Gourmet Garnishes: Creative Ways to Dress Up Your Food [Paperback]

Mickey Baskett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2006

Starting in the kitchen and ending at the table, this delectable guide to garnishes teaches the home cook how to prepare elegant dishes suitable for entertaining. Think quick, easy, and luscious: these amazing ideas don't involve time-consuming and intricate preparation. The focus stays on simple tricks for food design that anyone can achieve—whether an artfully poured sauce, pretty pats of butter and cheese, or edible flowers. There's a heaping helping of information on tools and techniques, including tips and shortcuts that even professional chefs use. From roses of smoked salmon to use as an appetizer to chocolate leaves adorning a luscious layer cake, the food looks mouthwatering and tastes delicious.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mickey Baskett has been working as a designer, writer and editor for 30 years. She is the author of numerous craft titles. For fun she takes cooking classes from professional chefs, travelling as far as Italy for that pleasure. One of the pleasures she derives from travelling is visiting food markets, kitchenware stores, and finding unique restaurants.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402714688
• ISBN-13: 978-1402714689
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Simple and easy, but not very useful for advanced home chefs, June 20, 2008

By 

Ryuji Suzuki (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gourmet Garnishes: Creative Ways to Dress Up Your Food (Paperback)

If you are looking for a stimulating book to expand your food presentation skill, this is a book on the right subject but probably wrong book for you.

This book is basically a collection of little techniques that may be of interest to some beginners, but many of the techniques in this book are so basic that many advanced home chefs who desire to improve the food presentation would already know and perhaps already use. Some of them are so cheesy that they find no place in fine dining, although they may be o.k. for lunch menu.

Another thing is that this thin book is divided into 11 chapters, and each one of them is pretty shallow. Also, each technique is isolated and don't relate to each other or offer any information that allows applications of these garnishes to other dishes.

I'm not quite sure what audience this book is aiming. I think food presentation is primarily a topic for advanced cooks and chefs, but this book offers a shallow coverage of the topic at a very beginner-friendly way. I think most beginners are working on how to get the taste, fragrance and mouthfeel right. But if you are a beginner who cares how your food looks, this may be for you, but even that, I am not very sure.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love It!, July 28, 2006

By 

stardancer (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gourmet Garnishes: Creative Ways to Dress Up Your Food (Paperback)

This is my favorite garnishing book! The directions are clear, the garnishes are pretty and something we can all do. I highly recommend this book!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I want my money back!, January 14, 2008

By 

Jung E. Park "ironchefny" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gourmet Garnishes: Creative Ways to Dress Up Your Food (Paperback)

Ugh, this book is a total waste of money! You do not learn anything new from this book. Most of the things you see here are something everyone already knows or things that you can see on the internet or a food channel. I learned zero new technique. Now I'm thinking of selling this back but who would? I do not recommend this book to anyone.