Easter is just behind the corner. Make it more festive and special with these gourmet food plating tips you can use at home.
Holidays are great occasions to make your cooking process more enjoyable and challenging. Set an impressive table, and make your home a beautiful holiday scene. Of course, you can get some extra points for serving your mouth-watering dishes just like a chef in a fancy restaurant way.
Choosing the right plates, teaspoon to a tablespoon, and glasses is not enough to introduce your food. Play with textures and colors, and contrasts.
Your meals must be the stars on your table but you can play with the tablecloth color and napkins. For a more spectacular effect, it is better to use cloth napkins. Use only edible decorations, and garnish.
Build height, and arrange the food in layers. Do not forget that properly plated food is also as important as its taste. It simulates all the senses of sight, smell, and taste.
Remember, your dish is your canvas! Make a real masterpiece following these easy gourmet food plating tips for a five stars family gathering and celebrations! Do not forget to serve a welcome drink for your guests, choose the beverages according to your menu.
1. Plan And Organize Ahead
You need to know that for gourmet plating you need a clear plan, and of course, enough time to organize everything. Start with the menu. Whether is a 3-course or a 5-course menu, make sure the meal components correspond with each other. And not least, make sure you are using seasonal products.
Planing your cooking accordingly will give you enough time for gourmet plating your meals.
Firstly get your recipes handy. Prepare your meal ingredients beforehand. Be careful with vegetables and fruits that easily get brown once they are cut and peeled. Leave them last.
Secondly, set the right pans, pots, kitchen knives, and cooking tools. Plus, do not forget to keep your cooking area clean and tidy, so you will enjoy the whole process and have fun. You can turn your favorite music on and have a glass of wine. Do not forget to put a timer on. It is important especially when you have to prepare several meals at once.
2. Use The Right Tools
Gourmet food plating is not an easy task when you don’t have the right tools. Everything from pans to kitchen foil, spoons, and not least- knives. If you don’t have a good, sharp knife so you can cut everything from meat and fish to fruits and veggies. Different cupboards for the meat and veggies are also that important.
When it comes to gourmet plating you definitely will need squeeze bottles for the sauces, pastry bags for purees, and cream-based sauces. Carving tools, decorative sets, and elements. Shaver’s for cheese and chocolate to garnish different meals and desserts.
3. Gourmet Food Plating Tips
Gourmet food plating starts with the plates. First, choose the right side of the plate. Avoid too big plates because they could make your portion too small. Small plates are not a good idea either because you won’t have enough space to arrange the meal and make a proper decoration. Use the rim of the plate as a frame for your gourmet masterpiece.
The color of the plates is also that important. The best option is to pick light or dark plates, so your meal can stand out. Light plates are ideal when you serve brightly colored food, made with a variety of colorful veggies for example. Dark plates are good when you serve light-colored meals like fish, rice, and polenta for instance.
Be careful when you choose colored plates- they can increase or reduce the appetite. Red-colored plates, for example, are ideal for appetizers, starters, and desserts. Blue plates are their antipode, and one of the reasons to be considered an unappetizing color is the little natural blue foods in general.
4. Gourmet Food Plating Methods
There are a few general rules of plating you can easily follow in order to make your dinner or party a high-class gourmet celebration. The most popular plating methods are classic, freestyle, and landscape.
5. Food Arrangement Techniques
There are several food arrangement techniques you can use to make your spectacular dishes. Plating the moist ingredients first for example, and then adding the other components. Mix different textures like soft purees with crunchy vegetables, or top the meat with soft creamy sauce.
One of the leading points when it comes to plating is to follow the rule “less is more”. Do not add too many decoration elements and components to your meals. The clock technique is quite interesting and easy to remember. When it is time for plating imagine the plate as a face of a clock. Put the vegetables from 12 to 3 o’clock. The protein is between 3 and 9, and the rest is between 9 to 12 o’clock. It is quite easy to remember, isn’t it?
6. Visual Plating Techniques
There are so many cool kitchen tools to use in order to arrange your plates originally without filling the whole plate. Use metal rings, or squares to shape your meal portion. It is a wonderful base for your gourmet plating. Once the base is ready you can build the height of your dishes and make them just like in the culinary series.
Use squeeze bottles to add the sauce in small drops and dots, so your plate will look just like a delicious edible painting.
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