Beautiful plates and sustainability
Why is it worth arranging the plates nicely on Christmas? In everyday life, things usually have to be done quickly, and we don’t always take the time for such things. Decorating the menu and paying a lot of attention to detail, we show our loved ones that they are important to us. It creates a festive mood. In addition, a great side effect of creative and professional menu decoration is a bonus in terms of sustainable action. After all, when you’re serving, you’re creating smaller portions that certainly won’t leave any leftovers. And when you’re cooking at home, you can always have more. But be careful: leave room for dessert! 😉
Today, we’ll show you what you need to artfully drape your prepared treats on the plate and what simple tips and tricks there are. Plus, as a bonus, we’ve got you covered with a few tricks of the trade from the chefs of our Green Pearls® partners.
6 Things You Need to Arrange Like a Pro
Before you start, make sure you have everything you need, so you don’t have to search for it when you need it. You probably already have some of the things you need. Others you might have to get beforehand, but you can find them in any well-stocked grocery store with a household goods department. Or even better, you can borrow them from friends, neighbors or acquaintances. Also used you find such special things with security. What are some things you could use around the kitchen? 😉
- Clean dishtowel: so you can quickly wipe away small mistakes and clean your fingers in between.
- Tablespoon: for scooping and spreading sauces and creams. The advantage of the tablespoon is that you are already used to handling and intuitively know how the liquid reacts.
- Round ramekins/serving rings: Maybe you have some of these round ramekins in different sizes for baking cookies. Or get some special serving rings. Use them to shape purées and rice, as well as looser menu items like salad, on the plate. Simply place the ring on the place setting, pour in the food of choice, and carefully lift the tool upward.
- Squeeze bottle: A squeeze bottle can be used to apply sauces and creams in a targeted manner. You can use it to create stripes, splatters, blobs, dabs or even entire patterns, depending on the consistency of the contents.
- Angled palette: Unlike the tablespoon, this creates clearer edges and shapes. Individual food elements can be placed more precisely with the flat, smooth surface of the angled palette.
- Kitchen tweezers: These are very helpful for final decorating and placing small and delicate items, such as edible flowers and herbs.
- Fine last-minute gift tip (not just for Christmas)
You have an amateur cook in your family or circle of friends and are still looking for a gift? Put together the professional kitchen tools mentioned above, along with a tea towel and a spoon. As a packaging is suitable, for example, a tangerine
Plates, bowls and co.
We have already mentioned the plate several times, and it is actually not insignificant when arranging fine food. After all, it forms the frame for your delicacies, so to speak. So that your menu creations can work, choose rather neutral and light colors. However, depending on the dish, black or dark gray place settings or slate plates can also look great and create a nice contrast. Generally, the draped food will appear more precious and classy if you serve on large plates. Shallow bowls also look elegant and are also more practical when you’re arranging bowls, for example. In a bowl, you bundle and layer all the elements specifically next to and on top of each other.
Professional tip for preparation
Christmas in particular can quickly become hectic when the family arrives. To avoid breaking into a sweat, prepare certain dishes or components in advance. To make sure they stay hot, there’s a simple trick: preheat empty dishes by placing them in the oven at 50 – 60 degrees Celsius for a few minutes or by immersing them in hot water. Be sure to dry them before using them.
Tips and tricks from the Green Pearls® pros
1. Use sauce level
When we asked the Green Pearls® kitchen pros what they thought, they gave us some great suggestions. The kitchen team at the HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio in the Allgäu region likes to dress with a gravy boat. This means that the very first thing you do is spread the sauce evenly over the place setting. All the other components are draped over it. This way, the dish is in the foreground and is not covered up.
2. Colored accents
The professionals of the Hotel SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA use different colored plates and vegetable purées to set colorful accents during the arrangement. For final food decoration, what they use are edible flowers and crunch decorations, such as fried vegetables.
3. Drinks as a complement
The culinary team at Lifestylehotel SAND on Timmendorfer Strand is also happy to bring color into play with the selection of the respective beverage and offers its own creations, such as SANDdowner to match the evening glow. In addition, the Hotel SAND also gives the important hint to pay attention to loving and atmospheric staging all around, so that eye and heart can eat and enjoy. Now it is only called: suitable music and candles on, on a beautiful evening in “chill atmosphere” 😉
As you see, sometimes a small hand movement already makes an enormous difference. Have we made you want to get creative with your plates for your Christmas menu? If you like, tell us about your experience
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