food presentation

food presentation

Enhancing Food Presentation

1. The Importance of Food Presentation

Enhancing food presentation summary American diners are exposed to as many as 5,000 advertisements a day. Many of these ads feature delicious looking food items, however, the actual products often fail to live up to the promotion. Despite this, recent years have seen an increase in chef’s salaries and the popularity of cooking shows (e.g. Iron Chef, where presentation is highly emphasized). While the proliferation of ‘junk’ mail and internet ads suggest that presentation is more important than substance, it is undeniable that people eat with their eyes long before they eat with their mouths. An experiment by Cris Bixter and Alan Spector of Penn State University sought to determine the validity of the popular phrase “People eat with their eyes”. Their study served two groups of tasters identical recipes; the only difference being that one set of food was neatly arranged on a plate, the other sloppily arranged in a bowl. The group with the neatly arranged dish rated their food as tasting better, showing that well-presented food really does taste better. A well-presented dish can turn a simple meal into a smiling (if expensive) memory. A badly presented meal will often discourage second attempts, even if the chef declares it to be one of their favorite dishes. Creating good presentation habits is a low cost-high return improvement that can be made in almost any kitchen. The key is just learning to think about the plate as another ingredient and not simply a sanitary delivery device for food.

2. Techniques for Eye-Catching Plating

Contrast is king when it comes to the visual presentation of a dish. Ensure that there is both colour and brightness contrast between elements and their surrounding areas on the plate. The most effective way to create a visually stunning plate is to select a key ingredient and then plan other ingredients around it that will present good contrast to both the key ingredient and themselves. An example: A pan seared steak (key ingredient) can be served with creamy mashed potatoes and a dark mushroom sauce. The mash has textural contrast to the steak, but as it is a similar colour it will not stand out. Adding some green peas and a few carrots will add extra colour contrast but will still not stand out because the colours are not bright. Ask yourself how the match would look in black and white, if it is all the same shade it will not be visually appealing. Be sure and cook vegetables to properly control their colour. Over cooking can result in loss of brightness and thus a loss in visual appeal, as can overuse of acidic ingredients in cooking.

Things such as sauces and purees are great for adding a splash of complimentary colour, or for tying an entire dish together. A dish with a lot of separate components may feel a bit scattered until a well thought out sauce has been added. Be artistic in how you apply your sauce, a simple drizzle can be very effective, as can creating unique patterns or using a squeeze bottle and letting your artistic talent run wild. Ensure that you do not add too much sauce, remember our goal is it enhance aesthetics not to drown it.

Often home-cooks and professionals alike will begin their culinary journey into a dish by plating rice, or a protein, or some mashed potatoes etc that has been simply scooped onto a plate. Don’t fall into the trap of being an unconscious scooper. Use your hands or a mould to shape these items into forms that are visually interesting. Try and consider at all times the motion you want the viewers eyes to take when studying the plate and place objects accordingly.

Visual attraction is one of the most important concepts to keep in mind when designing a dish. This can only be achieved through proper use of colors, textures, and negative space (empty space on the plate). Although it may seem abstract, space is a very important aspect and has a big impact on the way your brain perceives objects. More space around an object suggests it is lighter and more delicate as in this dessert where the poached pear is treated as delicately as possible. Using less space or crowded plating suggests a denser, heavier dish. Study the way space is utilised next time you eat out, you may be surprised at how much you notice. The mood you are trying to convey should heavily influence your use of space and arrangement of elements on the plate.

3. Enhancing Flavors through Visual Appeal

Special consideration should be given to the use of complementary and contrasting colors. Refer to the color wheel (pictured right) to determine the relationships between different hues. Using colors close to one another on the color wheel will result in a more calming effect, whereas using complementary colors will give a more vibrant look. A plate of food should never have more than three primary colors. It should have one dominant color and small portions of the other two. This prevents the plate from appearing too busy and unorganized. A sprinkle of chopped parsley or a small garnish can add life to the plate; however, use this technique sparingly. Only small amounts are needed as too much will overpower the plate.

