On Plating
Recently, a friend and I observed that it’s not so much that I’m good at cooking, but instead, highly skilled at putting a meal together, specifically plating. Plating for me is not based on aesthetics, but the order and combination that people should put food into their mouths. What goes on top of what and what separates what should be thoroughly imagined prior to placing down a grain.
All plates should be balanced in terms of absorption, fat, and levity. Those are the three main tenants and I hope one day this mini manifesto should be placed and read before entry into any buffet.
Absorption
What immediately comes to mind here is rice, potatoes… those pillowy materials which absorb flavors, melding with their own to temper a meal or create a third, new flavor, such as with injera and its sour undertones. Although one has the temptation to place this at the bottom, its water density should be considered first. Let’s use mashed potatoes, which are close to maximally full and in little fear of over soaking. A helping full of sloppy baked beans at a British pub will not make your potatoes fall apart as they will the accompanying toast. The absorption layer, in most cases, is only partially covered or placed on the side entirely, as with the bread baskets.
Other than the consideration for fat absorption is heat absorption - The hotness level of the absorbed item versus the placed item. If your absorption layer is cold and the placed layer is hot, or vice versa, we understand that there will be a transfer of heat. Although the wilting of salad can be seen as a negative, if we are for some reason too lazy to deal with separate cooking times, we can use this to our advantage in not having to break out a separate pan. This is exemplified with Pho Tai, where raw, thinly sliced meat is placed at the bottom of the bowl and boiling broth is poured over. Delicate flavors are further taken into consideration by the heaping plate of herbs served alongside, torn apart and placed in the hot broth which cooks them just enough to take flavor while maintaining the color (also touched on in the levity category below). Personally, I love a slightly wilted green. I’ve been on a kick of adding raw, rough chopped, bok choy to the bottom of my plates and bowls. With the hot food placed on top, the green portion cooks entirely while the white stalk cooks down partially, absorbing the salts and flavors from the dish while maintaining its original crunch.
Fat
The fact of the matter is that not many people want to admit that they’d like to use their finger to scrape up the lard left over from the bacon as much as eat the bacon itself. The most we are willing to admit is that we have an issue with the texture, not the fact that we’d like to chomp directly into a perfect slice of butter. Because we’ve alleviated most of our textural fears with the absorption layer, I wholeheartedly encourage you when cooking for groups to go for the fat. In the end, it's unlikely to be as much as restaurants include. Really run with it, just make sure people don’t know that they’re eating it or else they will be both disgusted with themselves and you in the process. Ways to hide fat include melting it so that people do not realize what they are having or crisping the outside because while we don’t want to bite into a slice of lard, we definitely want the crackling and have no issues requesting an extra helping.
Levity
Now that we’ve covered the most objectively delicious layers, we get to the last one which has the hardest time standing on its own, by and large because of the shelf life of many of these items as well as their lack of caloric density. Levity is all that which cuts through the fat layer and reaches so far that it impacts the absorption layer as well. Levity is the thing in your meal that makes you think it wasn’t so bad for you (and might also be the thing that makes it not so bad for you). It’s the green, it’s the tart, it’s the bitter that breaks through and makes you think of bright light. My go to for levity is arugula, an herb that we’ve allowed to be thought of as a salad green and has a suspiciously long shelf life when purchased from anywhere but Trader Joes. Arugula with a squeeze of lemon will help most western style meals in a bind.
Although what I see as levity primarily falls into the category of acids, it is also our opportunity for color and absurdity. When it comes down to it, watermelon radish is not so special, but when I get a thinly sliced one on my plate, I am filled with delight. This can also come in the form of edible flowers which are beautiful and delicate items to be loved and consumed with pure joy. In Chinese cooking, we often see moments of levity in intricately cut and patterned vegetables and in the US in the 60’s, food which looks like other stuff, a specific favorite of mine. Let’s say an egg that is dressed as a small soldier or a cauliflower made to be a wooly lamb, incredible.
Absorption, Fat, Levity, my Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, but make it plating. If we can successfully incorporate these into the next time we’re piling our plates high at Thanksgiving (nearly impossible as everything is brown and could maybe fall into the absorption and fat category) we will see gazes of awe and wonder from family and friends alike as we show off our newly acquired skill set.