Let's discuss. This work of art above is an assigned production. That is, what you see is my effort to recreate the school assignment to make a tart tatin plating that includes dragets of hazelnut, a gastrique, raspberry sauce, phyllo nest, quenelle of ice cream, tempered chocolate disks and a sugar spear.
Would you try this at home? Never. Non! How can you possibly deliver it to the table without a meltdown? It's a constructive sturm und drang - storm and stress - all over the place. Have I mentioned that I am foundering in the uniquely challenging class known as "plated desserts"?
Recently a wise friend helped me see that plated desserts are akin to DI assignments in school, if you're familiar with the Destination Imagination program that challenges kids to solve seemingly unsolvable structural projects using creativity, teamwork and problem solving.
That means I need to imagine solutions for works of dessert, not just look up recipes. Plating is a form of architectural balance and beauty, form and function. Some desserts look gorgeous on the plate but fail to deliver on flavor. And flavor is the number one aspect you remember of a dessert, so why skip its importance when building something good?
Other desserts may taste home-style "yum toy," as the great Gay Smith used to say, but are visually piggy pie messed up. Slop on the plate. The art of this discovery process is to find what works in flavor, texture and temperature, then organize the elements in a way that treats the eye. The Eyes Eat First.
Would you like to see examples of what I've just said, both good and bad? Check out Dessert Professional.
Just around the curve, the world of chocolate. Yum toy!
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