your medium.
Enumerate Plating Techniques
- Plate Presentation Techniques
- Food Arrangement Techniques
- Visual Plating Techniques
- Sauce Plating Techniques
- Garnishing Techniques
Plate Presentation Techniques
A. Plate Size
B. Plate color
Your plate should be big enough to make your food stand out and petite enough to prevent your portions from appearing small. What plate presentation technique is this?
Plate size
Use ______ plates to make your meal stand out.
light and dark
______ are popular because they offer a neutral background for brightly colored foods.
White plates
lend beautifully to light-colored dishes
Dark plates
A ________ can stimulate or reduce appetites.
plate’s color
_______ increases the appetite, so serving appetizers on _______ keeps customers interested in ordering large entrees and desserts.
Red plates
Professional platters consider ________ unappetizing because there are few naturally occurring ______ foods.
blue dinnerware
Enumerate Food Arrangement Techniques
The Rule of Thirds
View Your Plate as a Clock
Don’t Overcrowd Your Plate
Moist Ingredients First
Create Flavor Bites
Mix Textures
When applied to cooking, ______ prescribes placing the focal point of your dish on either the left or right side of the plate, rather than the center. Use white space by thinking of the rim as your frame and highlight your plate’s focal point(s).
the rule of thirds
As you place your ingredients, picture the face of a ______. From the diner’s point of view, your protein should be between 3 and 9, your starch/carbohydrate from 9 to 12, and your vegetables from 12 to 3.
View Your Plate as a Clock
Keep your design simple by focusing on one ingredient (usually the protein). Having a focal point helps you arrange your accompanying items to complement your standout item.
Don’t overcrowd your plate
Plate ________ and prevent them from running by topping them with other foods. For example, you can angle sliced meat against mashed vegetables.
moist ingredients first
________ are forkfuls of food that combine all the ingredients in your dish into one bite. _______ are essential to quality plating as they please both the eyes and the taste buds.
Create Flavor Bites
Provide a variety of textures. A mix creates an exciting variety of mouthfeel, too.
Mix texture
arrangement develops around your protein, manipulating the colors and sizes of the other elements on your plate enhances your focal point and creates a gourmet presentation.
Visual Plating Techniques
Enumerate Visual Plating Techniques
Serve Odd Quantities
Color Diversity
Monochromatic Meals
Add Height to Your Plate
Create Visual Balance
If you’re serving small foods like shrimp, scallops, or bite-sized appetizers, always give guests ______.
Serve Odd Quantities
Colorful dishes build the expectation of a flavorfully complex meal before your patrons take their first bite. Add green vegetables or brightly colored fruits that contrast with your focal point.
Color Diversity
Plating color-coded items together visually builds the expectation that the dish only offers one flavor. When the palate receives multiple textures and flavors instead, it surprises the taste buds, causing them to engage with the dish.
Monochromatic Meals
Stimulate your guests’ eyes by building height.
Add Height to Your Plate
Balance your plate landscape by leaning long, flat items against taller elements
Create Visual Balance
Enumerate Sauce Plating Techniques
Smeared Sauce Plating Technique
Accent Dots Plating Technique
Enumerate Sauce Plating Techniques
Smeared Sauce Plating Technique
Accent Dots Plating Technique
With your principal ingredients plated, you’re ready to top your dish with delicious sauce that enhance your food presentation. Think of your squeeze bottle or spoon as a paintbrush, and your sauce as a medium. Once you’re done adding your sauce, make sure you wipe down the edge of your plate with a towel, so no drippings distract from your presentation.
Sauce Plating Techniques
Fill a squeeze bottle with your sauce. Squeeze a thick layer of sauce and form a large, filled-in circle on your plate. Take a spoon or plating wedge and dip it into the middle of the sauce where it’s thickest. Quickly pull the sauce across your plate.
Smeared Sauce Plating Technique
Fill a squeeze bottle with your desired sauce. Analyze your plate from the perspective of the rule of thirds, then add accent dots. Use multiple sauces to create additional color contrast.
Accent Dots Plating Technique
Enumerate Garnishing Techniques
Edible Garnishes
Intentional Placement
As you finish plating, remember that garnishes should always be _____ and enhance the dish. To determine whether a garnish belongs, ask yourself whether you would want to consume it in the same bite as the meal it accompanies
Edible Garnishes
Never heap garnishes in one corner of the plate. Instead, disperse them thoughtfully to add color or texture.
Intentional Placement
Enumerate Contemporary Plating
Landscape arrangement
Free-form plating
Food on organic materials
Futuristic presentation
Alternative receptacles
Inspired by landscape gardens, this linear food arrangement is kept low and long. This plating technique can be applied to almost any dish, including appetizers, main dishes, and desserts with distinguishable components. It is best to prepare each item into bite-sized pieces to keep the arrangement symmetrical.
Landscape arrangement
Like many modern paintings, ____ may seem carelessly strewn across a plate, but each stroke and food placement is well-thought-out. The goal is to create an abstract yet intriguing “painting” on a platter. Highlight the dish’s main component by adding sauces, supporting ingredients, and garnishes.
Free-form plating
______ materials such as wood, slate, and stone as a plating device lend a more rustic and back-to-nature feel to dishes. These types of plates are necessary for thematic dining, where the goal is to offer a holistic sensory experience to guests.
However, serving ware made of ______ materials should be food-grade and bacteria-resistant.
Food on organic materials
Using sleek materials such as metal, glass, and steel leads to a futuristic plating and adds a cutting-edge mood to the dining table.
This style also features colors rarely used in food presentation, like black and gray. You can also apply other technologies like visual mapping to create an immersive experience.
Futuristic presentation
Using unconventional receptacles for your tableware creates a more compelling presentation for your dishes. Some examples include using a coffee siphon to hold broth, test tubes for soup, or even something as simple as an airtight jar for a salad.
This style also presents an opportunity to discover native and traditional food vessels that have been neglected. A unique option is to create edible receptacles that complement the flavor and texture of the dish.
Alternative receptacles
Malpractices
using inappropriate plate colors
overcrowded arrangement of food
using inappropriate size of plates in serving food dishes
putting dry ingredients first rather than moist ingredients
the garnish is not appropriate to the main dish
