A Book Would Be Nice
All of these suggestions are helpful, but it would be nice to see a book on this subject. I am looking at what is available thru Amazon, but have not found a lot of what would fill the bill. There are two that I see, Culinary Artistry having more (and higher) ratings than Working the plate. Jacques Pepin's book, mentioned above, is a wonderful thing to have, but even that book does not give the rules I (and, I believe, the top poster) is referring to.
What culinary authors don't seem to get is that there is a difference between simple rules and techniques of arranging food on a plate, and minimalistic garnishing...and turning an apple into a bird or a watermelon into a fruit basket! The first techniques and rules would be used at every single meal, and involve few additional things on the plate, other than the meal items...whereas the others would be used occasionally, and involve adding crafted designs that are there only for appearance sake.
What I mean is that there is a difference between theory, which is what I am looking for...and techniques of carving and sculpting, etc. This is like the book The Flavor Bible, which gives ideas of what goes well with what else...and the millions of cookbooks out there with specific recipes. The first single book expands possibilities more than a ton of cookbooks.
I can give a few rules, but as I said, I would like to find one book with all of the rules:
1. Don't crowd your plate. Certainly, we tend not to use as many side plates in home food service, but we probably should do so in order to keep them less cluttered. Open space around and between food items on a plate seems to enhance appearance.
2. Consider the colors of the foods when creating the menu...a piece of poached fish, mashed potatoes and white asparagus may go well together in terms of taste. But it is going to be a monochromatic, boring looking plate.
3. Don't over-sauce foods. At home we probably tend to do this, giving a gloppy looking result of food floating in a lake of gravy. A fine restaurant will dribble on minimal sauces in a creative patterns and, if anything, serve additional sauce on the side.
4. Learn to use what you have on hand for garnishes. No fresh parsley? Use a sprig of curly endive (chickory) or anything like carrots, or cabbage or even lettuce or spinach can be shredded into fine threadlike strips for a garnish.
4A. The rule is that every garnish should be edible...not just on the plate for appearance. ie: If you decorate a plate with a flower, it should be an edible flower, such as a squash blossom...rather than a plastic or inedible one. Ideally, also, a garnish should enhance flavor and compliment the food's taste, not just the plate's appearance. To give an extreme example, just to make the point...a slice of red onion would look great on top of vanilla ice cream...but you wouldn't garnish ice cream with onion!
5. Look at your spice rack. No, you would not sprinkle most dried herbs onto cooked foods as a decoration...both the texture and taste would usually be unpleasant. But some things on your rack can be decorative and add to flavor and texture at the same time: paprika or smoked paprika; dried, toasted onion flakes; toasted white or black sesame seeds, etc.
6. Consider whether food should be served in one piece, or cut up and arranged. Watch Gordon Ramsay completely transform a plate, in a few seconds, by cutting a piece of meat in half and laying the halves against each other rather than serving it in one slab...and putting the pieces on top of some greens, rather than next to the vegetable.
7. Look at what gets done with sushi as an example of what could be a boring presentation...that ends up as a work of art.
Anyway...if anyone can suggest a book of these basics, I would appreciate it. If such a book doesn't exist...someone needs to write it!