# Need garnish & plate Presentation ideas.



## jonathanl (Aug 17, 2011)

I need some new ideas for a plate presentation ( Stuffed Chicken, Fish and Salad). Something that isn't so time consuming; being able to make 250-300 plates at once. Also, if anyone has ideas (for during the butler-service hour) to make the try passing look presentable.                                              

                                                  Thanks A lot


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

what are you doing now? 

as to passing trays, I don't load them up....the trays are made of different material (wicker, bamboo, copper, silver, painted metal, etc) with different prop & fresh garnish.....not sure what you are currently doing.....


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## jonathanl (Aug 17, 2011)

i am catering a wedding..


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

sorry I wasn't more specific......How are you presenting food currently? 

$15pp event is very different than a $125pp....price point/amount of staff/what your style is like all influence our answers.


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## nicholas beebe (Jul 22, 2011)

Presentation is highly dependent on the dish. Please describe the dishes. Also, how much staff do you have to help you, and is it 250-300 covers, or 250-300 plates?


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## jonathanl (Aug 17, 2011)

Answer to shroomgirls: $50pp event, i am working with 15 people ( Waiters, busboys & people in the back setting up the plates).


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## jonathanl (Aug 17, 2011)

Answer to Nicholas B.: I am serving a first course of salad (made up of California Greens with sliced Tomatoes & Cucumber; topped with Nuts & Mandarin Oranges with dressing.). The second course a Choice of: Stuffed Chicken Breast sauced with Onion Sauce OR Baked Fillet of Salmon. Both entrées with a side of Asparagus, Carrots & Potatoes...... Its 250-300 plated (site down dinner)


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

i like simple simple garnishes on an entree plate..what about chive sprigs...one long one just across the plate or two crossed...it's simple, upscale and elegant..or perhaps an edible flower...i think everything on a plate should be edible...

joey


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

The salad is self-garnishing. Just dress it first, then arrange the orange supremes in a visually interesting pattern and sprinkle with the nuts.

As to the others, I agree with Joey: garnishes should be both simple and edible. But I personally don't like the chive thing. To me it always looks as if they were merely tossed on top of the food as an after-thought. Ya know, "whoops, I need to garnish it...."  And I don't find them all that visually appealing, either. Not when used in that manner.

Whenever possible I like to garnish with something that ties in to the actual dish. For instance, if I were stuffing the breasts with a mushroom-based filling, I might garnish with carved mushrooms. Maybe even go so far as to create puff-pastry mushroom-shaped croutons. Or pick up an element from the sauce---perhaps, in your case, a lightly steamed scallion or two. That sort of thing.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

how you cut the veg matters, carrots on a bias....

chopped parsley, dillweed, rosemary, chives.....which ever works with veg/entree

lemon for pop of color with salmon...spring of dillweed with lemon slice

onion sauce....cooked pearl onions make a great garnish with a touch of chopped herbage...any of the above work well

what KY said for salad.   

nice to read that you've got plenty of staff....


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## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

How are you doing the potatoes? I like using a tall pommes duchess. It looks good enough that it takes some of the 'pressure' off garnishing.


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## nicholas beebe (Jul 22, 2011)

The above posters pretty much nailed it.

If you have the fridge space, just plate them up ahead of time and be really fussy about how you arrange the ingredients so they look nice. Fan stuff, shingle stuff, stack stuff. I assume you're using something like a vinaigrette to dress them? Just get it good and emulsified and leave it in a squirt bottle. If you have white space around it on the plate you can just give it a couple go rounds with the vinaigrette, assuming the plate's flat. Two color's would be cool if you had time. Like an orange sauce, thickened to the consistency of the original dressing, but it sounds like that may be a stretch. If you know someone who garden's they're probably cutting off the basil and oregano flowers from their plants right now, and a lot of people throw them away. Free garnish that looks nice, tastes good, and is mild enough to go with a salad.

Chicken: depends on the stuffing and depends on if you're cutting it before serving or leaving the breast whole. Asparagus has been used as a garnish before. Depending on how you're doing the potatoes, I would consider layering it, especially if the onion sauce is something you'd want on the taters. Slicing the cooked breasts will make this a lot easier to do, so the guest can just stab it with a fork, instead of trying to cut a chicken breast on top of a soft piece of potato. If it were me, I'd probably set the sliced breast on the potatoes, sauce it, run a line of sauce around the plate, top the breast with asparagus spears, and then set oblique cut carrots on their ends in the line of sauce around the plate. Maybe sprinkle on an appropriate chopped herb, or put a little ball of caramelized onions, fried onions, or thinly sliced fresh onion on top.

With salmon, your choices should be affected by how you season it. I'm a fan of fennel tops, butter sauces, dill, deep-fried spinach, and I'm sure a lot of other things I'm not thinking of at the moment. I would avoid laying the fillet flat. It usually looks boring, but it all depends. I'm not a fan of lemon. To me, it's like the chef is saying, "I don't know if I seasoned the fish well enough so here's a lemon to squeeze on it just in case." If it's not something squeezable, it seems like garnish for the sake of garnish. Same rules as above apply. Fish that is baked until flaky (I assume that you'll be doing that) stacks well. since it breaks apart easily.

In general, pay attention to how the veggies are cut. Little things like striping the cucumbers or decorative cuts with the carrots will go a long way toward the ultimate look of the dishes, and since they are done before the service begins, they don't make life any more hectic than it already is. Good luck.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

ky,

 gentleman farmer, kind sir and friend..i would not/do just toss chive sprigs onto a plate...you should know me better than that...i strategically place them either 5 to 11 for a single strand(is that the correct term) or 6 to 12 for a double or a cross..depends on the plate..you don't have to like chives or agree with it as a garnish choice...just thought you should know..it ain't like curly parsley!!!

joey


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

thetincook said:


> How are you doing the potatoes? I like using a tall pommes duchess. It looks good enough that it takes some of the 'pressure' off garnishing.


You mean kitchens are still making those? I thought duchess went away years ago.........please tell me that.....


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Joey, I didn't mean to imply that you, or anyone who cares about presentation, actually just tosses the chives on the plate. Merely that, no matter how carefully you place them, that's the way they appear to me---as an afterthought.

Another aspect: We both agree that garnishes should be edible. In the case of the chives, though, how often does that happen? Most of the time they get pushed off to the side and ignored by the dinner (in which case, they actually are curly parsley /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif).

My goal, when dressing a plate, is simple: I want the garnish to pretty up the presentation, certainly. But I also want it to be a logical part of the plate, so the dinner not only admires it, but eats it as well.

Just as an example, take the OP's chicken breast in onion sauce. Criss-crossed chive stems is one garnish. Steamed or butter-sweated scallions another. I'm willing to bet good money that most people, served it with chives, would scrape them to the side, but that most people, served it with scallions, would eat them as part of the dish.


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## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

Chefross said:


> You mean kitchens are still making those? I thought duchess went away years ago.........please tell me that.....


what is old is new again! i have made them for winetasting dinners and they are just the right addition to dress up a small beef tenderloin course...maybe cuz no one makes them anymore. a bit of a pain because of the ricing, but well worth the look and the make ahead bonus.....ooh,ky... sometimes i even add chives!!!!!/img/vbsmilies/smilies/chef.gif

my bad...

joey


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