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Food Plating

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Food Plating

Postby karadekoolaid » Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:49 am

Ok. Calm down! :gonzo This is not a post about why we should all emulate Picasso, Ferrán Adriá, Richard Knott and all those other wonderful artists. This is about how we put our food on the plate.
I looked at a recipe in the Grauniad for Summer Fruit Pies and was appalled at the presentation. The pies were dumped on a baking sheet ( with a rusty corner to boot) as if the chef just said: "Right, I´ve cooked it, that´s it". For me, that´s totally unacceptable, and I just wonder what Jay Rayner might say about it.
But that´s not the point: these days, we´re supposed to have heightened awareness of how our food is presented, because there are more "foodies" in the world than ever and we all think we know what´s good! (and often, we don´t) 8-)
Still, there is a saying that we eat with our eyes, even though, at home, we may just dump everything on the plate ( as in 1960´s school dinners) and not worry too much.
I was very fortunate to have been invited to attend a "Food Presentation" course some two years ago, run by a French-trained chef, and about the only things i got out of it was " colour, texture, volume, contrast". But that helped; even when I´m cooking for myself
So my question is: do you try to plate your food so that it looks good, or do you just plate it as you always have done? And does it really matter??

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Rainbow » Sun Aug 09, 2020 7:22 am

We put all the dishes or bowls of food on the table and help ourselves to whatever we want. Not really plating it - just put it on the plate and eat it :lol:

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Suffs » Sun Aug 09, 2020 7:30 am

I don’t go in for towers and stacks and I don’t splatter or swirl ... but if I’m plating a meal in the kitchen rather than putting food on the table for guests to serve themselves, then I do consider the placement of the various elements of a meal ... thinking about colour, shape and texture as well as whether or not a sauce is needed for all adjacent elements or only some of them.
However I find that considerations of colour, shape and texture are part of my life ... they help me decide where to put many everyday things ... from the position of plants in the garden which is probably quite normal, to the placement of items of laundry on the washing line, which I concede probably is not. :oops: :lol: Whether or not these considerations would enter my mind were I not a trained artist I have no way of knowing.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Suelle » Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:39 am

As far as the Guardian's concerned, that sort of photography just seems to be the fashion at the moment. I think it's good to show a realistic representation of the recipe they are featuring.

Presentation on the plate doesn't bother me in my everyday cooking, which is just for myself - a lot of my cooking is 'one-pot' anyway, so just needs putting into a bowl.

If I'm cooking for others the food goes on the table in serving bowl/plates - rarely plated up first.
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Re: Food Plating

Postby Suffs » Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:36 am

Now I’ve seen the photo which appears to have inspired this thread, I have to say I think it’s perfectly fine ... it’s a pic of the ‘pies’ as they could be expected to come out of the oven, not as they would be presented to a diner at a meal. What is more the whole point of the recipe is that it’s about home cooking and comfort food ... to that end I think the photo is appropriate for the magazine article and if it was taken by the chef rather than by a professional with the help of a stylist, I congratulate her and the sub editor who presumably selected that particular photo from at least several that would've been submitted.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby halfateabag » Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:45 am

If it's just the 2 of us, I plate up in the kitchen. Don't overthink the food but try and keep any sauce/gravy with the meat etc. I do like colour on a plate but taste is more important. Chicken korma and rice - very beige ! What is important to me is texture, I do like a bit of crunch on a plate if possible. If we have guests then they serve themselves at the table.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Gillthepainter » Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:54 am

As I wouldn't serve a baking tray at the table, I agree. It doesn't look at all attractive as a food photo no.
We are the same as Rainbow.
All food is delivered to the table in serving dishes, to be dished up as we want.

If I'm cooking for family, it is presented in the kitchen, serve yourself. I'd find plating everyones food a bit stressful.


I saw Ed Baines Christmas programme years ago. Where he took the traditional turkey dinner, and gave tips how to present it better.
It looked fabulous when he finished.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:55 am

I think that the vogue for one room living, even in large houses, has made dining more informal and to run from oven to table with a baking tray far more acceptable amongst friends than it would have been once.

