Garnishing

Think back to your favorite restaurant meal. Chances are, it was not just delicious, but beautifully presented with dazzling colors and shapes that really enhanced your appetite. Meals that tempt the eyes are more likely to tempt the taste buds. That's why, as a health-conscious cook, its important to make nutritious foods look their best. When a meal is appealingly presented, you and your family are more likely to eat and enjoy it - making it easier to stick to a healthful diet.

Give Your Meals Visual Appeal

It doesn't take a gourmet chef to prepare nutritious meals that look as good as they taste. Even novice cooks can practice the art of a spectacular food presentation with a few simple tricks:

• Keep it simple, but interesting. "Presentation is about simplicity, while providing as much contrast in color and texture as possible," says David Hale, an instructor at The New England Culinary Institute and the chef at Chef's Table in Montpelier, Vermont. A meal of plain baked sole, steamed cauliflower and potatoes may be nutritious, but the bland colors blend together and aren't likely to inspire a healthy appetite. Imagine instead a plate of poached or grilled fish seasoned with paprika and freshly ground black pepper, colorful steamed carrots, red potatoes and spinach topped with sautéed onions and garlic.

• Use lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, says Hale (and health experts!), which naturally lend themselves to simply prepared, tasty and healthful meals. Start with fresh, seasonal produce. When cooking veggies, use techniques like steaming, stir-frying, microwaving and grilling to keep colors bright, texture firm and to retain the most nutrients.

• Pay attention to shape. You can cut peppers in elegant strips, festive rings or small triangles, recommends Annie Somerville, the chef at Greens, a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. Or trim away the peel and turn orange slices into squares. Slice carrots, squash and broccoli stems on a diagonal so they don't have blunt ends. You can vary shapes and sizes within a dish as well. For instance, make a fruit salad with melon balls, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices and orange sections.
  

• Add a splash of color or contrasting texture. If you're making black bean salad, for example, toss in some crisp celery slices, shredded jicama and/or chopped sweet red peppers. A swirl of lowfat yogurt adds cool creaminess and contrasting color to vivid carrot or pea soup. Sprinkle a few toasted sesame seeds or almonds over cooked vegetables for visual interest, crunch and flavor. Or top a Mexican omelet with spicy or mild salsa and a few corn kernels. For dessert, drizzle red raspberry or strawberry purée over a scoop of lowfat frozen yogurt or a small slice of angel food cake.

• Rethink the way food is served. Instead of spooning sauce over vegetables, pour some onto the serving dish and artfully arrange the vegetables on top. A small portion of beef or chicken looks larger when sliced into thin strips and fanned over a bed of colorful veggies and rice. To give a pasta dinner pizzazz, fill half a round platter with green-tinted spinach fettuccini and half with regular or whole wheat fettuccini. Ladle a hearty red marinara sauce across the halves and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and a bit of grated parmesan. For the kids, make a "face" of fresh vegetables - use green beans for the hair, tomato slices for the mouth, carrot coins for the eyes, etc.

• Go natural with garnish. Spears of lightly cooked asparagus or slices of crispy starfruit, for instance, bring elegance and nutrients to any plate. Or garnish a fresh vegetable salad with a design of multi-colored pepper rings, carrot curls or radish roses. Somerville likes to use lots of fresh chopped herbs like chives, Italian parsley, mint or cilantro - they add flavor and the bright green colors really perk up a dish. Hale reminds us, however, to select a garnish based on the dish's ingredients. He suggests a thyme sprig if thyme is used, rosemary if it's in the dish, and so on. Above all, have fun and use your imagination!

Top 10 Hotel Culinary Schools

One of the most important factors we consider when selecting a hotel is the dining scene. Along with the guestrooms and amenities, we want to know what the cuisine is like, because we consider eating essential to any holiday. Taking our love of fine food even further, we sought out hotels where you not only eat well, but also learn how to cook well. For those globetrotting gourmets who don’t have time to attend a comprehensive cooking academy, this list roams the world to reveal luxurious digs that offer lessons in the art of cookery. No matter how sophisticated the setting, all emphasize casual approaches, and all welcome amateurs and experts. If you want to combine your next escape with a lesson on how to make a soufflé or chicken galangal coconut soup, here’s what’s cooking at our top picks for hotel culinary schools.

___________________________
UNITED STATES

Scottsdale, Arizona
The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess—Jane Butel Satellite Cooking School
www.fairmont.com

Chiles and corn. Tamales and moles. These are the tricks of Jane Butel’s culinary trade. Founder of the Southwestern Cooking School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, this noted authority on Southwestern and Mexican cuisine has opened a satellite “campus” at The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. Here, she teams with Chef de Cuisine Forest Hamrick, in the atmospheric La Hacienda restaurant—a turn-of-the-century Mexican ranch house—to present dishes created for the program. Sessions are incorporated into special weekend hotel packages and include two six-hour cooking lessons and explorations of Mexican, Southwestern and Tex-Mex cuisine.

