This is my second attempt at plating from about six or seven months ago. I think it's important to post failures as well as successes, not only for honesty but also for feedback, which has honestly helped so much. I have been throwing myself into as many chef/cooking-related groups and events in real life as possible, and it has helped develop both my palate and my skills.
Here, I was cooking with a new cut of steak, trying a new sauce, and trying to plate it. I think I failed on three fronts: the steak was undercooked for the cut and size; the sauce tasted good but broke because my plate was too cold and the sauce too hot when the butter was incorporated; and my pictures were rushed, and I didn't balance the light correctly or bring the whole dish into focus. But I learned from it. What failures helped you all learn? I'm curious.
The food is a New York strip-style cut, with red wine sauce, crispy shallots and garlic, seared mushrooms, and mashed potato quenelles, with mixed greens.
by wilddivinekitchen
5 Comments
i highly recommend adjusting the depth of field of your camera so the entire plate is in focus.
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Presentation looks legit, only note is that the potato quenelles do indeed look a bit “mashed.” 😉
Would love to see them look a bit plumper rather than somewhat flattened.
It’s so wild to see all of that written out and it brings me back to how you’d do that paragraph in your head 20 times in 30 seconds before putting up a plate and then again 1000s of times to the point where you don’t even think anymore.
As you said, you’ve already critiqued much of it and the picture makes it hard to add more but I will say that the micro greens “growing” out of the potato and mushrooms gives me a weird sort of ick for some reason.