[Sca-cooks] RE: Presentation of food at feasts

[morgancain at earthlink.net]

I agree that presentation helps.  But to be honest, there is presentation, and there is "gussying up."  Making the food look good on the plate is presentation.  Random pointless bits of vegetation are "gussying up."

Many period recipes include instructions for plating and presentation.  Many do not.  Similarly, modern recipes may include "serving suggestions," which are for how to plate the item and with what to serve or surround it.  I don't find many tomato flowers in those instructions, and frankly consider those waste of a perfectly good tomato.  And I suppose that one person's version of "nicely presented" is another person's version of "gussied up."

One of the problems I have seen with large feasts is that yes, when you are trying to get thirty-five platters of food ready all at the same time, and HOT, adding frippery might be the last thing on your mind.  Cooking for a family of four or six or ten, you can get one platter done and all the food out at the same time.  Cooking for 400, and having to get the food out at the same time, takes considerably more skill and organization.

This is not to say that I avoid presentation.  Rather, when planning the meal, I choose dishes that either come automatically looking fancy, or which require little effort to look nice on a platter or in a bowl.  For example, salads.  Not much to place the greens in a nice manner, and to arrange the veggies on top in a decorative form.  This can even be done ahead, and the salads covered and kept chilled until the moment they are splashed with dressing, given to the server, and sent out.  (The marshmallow chicks and bunnies I used for one Easter salad were just for kicks, and not in the usual repertoire!  Besides, it was an in-joke to high table.)

Roast beef, made in slices, that are neatly arranged on the platter and drizzled with sauce.  They can surround a bowl of rice, or the other vegetables, if the platter is large enough and the bowls not out of proportion.  Roast chicken covered with lemon slices looks pretty nice as is.  Tarts likewise, although the covered ones might have some design pricked or cut into the top instead of just random slashes.  Roll the liver pate into balls instead of just dropping blobs on the platter.

And etc.

                                  ---= Morgan


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Faith is believing what common sense tells you not to."
      ---= Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara), "Miracle on 34th Street"

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