Plating and Presentation

Towards the start of this pathway, we learned how the visual appearance of food can actually play a role in taste.

Color is right at the heart of that. In one famous study, in 2001, a white wine was dyed red, and given to participants. Because it looked like red wine, it also tasted like red wine. Less than 5% of the participants guessed that the wine was secretly white.

Obviously, we don't want to be dying all our meals, just to trick people into tasting the wrong thing. But we can still use color in another way: to take a well-cooked dish, and make it taste even better.

To understand how to do this, we'll be referring to a color wheel. It's a useful tool for art and design, and for cooking great food as well.

Complementary colors are colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel. For example, green and red. When you combine them together, they create a striking contrast, that makes your food look more vibrant and dramatic.

Analogous colours are colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. For example, yellow and red. When you combine them together, they give a sense of balance, that makes your food look more cool and classy.

Play around with these two approaches to color, using complementary colors in some of your dishes, and analogous colors in others. You can even use them both at once: an entire plate of analogous colors, with a tiny dash of complementary color, can really look (and therefore taste) amazing.

As well as thinking about complementary and analogous colors, you should also be thinking about tones.

Warmer tones, like reds and yellows, make dishes appear more rich and hearty, and can even stimulate appetite. Meanwhile, cooler tones, like blues and greens, make dishes look fresh and healthy.

So what vibe are you going for? Hearty or healthy? Make sure to select ingredients with warm tones, or cool tones, depending on the aim of your food.

You don't want to go overboard with all this – color is just one aspect of all food – but it's worth bearing in mind while you're cooking. If you've served up a meal, and it doesn't look quite right, just pull up a color wheel, and have a think about tones. Could you add a little garnish, or change an ingredient, to make this meal more appetizing?

As well as using color theory, you can also make use of composition to improve the appearance of food.

There are lots of ways to go about this, but one classic approach is to view your plate like a clock face. If you put different ingredients at different 'times', it creates a nice, balanced-looking dish.

More specifically, you put the main part of your dish (usually the protein) between 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. Put the vegetables between 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock, and the carbohydrates (e.g. potatoes) between 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock.

It's a simple approach, and it won't work for everything. But when a dish has three components, like the ones we just mentioned, it can work really well.

Along with the clock face approach, another compositional element to bear in mind is symmetry.

When you're serving food, symmetry gives a sense of order and balance. It's great for classic, elegant presentations – it's often used in fine dining. Remember: if you draw a line down the middle of your dish, a symmetrical meal should look the same on both sides.

Asymmetry, on the other hand, gives a sense of energy and flair. This is better for more casual or expressive dishes. Modern chefs use asymmetry all the time.

You can play around with symmetry and asymmetry in terms of the position of ingredients, the colour of ingredients, or anything else you can think of.

Remember, when thinking about composition, we don't need to stick to two dimensions.

Adding some height to a plate of food can make it more fun and engaging, and leave people excited to try the food before they've even taken a bite. It's especially effective when the different layers have different textures or colors. For example, a layer of bright green vegetables, with a steaming piece of fish on top.

As a bonus, if you're serving a sauce with your meal, let people pour it themselves. As the sauce flows down the tower of ingredients, the meal will come to life.

Last but not least, don't be afraid to use some negative space.

It's tempting to fill a whole plate with food, but this often feels distracting and overcrowded. On the other hand, if you leave some empty spaces around key components, they'll have more of a chance to shine.

Your choice of plate can help with this. If you use a large one, you'll have more negative space to play around with. But bear in mind: too large a plate, with too much negative space, will actually make a portion look smaller.

As always, you'll need to experiment with this. Strike a balance: include a little bit of space, but try not to use too much.