Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation
2Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation
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 an
List Price: $ 40.00
Price: $ 20.12
George R. Wilmot
Disappointing solution for a needed niche.,
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.
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|glouise
not inspiring and not informative,
Some nice pictures…many cookbooks have better. No discussion on style or technique and certainly no recipes worth buying the book for. Check it out at a bookstore or library before you purchase it…watching a food network show will give you more information on plating than this book will in my opinion. There is also the fact this book is TINY, not worth the money or a second look it is so lacking in information. So disappointing. I was at least expecting pictures of several presentations of different courses even if there was not a lot of explanation, a picture is truly worth a thousand words when developing this skill. Did I mention this book is a big disappointment.
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