Help on improving my dish

[Pauls019]

So this is my fish dish. The first one was salt baked carrots, burnt leeks, fillet of hake, shellfish bisque (not shown) apple purée, plaice and shellfish mousse wrapped in squid ink pasta.

My improved version was a salmon mousse, fillet of salmon, pea purée, pickled cucumber spaghetti, citrus Butter sauce and tomato concasse ( not shown) and crispy fried samphire and some herb crushed potatoes under the salmon.Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Pauls019]

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So this is my fish dish. The first one was salt baked carrots, burnt leeks, fillet of hake , shellfish bisque (not shown) apple purée, plaice and shellfish mousse wrapped in squid ink pasta.

My improved version was a salmon mousse, filler of salmon, pea purée, pickled cucumber spaghetti, citrus Butter sauce and tomato concasse ( not shown) and crispy fried samphire. Any suggestions?

Thanks

I also thought that the fish mousse inside the pasta could be wrapped with a mushroom duxelle and crepinete for a more punch flavour and. Top the dish off with a Parmesan emulsion rather that the citrus butter sauce

 

[kuan]

You can improve the pickled cucumber spaghetti. Add another vegetable, add an herb too maybe?

Your potatoes are like crushed under and too hidden. Potatoes are a tough call. IMO find a better way for them to stand out on the plate.

You can put a tiny more bit of work into this and it can become great. It's good but not gold medal winning. Look at Art Culinaire or other similar magazines for ideas.

Also, take into account if this is an entree or just part of a 10 course prix fixe so, the protein portion must fit the type of service in your restaurant.

 

[Pauls019]

You can improve the pickled cucumber spaghetti. Add another vegetable, add an herb too maybe?

Your potatoes are like crushed under and too hidden. Potatoes are a tough call. IMO find a better way for them to stand out on the plate.

You can put a tiny more bit of work into this and it can become great. It's good but not gold medal winning. Look at Art Culinaire or other similar magazines for ideas.

Also, take into account if this is an entree or just part of a 10 course prix fixe so, the protein portion must fit the type of service in your restaurant.

Thanks for your advice and anyone's that contributes. I know it's not 'gold medal winning, I don't do competitions,I am just trying to improve my food and style. Yeah your probably right, maybe a carrot spaghetti for contrast and some soft herbs, maybe purple potato would suit more as you suggest should stand out more if seen, but I know pasta and potato can be a difficult one to do, possible thinking some smoked purple potato. To make it gold medal winning what would you suggest?Kind regards

 

[someday]

I think the dish looks nice, I'm sure there are lots of interesting flavors and textures there too.

My suggestion would be to simplify...not simplify in terms of technique or presentation, but more like..what could you remove from the plate to get to the heart of the dish? What do you want the dish to be?

More focused flavors would do you good here. Why do you need potatoes AND pasta? Two starches seem redundant. I would pick one...samphire, cucumber, brocolini, tomato concasse, peas, potatoes...all seems too busy. Focus on one or two flavor/ingredients for garnish. Maybe do garnishes in a few different ways. Think things like charred leeks and green leek top puree. So really, it is still just leeks, but the different ways of using it re-enforces the flavors and makes the dish tighter.

I really like the pasta bit, I think it looks cool and dramatic (but not too flashy or gaudy). I've never seen a sheet of pasta served like that--both filled and open at the same time. So kudos for that.

I actually think your first dish is (the one with carrots and leeks) is the better one. Again, less is more often times. Instead of apple puree...maybe carrot puree?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your dish looks like a culinary student who is trying way too hard. Focus on a couple complimentary flavor then re-enforce those ideas.

Keep us posted, I love discussions like this. Not too many of them around here to be had. For a pro chef community I feel like there isn't a lot of discussion on menu items and food preparation. Mostly just whining about employees

 

[Pauls019]

I think the dish looks nice, I'm sure there are lots of interesting flavors and textures there too.

My suggestion would be to simplify...not simplify in terms of technique or presentation, but more like..what could you remove from the plate to get to the heart of the dish? What do you want the dish to be?

More focused flavors would do you good here. Why do you need potatoes AND pasta? Two starches seem redundant. I would pick one...samphire, cucumber, brocolini, tomato concasse, peas, potatoes...all seems too busy. Focus on one or two flavor/ingredients for garnish. Maybe do garnishes in a few different ways. Think things like charred leeks and green leek top puree. So really, it is still just leeks, but the different ways of using it re-enforces the flavors and makes the dish tighter.

I really like the pasta bit, I think it looks cool and dramatic (but not too flashy or gaudy). I've never seen a sheet of pasta served like that--both filled and open at the same time. So kudos for that.

I actually think your first dish is (the one with carrots and leeks) is the better one. Again, less is more often times. Instead of apple puree...maybe carrot puree?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your dish looks like a culinary student who is trying way too hard. Focus on a couple complimentary flavor then re-enforce those ideas.

Keep us posted, I love discussions like this. Not too many of them around here to be had. For a pro chef community I feel like there isn't a lot of discussion on menu items and food preparation. Mostly just whining about employees

No offence taken regards to the culinary student part and again it much appreciated as I believe as chefs we are all here to help each other develop. I was out of the game for 4 years and my career never progressed as it should have, so now I'm just trying to better myself. That was my choice and it suited my current situation back then, but it was also at the expense of progressing, keeping up with trends and developing. I agree about the potatoes. I'm just filling the dish for nothing, but at the same time I felt there was not enough eating in the dish, customers had it and the plate was wiped clean, they never complained but had me thinking could there just be a little more on the plate?Maybe a nut brown butter carrot purée, could work, I agree with there being to many ingredients.

 

[pete]

I am in total agreement with a lot of what Someday says. I think you could simplify a bit. I'd remove a couple of components and focus in on making each of those fewer elements really pop. I think that your first dish has the most potential so I would work on that one. I really like the cucumber spaghetti so I would work on that component. Love the look of the pasta. Like others have pointed out, drop the potato. It's not needed since you have pasta and just seems like something added just for the sake of adding another component.

 

[cronker]

I agree with all of the above.
But also, from a FOH perspective, how does it read on the menu?
"Fish with pasta, broccolini, potato, tomato, samphire, cucumber, peas, kitchen sink"

I'd smash that, though. Looks very nice.