___________________________
AUSTRALIA

Clare Valley
Thorn Park Country House—Residential Cooking Schools
www.thornpark.com.au

There is no finer pairing than food and wine, so it only makes sense to open a cooking school in wine country. Home to classes led by the convivial David Hay (who owns the property along with his partner, Michael Speers), Thorn Park is a traditional Australian homestead dating back to the 1850s. Outside you’ll find stately gum trees, wild olive trees and lavender, while indoors you’ll find a wealth of mid-week and weekend classes featuring fresh local produce and guest chefs. Meet the winemaker weekends introduce vintners from the region, which is known for Rieslings and Cabernet Sauvignons. David’s A La Carte Cooking Schools are customized for individual groups.

___________________________
COSTA RICA

Coyote Mountain
Costa Rica Hotel—Inn at Coyote Mountain
www.cerrocoyote.com

The only vacation cooking school in Central America holds one- to three-day inclusive cooking vacations with accommodation, meals and hands-on instruction in the heart of Costa Rica on a 70-acre nature preserve. This five-star luxury hotel and gourmet cooking school is situated in an idyllic retreat perched on a remote hilltop, with plenty of outdoor adventure activities to choose from. Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret, chef-owners of Trout Point Lodge in Nova Scotia, teach guests about sustainable and organic agriculture, as well as exploring the culinary history of America. Classes delve into Creole, Latin and Mediterranean styles of cookery. Among the highlights are field trips to markets, gardens and coffee plantations.

___________________________

FRANCE

Paris
Ritz Paris—Ritz Escoffier School
www.ritzparis.com

Imagine having a team of culinary experts at your disposal: a sauce chef, pastry chef, baker and even sommelier. At the Ritz Paris—the most famous hotel in the world, and one of our favorites—such masters are at your disposal. The Ritz Escoffier School (named after Auguste Escoffier, the hotel’s first head chef) was designed to train future professionals as well as amateur gourmets. Focusing on all aspects, from technique to presentation, its classes present the basics of French gastronomy in an informal setting. A variety of courses are available, including half-day seasonal workshops (Autumn Mushrooms, Christmas Dinner), meetings with winemakers over cookery demonstrations, food and wine pairings, evening workshops and three-day summer courses.

__________________________
INDONESIA

Bali
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay—Cooking School
www.fourseasons.com

The Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay is about more than just private thatch-roofed villas and lots of pampering. You can also learn to use a tandoori oven, noodle boiler and duck roaster. The resort’s cooking school, which limits participants to ten per class, features its own dedicated chef and gourmet-savvy kitchen with a wall of glass that opens onto a stone-paved courtyard. Three independent modules explore the finer points of Balinese, Indonesian and spa cuisine. The first two include optional market tours, while the last introduces traditional ginger-based elixirs known as jamus. After each session, you sample your creations in the adjacent dining area.

___________________________
IRELAND

Belle Isle
Belle Isle Castle—Belle Isle School of Cookery
www.belleislecastle.com

Irish eyes are smiling on this 17th-century castle and cookery school on the Duke of Abercorn’s Belle Isle Estate in northern Ireland. In a purpose-built school next to the main courtyard, in kitchens designed to take advantage of natural daylight and views of the Florence Court Mountains, chef Liz Moore unites a modern approach and seasonal ingredients with traditional Irish recipes. Along with an intensive four-week essentials course, the school offers a series of classes for dilettantes—casual seven-day courses crafted around seasonal ingredients, weekend courses with the same focus (some welcome children), day and evening demonstrations with tastings and wine.

___________________________
ITALY

Florence
Villa San Michele—The Villa San Michele School of Cookery
www.villasanmichele.com

This 15th-century monastery on the hill of Fiesole overlooking Florence offers a stunning Renaissance setting in which to learn about Italian cuisine. It belongs to the swanky Orient-Express Hotel Group and operates a permanent culinary school with regularly scheduled classes offered on Mondays from April through October. Emphasis is on traditional Tuscan specialties, while additional multi-day courses concentrate on a specific element such as pasta (A Symphony of Pasta for Three Authors: Venice, Florence and Positano) or desserts (Life is Sweet). Guest chefs also highlight their unique techniques and approaches.

___________________________
MEXICO

San Miguel de Allende
Casa de Sierra Nevada
www.casadesierranevada.com

This luxury boutique hotel and cooking school is located in the heart of historic San Miguel de Allende. Situated in the Bajio area, it’s the fertile heartland of Mexico, renowned for the finest fruits, vegetables, poultry and meats. Culinary classes are held at Sazon, the 18th-century hacienda-turned cooking school at the Casa de Sierra Nevada, an Orient-Express hotel. Classes are offered in a four-night package, and include a unique highlight: attending the San Miguel market with the hotel’s chef Alma Montserrat Castro Salinas to receive tips from her on how to select the best of the crop and then bring them back to the kitchen to cook with. Your culinary package also includes tours highlighting the history and culture of Central Mexico, a Sazon culinary gift kit, and gourmet breakfast each morning at the hotel.

