Garnishing with edibles

There must be a zillion ways out there to garnish food. And to each one, her own (style). We attempted to outline some garnishing tricks and techniques  in our previous posts. For example, we've considered using ingredients of a dish as it's own garnish.

But how about garnishing using edibles that are not a part of the ingredient list? What could these edibles be?  What are some things we should keep in mind while using these edibles as a garnish? Are there any caveats to using certain edibles as a garnish? Are there some edible that would work better for a certain kind of food and some that would not? We all probably know the answers to these questions in the back of our minds. But how often does it strike us 'in the moment'? :)
Welcome to Episode 2 of the Return of the Garnishing Event! Along with Raksha, today, we endeavour to document some original as well as tossed around ideas on garnishing with edibles.

1. Seeds: Seeds can be a great garnish especially for salads. Sprinkling Sunflower seeds, for example, over a bed of spinach salad could be a great addition in terms of both nutrition as well as visual appeal. Sesame seeds, on the other hand, can be used as a garnish for Indian snacks such as Dhoodhi Muthiya or Japanese Sushis. Image on left: Coutesy google search.
Caveat: Not very effective when the colour of the dish itself matches the colour of the seed. Use the Contrasting Charima style to make most of sesame seeds as a garnish. Also, consider the textue of your dish when using seeds as a garnish. Seeds will add a crunch to your dish.

2. Herbs: The ubiquitous freshly chopped coriander leaves go with almost any curry or rice dish. Basil leaves are a perfect garnish for italian and thai dishes. Oregano flakes are a beautiful garnish for roasted potatoes.
Caveat:  Some herbs can have a distinct and strong flavour to it. Use herbs such that it complements or enhances the taste of the dish. Practice the Balancing Act when working with herbs.
3. Citrus: Using lemon or lime as a garnish is a hit when it comes to drinks. Cut wheel of lemon and experiment with Simplicity sensation for an eye catching garnish. Alternatively, try chopping of a lemon wedge and strategically place it on the rim of a glass of gin. Lemon/Lime can be cut in many different permutations and combinations to give a new look each time. Check out this site for some ideas.
Caveat: Be careful on the composition of your dish. Citrus should never be used to garnish milk products.

4. Vegetables: Carved carrots, tomato roses, Fanned spring onions act as a great centerpiece for any dish. Brightly coloured bell peppers can be a spotlight when used as a garnish. Use the shiny and better quality ones to bring out the right effect. If the vegtable you are working with is a green cucumber or zuchini, consider strips, peels, or ribbons. You will be impressed.

Caveat: Cannot be used as a garnish for most desserts. Needs some skills and tools like a sharp knife for successful implementation.

5. Fruits: Strategically shaped fruits are a great accompaniant as well as garnish for ice creams and some cold desserts. Fruits can also be used to garnish drinks. After all what is wrong with splashing around some deep or contrasting colours that add ust the right panache? For example, consider piercing a lychee with a toohpick and lay it over the top of a glass full of martini. Picture on left Courtesy: Google

Caveat: Consider the serving temperature of your dish or drink when using fruits as a garnish. Fruits usually work better with chilled beverages or dishes.
6. Nuts: A winner when it comes to garnishing milk based desserts. Pistachios and milk mased desserts go great. Almonds work better with puddings such as Carrot pudding.
Caveat: Food allergies must be considered when using nuts as a garnish. Also consider blanching, roasting, or using unsalted nuts depending on your dish in question.
7. Milk/yogurt/cream: Dairy is a perfect garnish for most soups and lentil curries. It adds to the richness and creamy texture of the gravy.
Caveats: Cream can double on calories, adding yogurt to a dish can decrease the shelf life of the dish, and milk can lessen the original colour of the dish or dilute the spicy level of your dish.
8. Onions: Both onion rings and chopped green onions work wonders with most Indian vegetables and snacks.
Caveat:The quality of the onion itself. Some onions tend to be more spicy than others. When it comes to garnishing, red onions are a better bet compared to the yellow counterpart. Be careful to not overpower the taste of your main meal when using strongly flavoured onions as a garnish.


