Garnishes Garner Raves

For banquets, people dress up, and restaurateurs dress up their foods. Their decorations command attention. They are touted and talked about. They make banquets beautiful, meals memorable, magical and masterful. Folks refer to them as fabulous and they admire them then and long afterwards. 

That means that: Garnishes provide free advertising. They garner phenomenal word-of-mouth. Therefore, flowers, fruit, animals and other simple designs can turn the most mundane of dishes into gustatory gems. It matters not if they are simple or complex, a centerpiece or a mini-mite of magic on a diner’s small plate. Restaurateurs need to dress up their everyday dishes.

Garnishes can be a food used alone or several foods in combination. They can be made from ordinary vegetables, fruits, sea or animal components, or from foods less than ordinary. We recommend they start out simple. Put one or two small items on every plate served. In order to do so, kitchens need a few tools, a few foods and a lot of enthusiasm. Combining them will advertise your restaurant and your food; they will improve and expand your customer base; so get with garnishing!

Simple tools are needed, such as:
• Small cutters of different sizes and shapes
•  A thin-bladed knife and a thin cleaver
• A sharp-pointed short-bladed knife
• A few carving tools
• Scissors

In a restaurant kitchen, ordinary foods to fashion such as:
• Radishes, carrots and tomatoes
• Large onions and mushrooms of any size
• Cucumbers, peppers and taro root
• Scallions, leeks and celery
• Melons and members of the squash family
• Seeds such as black and white sesame, cloves and peppercorns

Miscellaneous items to put your decor together:
• Toothpicks and skewers
• Salt water to keep finished items firm and fresh
• Lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring
• Food coloring to brighten them up, but use it judiciously
• Containers to store your garnishes in

Take a look at these easy garnishes; you can make them. Anyone can, and everyone can enjoy them! 

Great garnishes will earn a free copy of Flavor and Fortune, and the restaurant's business card printed along with them. So, send a photo of your gorgeous garnish to the editorial department at PO Box 91 Kings Park NY 11754 or email to flavorandfortune.com. The top ten will be published. The winning restaurant will see their great garnish in print along with their business card. Yes, they will garner a place in that issue so they and their customers can gloat over their success.