_________________________
MOROCCO

Marrakech
Dar Liqama—Rhodes School of Cuisine
www.rhodeschoolofcuisine.com

Exotic, exotic, exotic. With its fountains, arches and abundance of orange, lemon and apricot trees, “The House of Green Mint” is as much a sanctuary as the genuine oasis in which it resides—the exclusive, lush Palmeraie, home to over 150,000 palm trees in the desert just outside the walls of Marrakech. In partnership with Anissa Helou, author of Street Café Morocco, this traditional villa is used throughout the year for Moroccan cooking classes taught by the Rhodes School of Cuisine. Emphasis is on locally produced fresh ingredients (lots of saffron and cinnamon), as well as local history, culture and religion. Lessons are taught in the demonstration kitchen or al fresco, weather permitting.

___________________________
THAILAND

Chiang Mai
The Oriental Dhara Dhevi—Le Grand Lanna Cooking Academy
www.mandarinoriental.com

The Oriental Dhara Dhevi is a haven in the center of Chiang Mai. The hotel’s Le Grand Lanna Cooking Academy focuses on fine Thai cuisine, although you’ll find market favorites such as Green Papaya Salad. Classes are offered every day (except Sunday), and each have their own emphasis, such as Thai herbs and Thai noodles. There are also specialty sessions, including fruit and vegetable carving, and tours of the local markets.

Healthy Cooking Techniques

Introduction
Healthy cooking doesn't mean that you have to become a gourmet chef or invest in expensive cookware. You can use basic cooking techniques to prepare food in healthy ways.
The methods described here best capture the flavor and retain the nutrients in your food without adding excessive amounts of fat or salt. Once you've mastered these techniques, use them often to prepare your favorite dishes. Click on the tabs to the left for a description of these cooking methods.

Baking
Besides breads and desserts, you can bake seafood, poultry, lean meat, and vegetable and fruit pieces of the same size. Place food in a pan or dish surrounded by the hot, dry air of your oven. You may cook the food covered or uncovered. Baking generally doesn't require that you add fat to the food. In some cases, you may need to baste the food to keep it from drying out.

Braising
Braising involves browning the ingredient first in a pan on top of the stove, and then slowly cooking it covered with a small quantity of liquid, such as water or broth. In some recipes, the cooking liquid is used afterward to form a flavorful, nutrient-rich sauce.

Grilling and broiling
Both grilling and broiling expose fairly thin pieces of food to direct heat. To grill outdoors, place the food on a grill rack above a bed of charcoal embers or gas-heated rocks. For smaller items such as chopped vegetables, use a long-handled grill basket, which prevents pieces from slipping through the rack. To broil indoors, place food on a broiler rack below a heat element. Both methods allow fat to drip away from the food.

Poaching
To poach foods, gently simmer ingredients in water or a flavorful liquid such as broth, vinegar or juice until they're cooked through and tender. The food retains its shape during cooking. For stove-top poaching, choose a covered pan that best fits the size and shape of the food so that you use a minimum amount of liquid.

Roasting
Like baking, but typically at higher temperatures, roasting uses an oven's dry heat to cook the food. You can roast foods on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan. For poultry, seafood and meat, place a rack inside the roasting pan so that the fat in the food can drip away during cooking.

Sauteing
Sauteing quickly cooks relatively small or thin pieces of food. If you choose a good-quality nonstick pan, you can cook food without using fat. Depending on the recipe, use low-sodium broth, nonstick cooking spray or water in place of oil.

Steaming
One of the simplest cooking techniques to master is steaming food in a perforated basket suspended above simmering liquid. If you use a flavorful liquid or add seasonings to the water, you'll flavor the food as it cooks.

Stir-frying
A traditional Asian method, stir-frying quickly cooks small, uniform-sized pieces of food while they're rapidly stirred in a wok or large nonstick frying pan. You need only a small amount of oil or nonstick cooking spray for this cooking method.

Using herbs and spices
Creating meals using spices and herbs is one of the best ways to add color, taste and aroma to foods. Choose fresh herbs that look bright and aren't wilted, and add them toward the end of cooking. Add dried herbs in the earlier stages of cooking. When substituting dried for fresh, use about one-third the amount.

Cooking Technique for Beginners!

"It's my belief that the best way to become a good cook is to learn these basic cooking techniques."

Once you learn how to handle these fundamental techniques, you will be able to handle most recipes. Cooking is not just about recipes....it is about how to take ingredients and make them taste as good as possible.

Recipes are great road maps to show us how someone else got there, but one of the joys of cooking is to find your own paths. Knowing these techniques is like taking the car out for a spin in a new location. You're not sure where you are going to end up, but getting there will be fun.

	Saute learn to sauté properly and you will be able to create hundreds of dishes without a recipe.
	Cooking Pasta quick tips on cooking your favorite pastas
	Roasting who doesn't love a roasted chicken or Sunday roast beef.
	Braising may be my favorite way of cooking.
	Grilling it's what us guys do best....at least that's what we think
	Brining It's what we should be doing before grilling but don't
	Mise en Place in my opinion, one of the most important steps in cooking and one most often not done.
	Sauces How to Make Incredible Sauces at Home?
	Pan Roasting How professional cooks do it. A little pan searing. A little oven roasting.
	Stir Fry quick, easy, nutritious, and a lot of fun
	Deglazing an essential part of learning how to sauté.
	How to Cut an Onion Learn this simple but effective method for cutting an onion that I learned from a professional chef.