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Executive Republic
We’ve previously told you all about how to take great food photographs. But how can you plate up your food to get it looking its very best in the first place?
You don’t have to be a fancy chef in a high-class restaurant to take
advantage of food presentation. Even everyday dishes like spaghetti
bolognese or steak and chips can benefit from an artistic touch.
Here are a few tips for giving the appearance of your food a touch of additional pizazz:
If possible, try to avoid the old nouvelle cuisine trick of placing a tiny amount of food in the centre of an enormous plate – some diners will demand to know where the rest of the food is.
On the flip side, don’t stuff the plate so full of food that there’s
no room left. Just as good writing uses paragraphs and punctuation, and
good music uses moments of silence, use a few empty spaces on your
plate to complete your meal.
To make a dish seem a bit more unusual, try square, oval, or more
unusual shapes of plate. These nonstandard plates also provide more
options to try out when arranging your ingredients.
This doesn’t mean you can’t use a plate with a pattern or design –
you’ll just need to take it into account and integrate it into the
presentation of your food. It can still look spectacular, but it takes
more planning and effort.
A traditional tip for food presentation is to imagine the diner’s plate as the face of a clock, and to place the centrepiece of your dish (usually the meat) at the 6 o’clock position, or closest to the diner.
The vegetables and other side dishes can be placed at the 2 and 11
positions to keep things even, but not completely symmetrical.
Speaking of which…
Use odd numbers of ingredients and/or position an ingredient or two off-centre to give your dish a lopsided look that the eye can’t help but be drawn to.
Another option is to ‘shingle’ ingredients on top of each other, using both the vertical and horizontal spaces.
This creates a kind of “rainbow” effect that helps each ingredient stand out without blending in with one another.
Position the main element of your meal as the centre of attention and
make sure the other ingredients complement it, rather than overwhelming
and hiding it.
However, take care that your main ingredient doesn’t dominate the plate with sheer size. Cut that enormous chunk of roast into slices to avoid terrifying your diners.
You can do this at home, but do so just before serving, to reduce the
chances of accidentally messing up the effect while placing additional
ingredients. And take care – keep your drizzling or powdering light and
under control, or you could end up with a messy spillage on your hands…
Also, it’s all very well carving a flower shape out of carrot to sit on top of a dish, but will it go with the other ingredients? Similarly, sprinkling green herbs over a dish may make create a nice effect, but how will those herbs taste along with the meal?
Garnishes are great, but make sure that they suit your meal. One
idea is to create them from similar ingredients to those making up the
main part of your dish – for example, using the flowers carved from
carrots mentioned earlier to decorate a carrot cake.
A few light and simple touches, inspired by the above tips, should
make a your meal fancy enough to look great in photos, as well as on the
table.
source:http://besthomechef.com.au
Here are a few tips for giving the appearance of your food a touch of additional pizazz:
Use big plates
A larger plate provides you with more room to work with when arranging your dish.If possible, try to avoid the old nouvelle cuisine trick of placing a tiny amount of food in the centre of an enormous plate – some diners will demand to know where the rest of the food is.
Use plates of an unusual shape
Standard round plates are just that – standard. Not particularly exciting or fun to look at.Keep the plates plain
While a plate with a pattern or design on its surface will no doubt look nice, it can distract attention away from your food, which is meant to be the star of the show. A plain, featureless plate usually makes a better blank canvas on which to position your ingredients.Look at the clock
No, not to check the time, but to position your food.A traditional tip for food presentation is to imagine the diner’s plate as the face of a clock, and to place the centrepiece of your dish (usually the meat) at the 6 o’clock position, or closest to the diner.
Speaking of which…
Be odd and avoid symmetry
Symmetry can be a lovely thing, but it’s also a bit safe, predicable and, well, boring. It’s not common in nature for things to be arranged evenly and symmetrically, so why should your food be any different?Use odd numbers of ingredients and/or position an ingredient or two off-centre to give your dish a lopsided look that the eye can’t help but be drawn to.
Think vertically
If you have a lot of ingredients that go together but may take up a fair bit of space on your plate, think about stacking them on top of one another, forming a little ‘tower’ of food.Contrast the colours
Alternate the ingredients of your dish so that no two elements of the same colour sit next to one another – don’t sit the broccoli and asparagus together, or the pumpkin and the carrot.Make the main ingredient the star
If you’re making a nice roast, it’s no good hiding the lamb beneath loads of potatoes, cabbage and corn.However, take care that your main ingredient doesn’t dominate the plate with sheer size. Cut that enormous chunk of roast into slices to avoid terrifying your diners.
Take care when drizzling or sprinkling on the sauces or toppings
You know when you go to a restaurant and sauce has been drizzled back and forth across your meal? Or a dessert that’s been topped with powdered sugar?Make the garnishes edible, and make sure they go with the meal
If something’s on a plate, it should be edible. Adding little plastic decorations can make your meals look cute, but imaging if a diner was to bite into one!Also, it’s all very well carving a flower shape out of carrot to sit on top of a dish, but will it go with the other ingredients? Similarly, sprinkling green herbs over a dish may make create a nice effect, but how will those herbs taste along with the meal?
