November 08, 2021
Plating your holiday turkey is the fun part after all the time and effort spent in preparing it. Here are a few tips for an impressive turkey presentation that’s also more user-friendly for serving. Many of these tips can be followed for other large cuts of meat as well.
1. Slice into Portion-Sized Servings Before Plating
Of course, a whole turkey looks nice on a plate, but a portioned-out turkey looks arguably more impressive and makes it effortless to serve your guests.
2. Don’t Always Use Symmetry
The foundation of this display, the turkey, is displayed in a mirror image on both sides of the plate and is very symmetrical. However, the cranberries are randomly placed and so are the herbs. The symmetry, co-mingled with the imbalance, play well together.
3. Add Herbs to the Dish
Fill in the “dead space” on a plate with fresh herbs that make sense. For example, you can take inspiration from the herbs used in the recipe. In the case of turkey: parsley, sage, and thyme work well.
4. Use Various Herb Shades for More Depth
Try to use various shades of green when selecting the herbs. For example, sage is more of a mint green color while parsley is bright green. This gives the plate more depth.
5. Add More Color for Contrast
Mix up the colors further by adding some contrasting-colored cranberries to the plate. Again, these make sense with turkey, but don’t grab cranberries that are uniform in size; vary that as well.
6. Spritz with Olive Oil
A dry exterior gives off the wrong first impression. Just before the big reveal to your guests, give the turkey just a light spritz of olive oil cooking spray. Your turkey is going to be very juicy and the light sheen from the oil tells guests exactly that.