Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation

Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation See Latest Price & Discount EAN: 9780471479390 Editorial Reviews: Book Description Feast your eyes. Long awaited by professional chefs, this groundbreaking guide to food presentation will also delight and inspire culinary students and sophisticated home cooks. Acclaimed food writer and culinary producer Christopher Styler describes seven distinctive plating styles, from Minimalist to Naturalist to Dramatic, with several striking examples of every genre. Each plating suggestion is accompanied by clear instructions along with color photos of step-by-step techniques and finished plates. Complete with essays on plating from ten leading chefs and recipes for the dishes featured, this book is a work of art in itself--a must for the kitchen shelf. Customer Reviews: Review #1: a great beginning... 2007-03-13 This is a very nice book for beginners or a cook looking to become more of a chef. The recipes are workable. There are certain patterns that repeat (e.g. use of molds, sauces, etc). Knife skills are assumed. Layering and building are touched on. Keep a plate clean, no messy garnishes along the rims. This book will firm up what you don't know, but if you are working chef this won't/shouldn't be new. However, presentation at the next step is found in many places: Art Culinaire magazine is a start. Then the books of El Bulli, Michel Bras, Heston Blumenthal, Food Network, then HSN, QVC food presentations. Inspiration and cutting edge are found in nontraditional places and brought mainstream. Review #2: Truly bone-headed photography 2007-03-11 I was very excited to get this book, but within ten seconds of flipping through it, the problems with the photography were obvious. For a book that is supposed to be demonstrating plate presentation, ALL of the main photographs are shot in ultra-low, short depth of field macros, or put more plainly, in a way that NO ONE EVER LOOKS AT A PLATE! Imagine serving your guests at a party, and instructing them to lift their plates to their noses and peer across the lip at your "beautiful" presentation. The small, step-by-step photos are shot from a usable angle. Gee, thanks. When people charge this much for book, is it really too much to ask that someone involved THINK for ten seconds before they go to print? Review #3: Disappointing solution for a needed niche. 2007-02-06 Since becoming a truly dedicated foodie 5-10 years ago, I've been looking for a good book on plating, but have never found one. With the publication of this new book I thought my search would be over. I was way wrong. I'm not a design-oriented person, but this book is a classic example of art direction (photography, layout, design) that is so misguided that it totally destroys whatever educational content may be present (pretty little, in this case) . At times, it made me want to scream, like on p. 153, where the color and typeface choices make the type almost illegible. While the book's look might work with another cookbook, it just DOESN'T FIT with the purported purpose of the book, which was to teach cooks how to "work the plate" to create artful presentations. As mentioned in the excellent previous review by B. Marold, the only photographs of the finished plates are low-angle, shallow depth-of-field pics that look nice but are actually instructional hindrances. The series of 3-4 small demonstration photos (taking up an entire double page, with way too much "white space") in each chapter usually show things that are basic and don't really need photos (like dusting a plate with cinnamon and chile powder) and have minimal educational value. There are just a handful of neat techniques (like the chocolate bowls made by dipping a baloon in melted chocolate), but again informational content seems oddly and poorly coupled with the layout/design. In defining different styles of food presentation (minimalist, architectural, contemporary European, etc), the author makes a welcomed attempt at providing a conceptual framework to help guide the reader. Unfortunately, the dishes of food chosen to illustrate each category do not do a good job of defining that style as distinct from the other styles, i.e. they are poor archetypes. I'd much rather have seen one clear, archetypal dish from each category, WELL-PHOTOGRAPHED! I enjoyed the inserted chef profiles, and some of the author's introductory remarks to each chapter. These sections pointed out the connection between style of food and style of plating...an important point that perhaps I've not yet considered enough. In other words, if you cook wonderful natural ingredients simply (e.g. Alice Waters style), the plating syle should reflect that style of food preparation (i.e. no toothpicked geometrical designs in drizzled sauces...just a toss with a light vinaigrette, etc.). A simple, common-sense point that is nicely reinforced throughout the book. I hope that within the cookbook field the plating niche will continue to be addressed. Wait for the next attempt; it's got to be better than this. Review #4: Working the Plate by Christopher Styler 2007-01-25 A great additiom to any chef or cooks collection of books. It is very well presented in a good clear type-face with excellent photographs. The step by step plating assembly photos' are also very pleasing. This book alng with Rori Trovato's 'Dishing with Style' and Rick Tramonto's 'amuse bouche' should provide enough inspiration for any chef/cook to present the perfect dinner party. Review #5: I wasted my money 2007-01-15 The other writer was correct. Extremely basic, not for chefs or even home cooks. This is for someone easily impressed. The plating is so very outdated, that I was doing and seeing theese things many years ago. I was very disapointed.