The first picture is how the dish was presented to me; utter nightmare. The next two are my first revision. I hate the stupid yogurt zigzag; I’m thinking a medium heat red pepper half charred skin as the vehicle for the yogurt…really make the plate pop I think.
by KallianArcayne
11 Comments
Any and all constructive feedback is very appreciated.
Second arrangement is best with it all blobbed together. But i think its a bit large.
Biggest problem for me is no vibrant color. Its all blah brownish. Give me color because plating is art
I can tell everything is bland by the amount of micro greens you need to put to make it look edible
I agree that the yogurt isn’t ideal. Something more akin to a quenelle atop the cluster with herb garnish might help refine it. (Yes, it’s overdone but so is everything).
For me, the tomato is just the plate killer. Mealy, pale flesh. I’d scrape it off and just enjoy the squash, myself.
I’d ditch the tomatoes and maybe keep the skin on the kabocha, would help give some contrast.
Also, maybe blend the shiso with your macadamia sauce( more color) and do a pool under the squash instead of an all over the plate drizzle.
Edit for spelling.
Fuck the white plate it’s just horrible contrast.
Look for a dark plate for the colors to pop, maybe even in a cast iron oval container.
Stop using so much micro greens, you can probably take half of one of those mounds and use it to garnish the whole dish.
I never tried making fake yogurt with nuts but that seems so grainy, it might be more work but maybe pass through a Tami to get that smoothness we wants.
And the red stuff can probably be squared off and sprinkled/spooned atop or mixed into El yogurt. Hell might even look better with piquillo style red Peps.
So you got the colors of black, gold/yellow, red and white. That should make it all popadoodle .
Remember, fuck them boring white plates.
Edit: added stuffs
Function + form man, good plating has an equal balance of both. I can tell you’re trying to mimic what you’ve seen and be creative without understanding the basics. The garnish on the side of the plate is useless and will go uneaten, that is where you would put extra seasoning or a drizzle. No one is going to add one extra leaf to their bite by bringing their fork all the way over there when they already have such a huge pile in front of them. If you want to make the plate seem more full visually I suggest a spice mix on top of the tomato and lightly sprinkled on the sides of the plate, before olive oil. I can tell this dish needs it anyway.
You have to consider how your guests are going to approach the plate and how it will evolve, not just how it will look when it gets there. Your condiments and herbs need to be directly on top of the main focus. They are not sides meant to be eaten separately, they are all three part of a single bite you have crafted. Make it as easy as possible for your guests to experience it how you want it to be experienced. Yogurt base, Squash, tomatoes, herbs stacked on top of each other and evenly distributed with portions that make sense. Always KISS (keep it simple stupid). No reason to needlessly overcomplicate plating on a simple dish like this, it will just end up looking tacky and awkward, like with that silly zig zag.
I would suggest a nest of yogurt as the base, it’s a good way to evenly distribute the yogurt while also keeping the squash from sliding when it gets cut into with fork. Grill marks on the squash and some red peppers was a good call as well, but if you do that I would get rid of the salsa and add more savory notes and acid, include more yogurt. I would also include less herbs.
Anyway, good on you for improving standards man. Keep it up.
Edit: after zooming i see that you do have a few specks of spices on the plate. i know there is a supply shortage going on but surely you can afford to be a little more generous. come on man, spices are meant to be tasted not just seen. right now it looks less like you wanted to enhance the dish and more like you forgot to wipe off the plate.
It seems like the same excessive amount of micros but now they’re in awkward piles instead of strewn about the plate.
Ditch the micro green piles, looks awkward and would look much better just individually scattered
I suggest spooning the fake yogurt onto the plate instead of using a squeeze bottle and piling the squash on top
Also a different plate (darker) would definitely help
Heard chefs, cheers for the feedback; I really appreciate it.
Fuuuuuuuuck white plates! It’s gonna be uphill but we’ll get there. Lemme throw this out there; is two minutes too long to plate something like this? I know it needs more refinement, working on it, but less than two minutes? Honest opinions please. Cheers.
I think actually the first picture isn’t fantastic but has the most potential. With some minor adjustments it could look really beautiful.
– Sauce on the plate could be a bit more randomly spaced
– Each pumpkin slice cut pesan style in 3, giving 9 all together, arranged on the plate using “organised chaos” if that says something
– the red sauce also spooned in the empty spaces on the plate
– microcress just scattered lightly around
– a liberal drizzle of the EVOO
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just my 2 cents.