The professional chef appreciates the concepts of both flavor and visual appeal. To some extent, the flavor of a dish is achieved through the level of visual contrast on the plate. For example, a lightly colored food such as poached chicken breast would be better suited to a dark garnish such as fresh herbs or black pepper. This compares to a dark food such as beef, which would be more suited to a lighter contrast such as lightly colored vegetables and a white sauce. The contrasting colors of each dish add vibrancy and depth to the plate. Thus, there is an enhanced sense of flavor as the eyes can “taste” the dish before it has even been consumed.

4. Incorporating Color and Texture

An easy way to add texture to a dish is to add something crunchy to an otherwise soft dish, or something soft to an otherwise crunchy dish. An example of this is adding nuts to a salad. The salad may already contain many colors and be visually appealing, but the addition of the nuts has now made it more interesting and added further appeal. Yet another example is a dish of pasta with a tomato sauce. A simple dish to cook and one that can taste very nice, but visual appeal may be lacking due to the dish being entirely red in color. This dish can be greatly enhanced by adding a variety of seafood. Not only has this added further color, but also a contrast of visual elements and it has turned a one dimensional dish into a multi-layered one.

There are a number of ways to add color to food, some more effective than others. For example, drizzling a pasta with truffle oil not only adds flavor, but a nice golden brown color. This is a more effective way of adding color than say, stir frying vegetables until they lose their color and go a dull shade of grey. The use of texture in food can be a very powerful tool. It can mean the difference between a dish that is one dimensional and a dish that is multi-layered and interesting to eat. Textural changes can be made in a single ingredient, for example the skin on a fillet of fish can be crisped.

The use of color in food can range from the natural, to the use of added color for enhancement. There are all kinds of naturally occurring colors in foods, from the greens of vegetables to the yellows of many types of pasta. As a general rule, naturally occurring colors are preferable to added ones. However, there are some types of food that due to the cooking process or length of time involved, lose their natural color and can appear unappetizing. An example of this is white asparagus, which when cooked goes a very unappealing shade of grey. In cases such as these, it is perfectly acceptable to use added color to retain the visual appeal. An inedible example of the use of color in food presentation is the garnishing of plates with parsley – it is usually considered a pretty addition to the plate, but is almost never eaten. Other foods with edible garnishes are a far more effective way of incorporating color, the classic example being a salad with many vegetables.

Engaging all of the senses is incredibly important in creating an optimal dining experience, but the visual sense is by far the most significant. Colorful and texturally varied foods are far more appealing and appetizing than monochromatic or monotextural dishes.

5. Presentation Tools and Garnishing Tips

Another simple but essential tool is a palette knife. A palette knife is used for spreading anything from pâté to purees. An interesting puree can be made by boiling beetroot or carrots and blending them with a small amount of cream and seasoning to make it smooth. Imagine how ordinary a grilled chicken breast with carrot and beans sounds. Now with the addition of a carrot puree and a small amount of parsley, a carrot and parsley puree can be spread onto one side of the plate using a palette knife and the beans on the other side. The chicken can then be placed resting on top of the beans and the garnish will have taken this simple dish to another level. With some practice, creative exploration, and the use of different tools and utensils, you too can create beautiful and interesting food presentations.

A very simple, but versatile tool which is necessary for all food presentations is a piping bag. A piping bag can be used for anything from potatoes to chocolate. Piping mashed potato onto a Shepherd’s pie creates a beautiful texture once the pie has been baked. Mashed potato can also be piped onto a casserole or stew to create an interesting texture. Liquid ganache or melted chocolate can be cooled and piped onto a baking sheet with a fancy pattern and placed in the fridge until it sets to create garnishes for cakes and desserts. Then there is the more advanced side of chocolate work which can be explained in the book entitled ‘Death by Chocolate’ by Marcel Desaulniers where there are many complex and artistic chocolate garnishes which can be created using a piping bag.

Japanese chefs are schooled for many years in preparation and presentation of food. In Japan, serving food is considered an art form. To enhance the presentation of the dishes that you prepare, there are a few simple tools and garnishes which will make a significant impact.