GARNISHING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 198, 25 September 1914, Page 4

GARNISHING.

When it is remembered, how much more appetising is a prettily-arranged and well-served dinner than one that is carelessly dished, and how extremely simple and easy it is to prepare and arrange the little accessories that add so much to tlie : appearance of a dish and cost so little, it sterns a pity that they are not more generally understood^

Garnishes may be either hot or cold, according to the dish-with which they are to be served. For hot garnishes vegetables are chiefly .used, and very pretty effects of colour may be obtained by judicious grouping. Turnips, potatoes, cauliflower, and celery give white: carrots, yellow; beets and tomatoes, red; truffles, black; mushrooms, brown; beans, peas, Brussels sprouts, etc., different shades of green.

To garnish a dish, cut each kind of I vegetable into a uniform shape with a i vegetable cutter or knife, and arrange iwith geometric precision. For instance, ia dish of stewed beefsteak might •'}.<■• i garnished as follows: —Arrange four

\ little heaps of cauliflower/ cut in equal sizes, at equal distances from each other. |on either side of the dish} between ', these put carrots cut in one form, ■ and ibeet in another; between these pota-. | toes, cut in" small, round balls, and- ! fried a light brown. To arrange thesa ! heaps, the fingers should not be used; a large needle is the best implement I to place them with. J Boiled "mutton should be garnished with little strips of carrot and turnip, boiled in clear salt and water. Other garnishes which may be arranged in any way that taste and .fancy dictate are pieces-of bread eut" .into dice and fried a light inelles of ■various kinds,' forcemeat, ! tongue, eggs,- and fried parsley. For' 1 scold dishes the name of the various I garnishes is legion. Aspic jelly comes ! first and foremost, while whites and i yolks of eggs, olives, beetroot and - J capers, anchovies, and lobster coral, are •only a few of the many others which ■ | are used. " - j Simple forms should be used in gar- ' Dishes, and they should be really edible. , The coloured paste ornaments made out j of flour and lard, and the monstrosities carved out of turnips in the way of impossible roses ami other delectations of ■ the sort, are meretricious and vulgar. ! It requires considerable practice, however, to garnish a hot dish dexterously and quickly, for if you are a long time about it, the dish will probably be spoiled, ami the garnishing , itself will look untidy and amateurish, aild will therefore be a failure.