Garnish - What is your approach and/or thoughts?

[Shining Wizard]

Hello.
What, if any, is your approach to garnishing your food?
I was taught very early on that if you can’t eat it, it doesn’t belong on the plate. But I suppose not everyone is going to eat the nasturtiums or curly leaf parsley.
I try to tie the garnish into the dish somehow. For example, if I am using tarragon as part of my sauce or spice rub on chicken, then I might use a few tarragon leaves to garnish. I find it jarring to use a completely different garnish to what is being presented on the plate.
I’m also not a fan of huge twigs of rosemary on the plate.
Do you habitually shift the garnish to the side of the plate? Do you mix it into the dish to see what flavour the cook is going for?
Do you omit garnish altogether in your own dish or do you just use it for preparation purposes?
I have a little herb garden outside and I will make a quick but thoughtful choice when cooking.
For me, some dishes need a little garnish to make it more appealing to the eye and some dishes really shine when a bit of herbal fragrance permeates the whole dish.
I think that if a dish doesn’t need any garnish added then it is best not to use it. I don’t like forcing a bouquet of herbs onto the plate when it’s not necessary.
What are your thoughts about garnish and how it works in your dishes?

 

[dragnlaw]

To me Garnish is exactly that - a Garnish to add eye appeal - whether or not it is edible.
But... here's the thing:
If it is on individual plates - it should must be edible.
If it is on the serving platter then the 'server' should must never//will not dish it out.
If people are serving themselves then the garnish can be on the platter when brought out for everyone to admire, then the cook/server should remove or set aside an un-edible garnish.

Things like parsley are not only edible but add to the flavour so, of course, they should be left on.

JMHO

 

[pictonguy]

Was never in a habit of garnishing plates, still don't.

 

[KatyCooks]

To me Garnish is exactly that - a Garnish to add eye appeal - whether or not it is edible.
But... here's the thing:
If it is on individual plates - it should must be edible.
If it is on the serving platter then the 'server' should must never//will not dish it out.
If people are serving themselves then the garnish can be on the platter when brought out for everyone to admire, then the cook/server should remove or set aside an un-edible garnish.

Things like parsley are not only edible but add to the flavour so, of course, they should be left on.

JMHO

Absolutely this!

 

[Rocklobster]

I like to garnish my food with more food.

 

[forty_caliber]

Where I come from we call it 2nd's.

.40

 

[taxlady]

I sometimes garnish with something that goes well with the dish. I'm cautious of using parsley to garnish because, I get carried away and add too much and then it looks stupid.

I garnish Danish smørrebrød (Danish open face sandwich). I tend to use the garnishes that are traditional to the particular sandwich. The garnishes are food and they are chosen to enhance the flavour of the sandwich. The only things I have seen on smørrebrød that isn't edible is citrus peel left on slices of citrus and half an egg shell used to hold a raw egg yolk on a beef tartar smørrebrød.

Sometimes I garnish schnitzel the way Danes do. They place a "dreng" on the schnitzel. The dreng is a slice of lemon topped with anchovy, capers, and thinly shredded fresh horseradish. To make the dreng, you take an anchovy and wrap it around your little finger to make a circle. The capers go inside the anchovy ring and this is place on the lemon slice.

 

[Shining Wizard]

I might steal that one, @taxlady .

 

[Shining Wizard]

When we say “nothing on the plate that you can’t eat” I don’t think of citrus rind, because I suppose you could eat it if so inclined.
I think back to a time when we were looking for a new sous chef and he came in to stage.
He put up a lovely looking pigeon dish which nobody on the panel even tasted.
He had presented it in a handmade bird’s nest - which he had made from twigs pulled off the tree outside our restaurant.

 

[caseydog]

On the rare occasion that put any effort into photographing my food in my studio, which is rare since I'm not getting paid for it, I sometimes pretend to be a food stylist (badly) and put some herbs from my garden on the plate.

Otherwise, I am focused on making food taste good.

CD

 

[Meryl]

It's nice to be served with a garnished plate in a restaurant, I don't consider it necessary, and of course, as long as the decoration is edible and relevant to the dish. Personally I have never garnished my plates. I try to make them look and smell good naturally, without needing to add make-up.

 

[Shining Wizard]

@Meryl sure, but it is true that “you eat with your eyes”.

 

[Meryl]

Yes, sure @Shining Wizard ,I'm not opposed to garnishing, it's just my personal preference, I like a challenge, trying to make a dish look good and appealing to the eye, as naturally as possible, even though I don't often succeed. Cake decoration on the other hand is very important but unfortunately I'm no good at that, at all.

 

[Shining Wizard]

Oh my. Cake + decoration are two words that send shivers down my spine.

 

[taxlady]

I might steal that one, @taxlady .

Steal what? The "dreng"? I just looked it up, because the word is surprising. It actually means a boy. I have no idea why that means that piece of garnish. The Danish dictionary referred to the term as slang. I found out that instead of anchovy, it could be a small piece of boneless herring. I imagine it would be pickled herring.

 

[dragnlaw]

@taxlady but I wouldn't consider those a true garnish. The manner in which it is placed could be considered garnishing it. But if it weren't there, as in not used at all - then it just wouldn't be the same dish, no?

 

[taxlady]

@taxlady but I wouldn't consider those a true garnish. The manner in which it is placed could be considered garnishing it. But if it weren't there, as in not used at all - then it just wouldn't be the same dish, no?

The garnishes on the smørrebrød or the "dreng" on the schnitzel or both?

 

[dragnlaw]

Absolutely, I would consider it to apply to both. Next time you make either one, leave off what you call garnishes. I'm pretty sure you will find it is missing a taste, not the visual, → the taste.
They are an integral part of the taste.

Suppose:
You are having a fish dish that you normally would serve with a wedge of lemon. You forget the lemon. You sit down and take a little bite, then you get up and go fetch the lemon - that taste was missing!

 

[Andy M.]

Was never in a habit of garnishing plates, still don't.

Me too!

If the food itself doesn't stimulate your appetite, I wouldn't depend on a sprig of parsley to push it over the top.

 

[msmofet]

I sometimes garnish with something that goes well with the dish. I'm cautious of using parsley to garnish because, I get carried away and add too much and then it looks stupid.

I garnish Danish smørrebrød (Danish open face sandwich). I tend to use the garnishes that are traditional to the particular sandwich. The garnishes are food and they are chosen to enhance the flavour of the sandwich. The only things I have seen on smørrebrød that isn't edible is citrus peel left on slices of citrus and half an egg shell used to hold a raw egg yolk on a beef tartar smørrebrød.

Sometimes I garnish schnitzel the way Danes do. They place a "dreng" on the schnitzel. The dreng is a slice of lemon topped with anchovy, capers, and thinly shredded fresh horseradish. To make the dreng, you take an anchovy and wrap it around your little finger to make a circle. The capers go inside the anchovy ring and this is place on the lemon slice.

View attachment 76494

Here you can buy a tin of anchovies already wrapped around a caper.