I feel compelled to contribute to this Beta as I was invited, but I also have been thinking a lot about plating as I am trying to refine that aspect of my dinners.
I saw ChefSteps had a mini tutorial in one of the classes and I enjoyed that and it was very useful. I am starting to take pen to paper and drawing some of my meals ahead of time and trying to visualize them. I also consult the many high end restaurant cookbook I own to look for inspiration, which can also be helpful. I especially notice how the approach from Yannick Alleno and Daniel Boulud are very similar. I'd almost call it a "French" style. It is uncanny. A linear/horizontal approach. Then you have Daniel Humm in EMP who does his own thing which has its own influences, Eric Briffard does a little bit of Alleno with a little bit of Pascal Barbot (maybe? I'm stretching my memory here). Thomas Keller's older stuff of building the dish up from the middle is the opposite of Boulud's plating, but that has changed too I'm sure. Of course Michel Bras probably touches all of them in terms of influence.
Is this analysis and drawing out ideas basically it when it comes to plating though? Never having been to school for cooking, do they have a plating class? I'd be very much interested in expanding my knowledge. I spend hours cooking (as I'm sure others here do too), and then when I got to plate it I find myself just putting everything in its corner, haha. Taste great but doesn't look that great!
Anyway, thought we could start a discussion or something? Some of the users here are very good at plating so I'm sure there is knowledge to be imparted.
The beta looks great by the way in terms of creating a post. I hope I assumed correctly this post belongs in the "everything else" category.