It was drilled into us right from school school to present plates nicely, taking into account textures and colours when planning meals ( with copious use of parsley :lol: ). I would always use serving dishes with guests or several people, apart from being easier, it means they don't have to take anything they dislike and you can utilise leftovers. Even at times like Christmas I find it hard to get everything into dishes and still hot by the time everyone is ready to start. I watch TV chefs poncing about with stacks and stuff and wonder how warm the food would be by the time everyone's ready. In a small kitchen without extra hot plates or warming cupboards it must be virtually impossible. Why do people make fun of Hostess trollies ;) ?

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:24 pm

Don’t think I’ve seen that particular photo but I agree, there are a lot of food pics now that are intended to show the food you might achieve as you pull it from the oven at home and that’s no bad thing

I don’t do a lot of fancy plating or presentation though occasionally I do pretty starters for guests, I put serving bowls and plates on the table which I try to set nicely. When it’s just for me it’s a case of putting stuff on a plate so that things are separated or not according to how I want to eat them. Or doing quite a lot of prep so the plate or bowl of food is easy to eat, removing bones and olive stones in the kitchen so I don’t have to deal with them using table cutlery

I have a bit of a problem as I can’t see details well, hence the extra prep in the kitchen and it can be an issue in restaurants that can be very badly lit. Having failed to read the menu I’m then not sure what’s on the plate as presented - stacks obviously a problem, sauces hidden under pieces of food, can’t always tell if the bones and stones are in place, is a bit of something red sweet Romano pepper or super hot chilli? And, critically, can I eat it in public without making a mess - having to break down a complex presentation makes this much more difficult for me, and for a lot of people with various disabilities.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:59 pm

It must be incredibly difficult, Sue. I once had a generous roast dinner with friends in a pub served in a soup bowl with a brim. We all agreed that it was impossible to discover what lay at the bottom until most the meat at the top had been eaten and even then, the discovery of roast potatoes at the very bottom was a late surprise to all :evil:.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:22 pm

Oh those teeny bowls with wide brims!

:roll: :twisted:

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Seatallan » Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:36 pm

I'm rather glad that the fashion for eating off slates seems to have run its course. I was beginning to find it a trifle annoying. It was OK for some dishes but really didn't work with anything that might run away such as gravy.
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Re: Food Plating

Postby karadekoolaid » Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:57 pm

I don´t go in for stacks or foams either, and the last time I tried to create a "splash" effect, I think more got on my apron than on the plate :gonzo
Good point about keeping the food hot, however. In pro kitchens it´s achieved by having lots of people helping and each one assigned a different task, but they all know beforehand because the plating is decided before service.
At home, even with guests, it´s very much serving dishes. As EM said, it makes it easier for those who don´t want all the items and easier on the leftovers.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby KeenCook2 » Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:53 pm

Serving dishes are great for all the reasons above, but it can be hard to fit them on the table :oops: Christmas is a case in point

I don't mind the photo in question - it is, after all, home cooking.

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Re: Food Plating

Postby ZeroCook » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:56 pm


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Re: Food Plating

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:01 pm

Thank you ZeroCook, I was never going to find that

I wonder why she calls them “hand pies” I’d call them turnovers, not pies of any kind

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Suelle » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:25 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:Thank you ZeroCook, I was never going to find that

I wonder why she calls them “hand pies” I’d call them turnovers, not pies of any kind


Hand pies is an Americanism for individually sized pies of any shape, I believe.
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Re: Food Plating

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:41 pm

I’m beginning to think the Grauniad is on a campaign against British English

Meera is from Lincolnshire according to her blog (though obviously very closely in touch with her S Asian heritage) so I don’t know why she’d use American terms. Unless like so many things one thinks are American language it’s also regional British

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:45 pm

An old chum and I used to go to Waitrose for breakfast about once a month before lockdown. We had to give up on the full English because they served it in ridiculously deep chargers. It was absolutely the wrong plate for the meal and you needed a spoon to get everything out.

(We went for the pecan Danishes after a while). :oops: :lol:

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Re: Food Plating

Postby Suffs » Sun Aug 09, 2020 7:06 pm

Just a thought but Lincolnshire has long been home to several USAF bases ... there’s quite a strong American influence in some areas ... particularly in the southern part of the county (Lincs and Cambs Fens) ... one often sees the Stars & Stripes flying outside homes and businesses ... there are cafés called Diners. Meera describes them as American style hand pies ... probably because that’s what she knows them as.

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