Keep it simple
Don’t feel that each meal’s presentation needs to be every bit as complex as its preparation. It’s all going to get eaten anyway, and spending too long on a fiddly presentation will just let your food get cold.source:http://besthomechef.com.au
Posted in 
For good food presentation one need to set it on a neat and good colored food and try to present it in a large plate in order to be able to decorate the food well.BY; OZOAKA ESTHER UKA-AMAKA.
ReplyDeletegood cutlery is crucial for better food presentation and it must be hygienic
ReplyDeleteADEKUNLE AYOBAMI REBECCA: When presenting our food we must make it look neat and good looking. the plate using must me good looking and neat, and must serve it in good manner
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA larger plate provides you with more room to work with when arranging your dish.
ReplyDeleteIf possible, try to avoid the old nouvelle cuisine trick of placing a tiny amount of food in the centre of an enormous plate – some diners will demand to know where the rest of the food is.On the flip side, don’t stuff the plate so full of food that there’s no room left. Just as good writing uses paragraphs and punctuation, and good music uses moments of silence, use a few empty spaces on your plate to complete your meal
By: Atilola Toheeb Bayonle
Standard round plates are just that – standard. Not particularly exciting or fun to look at.o make a dish seem a bit more unusual, try square, oval, or more unusual shapes of plate. These nonstandard plates also provide more options to try out when arranging your ingredients.While a plate with a pattern or design on its surface will no doubt look nice, it can distract attention away from your food, which is meant to be the star of the show. A plain, featureless plate usually makes a better blank canvas on which to position your ingredients.
ReplyDeleteBy: Oyalude Sunday John
Hmmmmmm! Garnishes are great but make sure they suit your meal. for example,using the flower carved from carrots to decorate a carrot cake.
ReplyDeleteBy: Olugbusi Oluwatosin Temitope
If you have a lot of ingredients that go together but may take up a fair bit of space on your plate, think about stacking them on top of one another, forming a little ‘tower’ of food.
ReplyDeleteBy: Yusuf Taiwo Yusuf
‘shingle’ ingredients on top of each other, using both the vertical and horizontal spaces.
ReplyDeleteBy: Sekiru Oladimeji Semiu
presentation of food must be neat a fresh.
ReplyDeletebeing hygienic
ReplyDeleteUse big plates. a larger plate provides you with more room to work with them arranging your design
ReplyDeleteNothing spoils the appetite more than poor and shabby presentation of food on our tables.
ReplyDeleteYour appetite determines your expertise. So, watch what you eat.
ReplyDeleteThe food and drink industry must read this article.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're plating food, the goal is to create a dining experience that tempts all of the senses, not just the palate. When food looks appetizing the body actually produces more fluids that aid in nutrient absorption - so you might even say that beautiful food is more wholesome than food that doesn't look appealing. To achieve restaurant-quality presentation, start with brightly-colored, well-cooked food. Layer the food and play with contrasting colors and textures to increase its visual appeal. Finally, garnish the plate with flavorful herbs or spices to take it to the next leve
ReplyDeleteBy: Obembe Dare Tosin
Set the table properly. Your day-to-day meals might be free-for-alls, but if you’ve got guests coming over, it’s nice to have the knives and forks in the right places.BY:ADEDOTUN KAYODE.A
ReplyDeletePlay with color and texture. Even if you’re just serving Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, a green paper napkin can make this simple meal look really special! BY:AKINTOLA SEGUN FOLAHAN
ReplyDeletethis article is perfect
ReplyDeleteADEOLA EMMAUEL OLUWASEUN
ReplyDeletenice tips
When in doubt, choose white plates. White plates don't compete visually with the food you're serving. They provide contrast, making colors appear brighter and textures more interesting. For this reason, white dishes are the standard choice for chefs in restaurants all over the world. The shape of the plate doesn't matter as much as its color.[2]
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are exceptions. If you have a set of special plates with a pattern or a certain color scheme, it's fine to use them. Just make sure they complement the food you're serving instead of vying for attention.
Don't forget to take the rest of the table into consideration, too. Cutlery, glasses and linens will enhance the overall appearance of the dish upon the table.
When looking for interesting tableware, try going to Asian grocery stores, craft or flea markets, and antique stores. You can find some very interesting tableware from all of these sources.
By: Ogundipe Oluwafunmike Grace
this tips could help house wives or chefs in other to present food in a better way on the table.
ReplyDeleteNothing spoils the appetite more than poor and shabby presentation of food on our tables
ReplyDeleteA larger plate provides you with more room to work with when arranging your dish.
ReplyDeleteWhen serving the food, the plate must be clean, neat. you must present the food well to the people that want to eat it
ReplyDeleteIt is essential we pay adequate attention to what we eat, otherwise we may be poisoning our system.
ReplyDeleteGood food, good health, both are directly related.
ReplyDeleteFor good food presentation one need to set it on a neat and good colored food and try to present it in a large plate in order to be able to decorate the food wel
ReplyDeleteSet the table properly. Your day-to-day meals might be free-for-alls, but if you’ve got guests coming over, it’s nice to have the knives and forks in the right places.
