Gwen,
Indeed, pictures can be extremely helpful. Old plating techniques vs. new techniques is a great subject.
Jae Gruber
Jeremy,
I agree, it the concept of hot/hot and cold/cold is a great area to start. I also encourage Foundations II instructors to start emphasizing portion sizes on vegtables and grains.
Jae Gruber
With teaching a Foundations II class, they are learning how to cook veg, starch, and grains. There is not a whole lot of plating, but I start the ground work of hot on a hot plate, cold food on a cold plate. They have to start some where.
I like to show pictures as well, but I also encourage the students to do diagrams. I ask them to consider the color and shapes of the food and draw it out, then rearrange it and do it again. I also re-inforce the importance of negative space, the rim of the plate, and ask them if they need another color. That prompts them to create something in that color that will compliment not only the visual composition but the flavor, and texture composition as well.
A picture is worth a 1000 words. I show them old plating ( smiley face) and newer techniques from basic to elaborate.
Google Images is a wonderful resource. I start out by discussing height, depth, flow, the number of hand movements used and the proper use of white space. Then after they have heard about it I google "plated entrees" and voila there is a large number of photos , both good and bad, for us to use as examples to discuss. I also use this exercize as yet another example of how easy it is for them to put 10 min a day of professsional into their personal life.
Pictures, pictures, pictures! I use lots of illustrations. I also talk about what symetry and asymetry means when it comes to plating.
Kristina ,
When students have the opportunity to looking at and critique numerous plate presentations, rather than just receiving feedback on their own production it gives them multiple opportunities to learn. Showing PowerPoints of pictures as well as implementing group critiques into production classes is a great way to reach out to those visual learners.
Jae Gruber
I like to show pictures of different plates for the students to critique. So, they understand what a perfect plate looks like and what a bad plate looks like. When they critique the different plates they start to understand what we the chefs are looking at when grading their food. You need to keep it ery specific to the plate.
Albert,
I'm sure that is an extremely entertaining and engaging PowerPoint. Truly a great idea! Thank you so much for sharing.
Jae Gruber
Joseph,
It is extremely important to discuss practical plating as it relates to what the student may be doing on externship and beyond. At the very least, a discussion of high volume production and plating is in order as well as, once again, stressing a sense of urgency. Other helpful disussion matters: the reality of how hot (or cold) the food item will be by the time it reaches the customer and/or, if a particular presentation will reach the customer intact after going from the kitchen to thd dining room.
Jae Gruber
I try and teach that you don't always need a garnish on the plate, I believe that a properly thought out plate can be both pleasing to the eye and functional. I also try to have them focus on practical plating as it is something that everyone on the line should be able to do in a timely fashion. If it takes 8 minutes to plate something to put in the pass then something needs to be looked at.
Brian,
I do think plating visuals are extremely important. It is one think to explain plating, but some students do not have a frame of reference if they have never dined at a location where plate presentation is important.
Jae Gruber
david,
It is definitely a good idea to explain why you are plating items a certain way during a demo. Even if the students do not have the opportunity to do plating in an Intro class, they are at least getting an explanation along with the visual aid of your plate.
Jae Gruber
John,
The different ways that you approach the learning of presentation ocncepts and the build up and flow of the topic is very methodic. These are extremely worthwhile best practices. Thank you for sharing!
Jae Gruber
A very effective technique I use is a Power Point presentation of plated food from the 60's 70's 80's and the present. This often brings a chuckle, but it shows the progression to smaller portions, an emphasis on fruits and vegetables, and an overall simpler look.
They also realize that the basic concepts are still true, you must vary flavors, colors, textures, and shapes.
We then go through each plate and discuss how we could change them to reflect current tastes and trends. They love this exercise!!!
I accomplish this by collecting shots of very similar or same dishes with many different presentation styles into a powerpoint presentation and ask the students to vote on their favorite, and then have them break down why they liked certain elements of plates over others; this leads the discussion then into the core elements of plating. From there we move into creative ideation for dishes and practice drawing out plate presentations; another skill they will also need in the future!
I discuss plating before the students begin production. I ask the to use a plate of appropriate warmth and size. I discuss how a customer will experienc a pplate that is heaped cafeteria-style and with dirty edges. And I discuss proportion--just because you may 3 portions of rice it does not all belong on the plate at once! This is their first class of cooking and plating food. It generally is not more than 2 components but instilling care & style has to start somewhere!!
I teach an intro class and we don't get into plating that much with the students food. But one of first concepts I do start with in plating of my demos is to keep the food of the rim. The food is art and the plate rim is the frame. They dont mix.
I show examples from books to give the students ideas of how things are plated with use of color, texture, height, flow, and negative space.
