When making tartare, keep everything chilled as you go, including the mixing bowl and plates. Presentation matters, too: The meat should be fridge-cold when served and cut as precisely and neatly as possible.
Finishing food is about the tiny touches. In the last seconds you can change everything.
From the time I start prep to serving the food at the table, I like for the whole thing to be beautiful.
I like how food can look incredible more than I like eating it. I started moving food around the plate to make it appear I'd eaten more but then enjoyed making faces on the plate - peas for eyebrows, Yorkshire puddings for eyes.
I learned that things taste better on pretty plates.
If you put pesto in a squeeze bottle or just at the end of a spoon and drizzle it, it looks so much better. It's the little things. Plating is actually easy once you learn the little tips.
Plating your salad with groupings of ingredients may seem fussy but in fact it's the opposite. All the prepped ingredients go directly onto the platter, so no need to dirty a separate mixing bowl for tossing. Another reason we like this plating strategy? It allows the picky eaters out there to choose only the parts they like best.
It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.
The visual aspect of a dish is so important; the shapes and colors and overall design have to strike the right mood and convey the right idea.
As chefs, especially pastry chefs, your creativity plays such an important part in your daily work. We truly do have a blank canvas to work with every time we create a new dish.
I can't cook, but I have a nice book of menus... and I can plate and set the table.
When I cook a meal, I like to serve things one by one and keep them separate. I get that from my father - he's such a purist. Some people even put their desserts on the main plate. It's just wrong.