ReplyDeleteChoose your plates wisely. Make sure your serving plates are big enough to let each food item stand out, but small enough that the portions don’t look tiny.
Read the clock! A foolproof way to arrange food on a plate is to place the carbohydrate (rice, pasta, bread, etc.) at “11 o’clock,” the vegetables at “2 o’clock,” and the protein at “6 o’clock” from the diner’s point of view. This will also help you portion correctly, if you remember that vegetables should cover about half of the plate, starch one fourth, and protein one fourth. .. By Kolawole Bashiru
If something’s on a plate, it should be edible. Adding little plastic decorations can make your meals look cute, but imaging if a diner was to bite into one!
ReplyDeleteAlso, it’s all very well carving a flower shape out of carrot to sit on top of a dish, but will it go with the other ingredients? Similarly, sprinkling green herbs over a dish may make create a nice effect, but how will those herbs taste along with the meal
When in doubt, choose white plates. White plates don't compete visually with the food you're serving. They provide contrast, making colors appear brighter and textures more interesting. For this reason, white dishes are the standard choice for chefs in restaurants all over the world. The shape of the plate doesn't matter as much as its color.[2]
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are exceptions. If you have a set of special plates with a pattern or a certain color scheme, it's fine to use them. Just make sure they complement the food you're serving instead of vying for attention.
Don't forget to take the rest of the table into consideration, too. Cutlery, glasses and linens will enhance the overall appearance of the dish upon the table.
When looking for interesting tableware, try going to Asian grocery stores, craft or flea markets, and antique stores. You can find some very interesting tableware from all of these sources.
By: Ogundipe Oluwafunmike Grace
If something’s on a plate, it should be edible. Adding little plastic decorations can make your meals look cute, but imaging if a diner was to bite into one!
ReplyDeleteit’s all very well carving a flower shape out of carrot to sit on top of a dish, but will it go with the other ingredients? Similarly, sprinkling green herbs over a dish may make create a nice effect, but how will those herbs taste along with the meal?
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the trickier dishes to present in an appetizing way. Make sure the pasta stays moist after you cook it, so that it doesn't get clumpy. Use a pair of tongs to lift several strands of pasta from the pot and lay them on a plate in an attractive curl. Do the same with another set of pasta strands, and continue until you have a serving size worth of pasta curls on the plate. Carefully top the pasta with a portion of sauce so that it pools in the center of the pasta - don't drench it.
ReplyDeleteIf you're serving the pasta with a protein, arrange it attractively on the heap of pasta. For example, if the dish includes shrimp, place the shrimp on top instead of burying the pieces inside the pasta heap.
Just before serving, you can mist the pasta with a bit of olive oil to make it glisten attractively.
Present "brown" dishes appetizingly. Cream of mushroom soup or vegetable stew might taste delicious, but it tends to look boringly neutral in a bowl or on a plate. How do you make something tan or brown in color stand out? Adding a garnish is key. Depending on the flavor profile of the soup or stew, consider adding chopped thyme, fried pieces of sage, minced chives, or another green herb to freshen it up.
ReplyDeleteSoups and stews tend to splash and run, so it's also important to make sure that the sides of the bowl or plate you're serving them in are wiped clean before serving.
Casseroles might also come out on the brown side. Serving them alongside a bunch of fresh salad greens is a good way to offset the neutral-looking main dish
If you’re serving up a pesto dish, which has a lot of green in it, you might want to pair it with something red (the complementary color) like tomatoes or red peppers. A dish of white fish, water chestnuts, and rice would look really boring, so make sure to punch it up! Similarly, mix up the texture. If you made a smooth vegetable soup, serve it with a carrot stick and a celery stick (maybe an inner one with some of the delicious little greens still attached) across the top of the bowl. If you made a (smooth) steak, top it with some (crumbly) feta cheese or walnuts.
ReplyDeleteBy: Ayodele Oluwabamise Ebenezer
If your dinner itself isn’t that colorful, add a garnish that is. Fresh herbs, spices and zested citrus make great colorful garnishes. For example add some fresh green parsley or cilantro (or other fresh herb) to a meat dish; sprinkle bright red paprika on eggs; add lemon zest with some cracked black and red pepper to salmon.
ReplyDeleteTry keeping all presentation of the food relevant and simple.
ReplyDeleteThe best food presentation is when you don't have enough money in hand anything available will be your better food.
ReplyDeleteChoose your plates wisely. Make sure your serving plates are big enough to let each food item stand out, but small enough that the portions don’t look tiny.
ReplyDeleteSet the table properly. Your day-to-day meals might be free-for-alls, but if you’ve got guests coming over, it’s nice to have the knives and forks in the right places.
ReplyDeleteYour plate must be clear that is most important.BY:JUBRIL JIMOH IGBALAYE
ReplyDeleteif you are making a nice toast, make it presentable in the sense that it will be able eatable
ReplyDeleteThe author made use of expository style. he also wrote in a simple language
ReplyDeletebetter presentation aids ones appetite
ReplyDeletemake your meal great and simple to prepared
ReplyDeletebetter presentation aids ones appetite
ReplyDelete