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The Secrets to Stunning Edible Arrangements . . .
After you practice designing your meals and Xperimenting
with cooking styles, you are ready for the final step in preparing and serving up a great meal .
. .
E. FOOD PRESENTATION
– The final element is how you serve up the feast that
you have prepared. Food Presentation is the art of
making your meals visually appealing. It’s fairly
simple to get that “Wow, it looks so mouth watering and
delicious!” expression from your guests. Since the
objective is to serve up something that will look good,
Xperiment with what you think will look stunning as an
edible arrangement. If you want to keep it simple, just
focus on the dish and what is to be put on it. If you
want to pull out all the stops, then go with a theme of
your choice and dress up everything, including the
dining room. Let’s run through some ideas to move you
along . . .
On the simple end of the scale, all you need to do is
select a suitable bowl or plate and arrange your food on
it, then add something to garnish. The easiest is to
place all your food onto serving plates for your guest
to help themselves. Select large enough bowls and
plates, matching if desired, that can hold the amount of
food you have prepared. You can fill a serving bowl
with
   soup
and sprinkle some chopped spring onions on top to
garnish. Fish can be served on an oval plate, or one of
those fish shaped dishes, and you can arrange some
lettuce and round slices of lemon to decorate. For
shrimp, try arranging them in a circle on a round plate,
and put sauce for dipping right in the center.
You can be more creative when you do individual
servings. If you are serving soup, select a regular
bowl or a soup dish which is shallower.
 You may wish to
use bowls that have a design or color that matches the
soup you have prepared. To be more outstanding, you can
use an oven safe bowl or cup, fill it up with your soup,
then cover with a sheet of pastry and bake it; you will
serve a nicely done cup of soup with a pastry crust
cover. Or how about serving up soup in a bread bowl;
just hollow out a ball of bread with a fairly thick
crust and fill with thick creamy types of soup. Don’t
try this with soups that are not thick and creamy as
they will soon soak through and begin to leak. To
garnish, you can use vegetables or spices; slice up some
mushrooms and float them on top, or grind some black
pepper over you soup.
For the main course,
 you can
simply lay out the meat, potatoes and vegetables on
different sectors of the plate in a traditional manner;
 just remember to include ingredients with nice colors
and arrange them in your chosen pattern. Try using
carrots or tomatoes to add bright orange or red to your
dish. Use corn, pasta or potatoes for a dose of yellow.
How about tri-color pasta to really mix up the colors?
If you wish to be more adventurous,
try stacking your
food on the plate; how about starting
 with a base of
chopped lettuce, add some cubes of boiled potatoes mixed
with a spoon of butter, garlic salt & pepper, then place
your grilled steak on, next comes the fried mushrooms &
onions, and to top it off drizzle steak sauce over your
mini tower and sprinkle on a pinch of dill. To add even
more color, you can even use a squeeze bottle of mustard
or tomato sauce and draw some patterns on the plate
around your steak tower.
  Appetizers and deserts are my favorites as you can
really let your imagination go . . . and come up with
really delightful creations. Try using a Burgundy wine
glass for your shrimp cocktail, then plant a stick of
celery with the leafy end up on one side and garnish the
lip of the glass with a circular slice of lemon for a
lovely presentation of this favorite appetizer. To turn
a serving of ice-cream into a visual wonder let’s use a
tall Martini glass, add in a scoop each of your two all
time favorite flavors, arrange a few slices of kiwi
fruit & peach on top, then make a cut half way thru a
large strawberry at the correct angle to slide it onto
the lip of the glass, top off with some chocolate,
coffee or fruit flavored liquor of your choice.
By now, your mind would be flowing with ideas, right?
Let’s take you all the way with a theme and dining room
décor . . . Imagine that it’s Valentine's Day, and you
have planned an intimate dinner for two with the love of
your life. You have the house all to yourselves, and
you are going all out to make this the best evening
ever. Love is in the air as you transform the living
and dining areas with pink and red tones, from
 the curtains to table cloths to heart-shaped cushions. 
Fresh flowers and scented candles are everywhere; your
center piece is a magnificent bouquet of red roses. As
the sun sets, the evening begins . . . you light the
candles and put on your favorite love songs. The two of
you gaze into each other’s eyes and share an extended
embrace. Popping the Champagne, both of you whisper the
first of
 many toasts into each other’s ear. Sitting
side by side dinner is served . . . from appetizers all
the way to desert, every course has been masterfully
conceived, designed & prepared by you.  With tender loving care,
your
favorite
foods
are beautifully
decorated and presented.
Under your
expert touch, every mouthful taste like heaven. You’re
on cloud nine and wishing the night will never end!
If you’re a guy and did this for your gal on your first
anniversary, you would send her over the moon and she
will love you forever. For the ladies, your man would
be putty in your hands after an evening like this.
Couples, you can re-ignite your passion by doing this
together . . . enjoying each others company through the
day as you prepare for your blissful evening.
Now it’s your turn to go forth and create visual
masterpieces to serve your guests; they will surely be
astonished at your work of art. If you need more ideas,
you can always look at how the chefs at your local
restaurants present their dishes, or you can flip thru
food magazines, or surf the internet for tons of ideas
to get you on your way.
Now that
you know the Secrets to
Xperimental Cooking,
all you need to do is to start cooking; after all, as
the saying goes . . . “Practice Makes Perfect”.
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