Can you think of any other edibles that can be used as a garnish? What are some caveats to these garnishes?

Decorating Baked Goodies and Presentation Tips

As an amateur cook, I do not quite dread cooking. However,  I shake to bake and more so when I have to decorate the baked good. There is so much I can learn in the baked goods decoration arena. And today is a step towards this.

Some of you may have noticed the Return of the Garnishing Event a few posts ago on my blog. I've received a couple of entries but there is this one blogger for whom I hold special fondness. The fondness not only comes from her talent and personality but it comes from her style, ability to think outside the box and fearlessly experiment. Her presentation techniques for baked goodies never cease to amaze me. With no further ado, please let me re-introduce you to 'in-the-moment' Nazarina of Giddy Gastronome. Via digestive biscuits, Naz offers a couple of suggestions on how something so healthy can also be made to look rich and appealing.
Note: The tips below is a paraphrased edition of Naz's style with slight additions from my end.

Here are some economical yet head turning presentation techniques from the horse's mouth:
1. Be whimsical or edgy with garnishes. For example,
consider garnishing with a chocolate writing.
2. Use edible garnishes that complete the dish. For example, use cheese to garnish crackers.
3. Stock up on dollar store bought cookie cutters.These can be used to get shapes of edibles such as cheese that will be used as as a garnish.
4. Use toppers or plastic toys to decorate cakes or cookies. These can be found at craft stores like Micheal's.
5. Use a complementary tablecloth of wrapping paper as a base for the edibles. This will bring  the colour of your baked goodie to the foreground.

For more tips and techniques on garnishing, see here.

The Return of the Garnishing Event

After the huge success of the Garnishing event hosted by me in a few years ago, I have decided for it's comeback.

I have decided to make this a monthly event. The last date for submitting entries is the 20th of each month. You can send as many posts as you want to this event. However, a maximum of one post per blog per month shall be showcased in the Garnishing series. Archived posts are also allowed as long as it is linked back to this announcement.  
 This event is only open to bloggers.


Guidelines:

1. Send your best garnished dish. You must send unique posts to this event.
2. The post should preferably be about the presentation or garnishing of an Indian dish but is not restricted to any cuisine.
3. You must have a picture of the garnished dish on your post and it must be the picture of your recipe.
4. Link back to this announcement with the logo above.
5. Send me an email with your post at food[dot]fanatic[dot]recipes[at]gmail[dot]com. In the subject say Garnishing Event.
6. Please include the following details:

1. Your name
2. Blog name
3. Post URL
4. What tips or tricks do you implement to garnish your dishes (some rules you follow, presentation advice, photography clues, etc)
5. How you garnished it (carving steps, sprinkling ingredients etc)

I'll get the photograph from your post. Looking forward on hearing from all of you.

For extra entries, follow my blog publicly, in a reader, subscribe by email, like the site's facebook page and leave a comment for each entry right here in this post.

Garnishing tip and techniques for food: Marvel with vegetables, carve a carrot

A beautifully crafted dish can flirt with your senses to create an emotional response that is both captivating and romantic.

Welcome to Post two of Food Fanatic's weekly showcase on ideas for decorating food, presentation techniques, and tips for garnishing.

Today, we are featuring SitaKiran from the SpicyLovers fame. From Australia, SitaKiran sends over her carrot marvel. SitaKiran, on request, put together a step by step procedure for creating florets from a carrot for this post. Thanks, SitaKiran! I am totally fascinated with the look of this juice - so inviting!

Carving vegetables dates back to AD 618-910 (1000 years ago) and originates in Asia. Food lovers from around the world till date express their admiration for beautifully crafted dishes, and there is on going acknowledgement of the aesthetic sense and the pleasure, the creativity of a food carver can bring to the table.

