Topic: Trying new ideas

[Malc.]

Getting back into currying again, i've been thinking on trying new things. Over the past months i've been trying to make my food look and taste better but always seem to struggle with presentation. I think in the main, this is because my portion sizes are far to big to allow for delicate plating. :

Anyway, I put this dish together yesterday which was: Poached Chicken breast with Bengali spiced potatoes and a Hyderabadi style curry.

I was quite pleased with it but felt I had plenty of room to improve it. Not sure what you guys will make of the pic, but all comments (good and bad) are welcome.

Cheers,

Malc.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Puts the average (and even the better-than-averaqe) BIR style of presentation to shame, Malc.  From a purely personal perspective, I would have preferred the sauce to be a little more on the red side, rather than pure brown as appears in the photograph, and I do wonder whether (e.g.,) M. Blanc jr would put the main ingredients in the middle of the sauce, or whether he would present them on one side of the plate and the sauce on the other.  If you did that, you could then use some yoghurt/curd to introduce those swirls that today's chefs seem to love.  But jolly well done all the same : makes my presentation look like the rubbish it is !

** Phil.

[daddyL]

Malc looks a tasty plate of food mate presentation is all down to personal preference, for me I would ask are the leaves there just for aesthetics or do they add any taste/texture to the dish, I play around with presentation but I tent to take the keep it clean and simple approach and as for these chefs that "smear" sauces or drag spoons through them they all need a damn good flogging IMHO.
I agree with Phil it would put allot of restaurants to shame and remember do what pleases your eye and palate

I wouldn't be disappointed to receive this plate of food anywhere  do you deliver 

[Malc.]

I would have preferred the sauce to be a little more on the red side...  But jolly well done all the same

Thanks Phil, I fully appreciate your comments. I was actually trying to achieve that glistening oily red finish but it didn't quite come about properly, from the process I used. You can vaguely see some oil at the top right. I like the idea of yoghurt and swirls but sadly my plates are just not suited for that sort of layout, I will be looking for plates more suitable for this.

...I would ask are the leaves there just for aesthetics or do they add any taste/texture to the dish...I wouldn't be disappointed to receive this plate of food anywhere.

Thanks DaddyL, again, comments very much appreciated. The leaves were added not so much for flavour or texture but to provide some balance of both colour and vegetable component. Like you I often wonder how these tiny little tear drop smears of sauce and the odd placement of an edible flower or micro herb warrants been the 'vegetable' component of the dish, so the leaves were added to provide this. As an aside, the pea shoots did add to the dish texturally and in a pleasant way, which was fortunate.


I should say that I had originally decided to use baby spinach as a base to the potatoes, but my local coop had none left on the shelf. A reduced down bag of fancy salad came to the rescue. 

[curryhell]

Not your normal BIR fair .  A plate of very posh nosh Axe . Presentation of food is an art in itself and sets the scence by promising so much.  Maybe that's why most restaurants have so many different types of utensils for serving dishes.  Just throw it in, add a few slices of onion, pepper, tomato or a frozen carved carrot or rose, sprinkle on the chopped corriander and you're half way there. Very little thought goes into it which suits me down to the ground, as i lack creativity when it comes to presentation .  But it still looks reasonable albeit not plated with all the fineries :