Vol. XXXII · The Plate, the Menu and the Craft Plate 3 of 11colour, contrast, palette, garnish, plating, luminance, brown food, green, red, complementary colours, edible garnish, herb oil, pickled onion, monochrome plating, colour harmonyF

Colour and Contrast.

Braised beef on gravy on a cream plate is three shades of brown. A spoon of green herb oil and a few rings of pink pickled onion add colour — and acid and freshness the dish needed anyway.

Two properties of colour matter on a plate. Contrast in lightness (luminance) lets the eye separate the parts: a dark braise on a pale purée, a pale fish on a dark sauce, white rice beside a red curry. Contrast in hue adds life: green against red or orange, purple against yellow — complementary pairs — make each other look more intense. Most cooked food is in the warm browns and golds of the Maillard reaction (VIII.1); a cook usually needs one fresh accent — green, red or bright yellow — and a light or dark base to set it off. Too many colours look like confetti; two or three that belong together look intended.

The rule of the modern kitchen is that garnish must be edible and must belong: a herb that is in the dish, a pickle that brings the acid the dish needs (XI.4), a crisp that brings texture (XXXII.4), a sauce that carries flavour — not the parsley sprig of 1970s hotel plates, left on every rim. Colour also signals cooking: bright green vegetables say "just cooked" (XX.3), golden brown says "crisp", grey says "stewed". Monochrome plates — all white, all green — can be striking when the shapes and textures carry the interest. The workshop paints a plate.

Below: a plate (plate bench) with the main item, sauce and garnish colours you choose, the number of distinct colours, the strongest lightness contrast between the elements (teaching luminance values), and a reading of the palette.

What you will learn
Workshop
Teaching relative luminance of the course's colours (0 dark, 1 light): white 0.95, dough (pale) 0.78, yolk (yellow) 0.8, crust (golden) 0.55, veg (green) 0.45, olive 0.4, red 0.35, sienna (brown) 0.33, plum 0.25, ink (black) 0.1. Contrast = largest difference between main, sauce and garnish. Readings (teaching): below 0.15 muddy; 0.15–0.35 gentle; above 0.35 strong.

One accent, the right base

Brown braise on brown gravy has a lightness contrast of 0 — the plate blurs; a pink pickled-onion garnish alone raises it only to 0.08, a gentle change in hue rather than in lightness, while setting the braise on a pale purée instead brings the contrast to about 0.45. The lesson: change lightness to separate the parts, change hue to add life, and choose accents that also do a job — acid, freshness, crunch.

Practical palette ideas: dark meats on pale purées (celeriac, cauliflower, white beans); pale fish on green (herb sauce, peas, spinach) or black (squid ink, black rice); curries with white rice and a green herb; desserts with one fruit colour against a pale base. Keep green vegetables bright by cooking them briefly and shocking them (XX.3), add herbs at the last moment, and use oils (chive, basil, chilli) as colour you can place drop by drop.

At the stove

Plate a brown stew three ways: on its own, on a pale purée, and with a green herb oil and pickled onion. Which reads most clearly?

The parsley sprig, ubiquitous on restaurant plates through the 1970s, became the symbol of garnish for its own sake; chefs since have tried to make every element on the plate earn its place by flavour or texture.

Terms

Luminance
How light or dark a colour is.
Hue contrast
Different colours, such as green against red.
Edible garnish
Garnish that belongs to the dish and is eaten.
Accent
A small amount of contrasting colour.
Use lightness contrast to separate the parts and hue contrast to add life. Keep to two or three colours. Garnish must be edible and belong — bringing acid, freshness or crunch as well as colour.

Sources

  1. A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.