Unfortunately, many people such as myself are still unfamiliar on how to use a knife to do wonders with a vegetable. So, join me in going through a carrot floret carving session?


















We have a lot more coming up. Stay tuned for many more garnishing tips and techniques! As a part of this weekly series, we present an exciting and new garnishing style from fellow foodies around the globe.

Want to participate? Click here.

Garnishing tip and techniques archive:
Be unconventional: use a stencil

Garnishing tip and techniques for food: Be unconventional, use a stencil

A beautifully crafted dish can flirt with your senses to create an emotional response that is both captivating and romantic. The sense of sight has to do with the sense of taste. Believe it or not, the look of a dish can make it more delicious. It's psychological. Science has proved that the nose and mouth are connected to the eyes which is connected to the brain.

So, welcome to our first post of Garnishing tips and techniques for Indian food - a weekly showcase of ideas for decorating food, presentation techniques, and tips for garnishing!

Today's post features Nazarina A from GiddyGastronome. Naz is my personal favorite blogger when it comes to making food look pretty with style and color. Check out her blog yourself if you don't believe me! You will be in awe. Naz says she doesn't have any rules where presentation and garnishing are concerned. She will use just about anything to complement the main dish. The edgier and the more unconventional the better! Truly, I can see this does work!

Today, Naz presents one unconventional style for food decoration. Her entry for Garnishing tips and techniques for Indian food is Butterscotch almond thumbprint with balloon. She used a stencil(!) and some cocoa powder!
I have no doubt that these taste great. I am confident that kids will particularly love to eat these cookies because how cute they look.
Thank you Naz for being kind enough to willingly share your style secret!

Through Garnishing tips and techniques we endeavor to project myriad and fascinating ways to make food look more appealing. As a part of this series, every week we will present an exciting and new garnishing style from fellow foodies around the globe. Here is to our first post. Stay tuned for many more ahead!

Want to participate? Click here.

EVENT: Garnishing tips and techniques for Indian food

Garnishing and food presentation is an art. A beautifully crafted dish is more inviting and makes the meal more memorable.

There have been so many instances when I considered taking a course on food decoration. Fanciful and exciting as it may sound, I could not find such a course. I soon realized that learning about food presentation and decoration is nothing but a quest and a never ending process. There are no rules and regulations, and the skill cannot be taught. Garnishing is personal style and does not need to be elaborate. Simplicity can suffice. The more you experiment and research, the better you get at it.

I have a long way to go and with each attempt to decorate my food, I learn something.
Garnishing only with edibles, using contrasting colors, carving (read: trying to carve) raw vegetable, and not overpowering the visibility of the main ingredient in the dish have become some regimes of my personal style. And I continue to learn and build up on my personal style.

More specifically here are some of my garnishing ideas:
1. I love to sprinkle Cilantro on any Indian dish specially vegetables because it adds color and I love the taste of fresh cilantro!
2. Add Butter or cream
3. Use overlapping onion rings

This event is about sharing and showcasing garnishing skills. You will need to cook up an Indian meal and garnish it. I will feature one post per week as a part of this series.

Guidelines:

1. The deadline for Garnishing tips and techniques for Indian food is March 15, 2009.
2. You can use any post from your archive.
3. The post should preferably be about the presentation or garnishing of an Indian dish but is not restricted to any cuisine.
4. You must have a picture of the garnished dish on your post and it must be the picture of your recipe.
5. Link back to this announcement, and feel free to use the logo above.
6. Send me an email with your post at food[dot]fanatic[dot]recipes[at]gmail[dot]com. In the subject say Garnishing Event.
   
7. Please include the following details:

1. Your name
2. Blog name
3. Post URL
4. What's special or defines your presentation or garnishing style (some rules you follow etc)
5. How you garnished it

I'll get the photograph from your post. I'll email you to let you know when your post is being featured. Looking forward on hearing from all of you.

Update:
Unconventional wonders: use a stencil
Marvel with vegetables: carve carrots
Simplicity sensation: garnish with edibles