Top Chef Plating Techniques

Whether you’ve spent hours slaving over a gourmet meal or are simply going to have a microwaveable meal for dinner, plating techniques can make all the difference in how you feel about your food and how you maintain your diet.

 If you’re trying to stick to a diet, eating your meal out of a plastic container may make you feel less satisfied. The food will look small and tiny in its container and this effect may cause you to eat more later. Try taking the food out of the container and placing it on a dinner plate.

If you have just cooked a gourmet meal for your family and friends, you don’t want the meal to look less than perfect. Perfect plating is the final step in creating a gourmet meal that will create lasting memories for those that eat it.

 When placing the food on the plate, make sure to keep things neat, and until you become more skilled at plating, it is best to choose white or neutral colored plates… as these color choices will pair well no matter what type of food your are serving.

You will also want to choose larger plates, because food does not look as good when it is crowded together on the plate. There should be room on the plate to see each part of the meal and let each ingredient shine through. If your food looks bland, consider adding some garnishes, but remember that your garnishes should be edible and they should match the taste spectrum of recipe you have chosen.

 For an example of a well plated pot roast and vegetables, check out MagicKitchen.com’s Pot Roast. As you will see, the pot roast has been sliced neatly on the plate and laid out with fresh green beans that are garnished with red bell peppers, which of course are completely edible and wonderfully tasty!

The clock formula is a another popular plating choice, used by many chefs and home cooks. This entails looking at your plate as if it were a clock. You then place your meat or fish at two o’clock, your starch at ten o’clock and your vegetables at six o’clock. Some tricks that will keep this plating technique exciting is to use different heights and textures. For instances, don’t just plop potatoes on plate, consider using a pastry bag to make your potatoes or sweet potatoes look decorative.

However, if you are serving a meal that does not have three components, this clock formula may not work for you. For instance, if you are serving pasta, you will want to choose a larger plate and make sure the pasta in in the center of the plate and that the rim of the plate remains clean, wipe away any sauce that falls on the rim of the plate with a napkin. You can then garnish the pasta with some fresh herbs, so that the plate does not look monotone.

 The most important thing to remember is that the plate should look neat and attractive. Make sure you place the most appealing part of your plate directly in front on your guests and you want it to look edible. In the beginning, simple is better.  Creating elaborate towers or structures out of your food may confuse your guests instead of making them eager to eat the meal.