attractive presentation (wasRe: [Sca-cooks] Vegetarians)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Gorgeous Muiredach wrote:


> Dunno about documentation.  But I *do* know that they don't all need to be
> garnished.  An attractive presentation doesn't by definition mean a
> garnish.  It doesn't need to be an elaborate one either.  But!  I think
> that presenting food in an attractive manner is important.  Too many times
> food is "slopped" on the dish and brought out.  That is where I have a
> problem.
>
> Master A's KISS is worth a lot (You! Out of the gutter <wink>).  Yes, for
> Savarin's sake, don't hide the food with garish garnish!

Just something to consider, and I'm not placing blame on anybody in
particular unless I put some on myself... but Muiredach, remember Lenny
Henry's "Chef!" character and the Things From Beyond The Pass? The
Morons? Please understand I'm not heaping (well, not much) real abuse on
servers, their job is hard, too, but I can't count the number of times
I've seen a server (mundane as well as SCA) pick up a carefully composed
plate, something that is not highly garnished, but which is
intrinsically beautiful, and do a very fast 180-degree turn on one heel.
Centrifugal force kicks in, and the salad is all over the plate, if not
the floor. Imagine this treatment with lentils. I would guess that maybe
1/4 to 1/3 of the slopped-looking plates Muiredach speaks of have had
some treatment of this kind, and the rest probably simply _were_ slopped
onto the plate.

One thing I've noticed over the years, is that there are people who do
not understand that repetitive motion does not have to lack precision,
and that standards do not have to drop when in bulk production. I was
once assisted by a SCAdian while I made a couple of hundred crepes at
some event or other, and he said he was amazed at the fact that I would
throw away a misshapen pancake, or at least not use it among the 200 I
had to make. He seemed to think the only object was to get the job done
as fast as possible, and I had to tell him that Napoleon is said to have
stated that the first crepe is always given to the cat -- the first one
is often messed up, torn, burned, etc., as you get your hands back into
crepe-making mode. I also told him that Andre Soltner had said that it
is impossible to be a successful chef without some degree of simple love
for the people you're cooking for. That it shows when it is there, and
when it is not. Just as, if I were diapering 200 babies, the comfort of
each one would be important to me, each of the 200 crepes is important,
too. He went away, shaking his head a bit, but I think he got the idea
eventually.

I think a lot of the inveterate sloppers, both in and out of the
Society, have to be taught this.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98