The other day my wife and I walked into a restaurant, I saw it was clean. I looked around at happy diners enjoying their meal. I heard the low muted talking and listened to the eating noises (forks and knives scratching and tapping the plate). I saw how good the food looked and smelled the aroma it produced. By then I was ready to eat and my taste buds began to tingle.

So we sat down at the table that was offered. After ordering our food and waiting a reasonable time our meal came. It looked and smelled good and was platted properly, but something was missing. Where’s the garnish?

Why Bother With Garnish?

Now let’s face it. In the grand scheme of things garnish isn’t on the top 100 list. But none the less it is important enough to help increase the enjoyment of our meals. It dresses the plate and makes our food look a little more appetizing.

Tip:

Restaurants, picnics or home, it doesn’t really matter. There are 5 senses to alert. They are, sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Wake all the senses and you are on your way to a good meal. In fact the senses can turn a good meal into a great one.

Here’s a question. When your food arrived at the table and the only garnish was a tiny sprig of parsley did it make you want to say how beautiful the dish looked? No, of course not. Which leads me to some tips for garnish.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Garnish should always be edible.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Keep it simple.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Use contrasting colors like a mound of coarsely chopped parsley with a radish rose in the middle.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Garnish should draw the eyes on it first.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Remember: too much or not enough is the same as none at all.

[if !supportLists]· [endif]Finally garnish should be fresh.

Making garnish is easy. Have the children create some that are within your guidelines.

There are a few good books on this subject. Garnish doesn’t require a lot of tools. To keep it simple a sharp paring knife, a potato peeler, and a fork is all you need.

There is a few really good books you can find and a couple of nice tool sets to help you make some really great looking garnish.

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