This is my first ever attempt at culinary plating, taking all critiques. I just have a job at a bar but I really want to make food my career. -20yo kitchen manager trying his best.
by Any_Shoulder5594
This is my first ever attempt at culinary plating, taking all critiques. I just have a job at a bar but I really want to make food my career. -20yo kitchen manager trying his best.
by Any_Shoulder5594
8 Comments
I think the plate you chose isn’t doing it any favors. The enoki is the main element in the dish but the way it’s played makes it look like an afterthought. I think you should rethink how to plate it with the enoki being the centerpiece. All the flavors sound great together but it kind of just looks like things in a bowl and not cohesive dish
Honestly, take everything off the plate. Make this a fried mushroom dish, a la blooming onion.
Fried mushrooms
Ponzu sauce
Honey mustard mayo (aioli if you wanna go real fancy)
The potatoes and cabbage lend nothing to the dish and get in the way of fancy fried bar food.
You need to tighten up your handling of the enoki. They do not look properly trimmed. The mycelium end has got to go. Also they are arranged in a very “rustic” way, but having them just leaning against the rim of the plate looks messy. I’m not sure what the two thin slices of “softened potato” are there to achieve. The pool of sauce on the entire bottom of the plate is very off putting especially when the main component is fried. You might be better off making the potato (even the cabbage as well) into a fusion potato salad and using the sauce as part of the dressing. Focus on the star of your dish and maybe make it stand out. There are gochugaru blends that are not crazy spicy but still flavorful and very vividly colored that could elevate the dish if added to your batter.
The dish contains things that all taste good, but the current plating is chaotic and doesn’t seem to make much sense.
I would mash the potato, make a quenelle with it on top of the bed of red cabbage, break enoki into smaller pieces and make a sort of spiny back out of it in the quenelle, switch to a miso dashi for the sauce, make a moat around the mound and do honey mustard drops in the moat. And when in doubt, microgreens.
PLEASE CLEAN YOUR WORK STATION.
I would love this if that enoki was served in parchment and the sauce came in a squirt bottle. It sounds delicious but I don’t want to eat it with a knife and fork.
The whole ensemble looks like something from the show “The Last of Us.” The enoki would work much better on a dry plate with the sauce in a cup.
I’d make potato dumplings, stuffed with the cabbage (maybe some duxelles or something to hammer the shroom through), set them in the sauce, and garnish with some crispy enoki. Maybe even toss the crispy boys in some fines herbs|truffle oil|parm to send it.
I’ll start with the positives, the mushrooms look delicious and crispy. The main issue with this plate is the components are disproportionate. Too much mushrooms, not enough cabbage and potato. Also, there’s nothing “Thai” about this dish. lnstead of soy sauce use fish sauce ( just a small amount because it’s very strong/pungent), lime juice, honey (not honey mustard) and chopped chilies for the sauce. You should add chopped fresh herbs to the cabbage to make it even more Thai (cilantro or mint or parsley).