Temting Arts: Food Presentation

Ingredients:

Cutting and arranging for convenience and beauty

Horaku-yaki platter featuring plenty of seafood and vegetables all steamed and grilled together, on a plate made of unglazed pottery. Garnished with autumn leaves to savor the season.

So how about preparing the food? Murata says the first rule of thumb is: “Cut the ingredients so chopsticks can handle them easily. At the traditional table you won't use a knife, so the food is cut up beforehand in the kitchen. The standard for length, the norm you generally aim for, is 1 sun (about 3 cm). It is said that an ingredient sliced to about 3 × 2 × 1 cm gives the best eating experience. These dimensions are standard for sashimi (sliced raw fish). But there are exceptions, of course. For example, the distinctive flavor and texture of bamboo shoots are best enjoyed by biting into the fibers and chewing off half a piece—so we cut them into lengths of 2 sun (about 6 cm), not the general standard of 1 sun. This makes for two mouthfuls per piece.”

Kaiseki ryori traditional cuisine for guests sets the standard (it is served as part of the tea ceremony). The sashimi arrives nicely arranged on a plate called mukozuke. Odd numbers were customarily thought to be lucky, and it is still standard to serve an odd number of pieces of sashimi, perhaps five, so the size of the mukozuke plate takes this into account. The soy sauce dip comes in a flat dish big enough, but not too big, for one sashimi piece at a time.

Murata says, “It might seem that there are too many different sizes of tableware, but each piece is made for a certain purpose, and that decides the size.”

Tataki duck steak. The outside of the pieces of meat are quickly grilled, then removed from the heat and cut into lengths of about 1 sun (3 cm) to make each piece a convenient mouthful.

The food is arranged for convenience—the cut pieces are organized on the plate so that they can be managed easily, from right to left, with chopsticks held in the right hand. And the food is piled higher at the back of the plate than at the front, again to make it easy for chopsticks. A fish served whole will have the head on the left, with the thicker dorsal part away from you. The head can be stabilized with the left hand, giving the chopsticks in the other hand a steady plate to work on.

Another general rule is to select food that presents a combination of five colors. In nature, food ingredients tend to be greens, reds, yellows, browns and black. The chef uses combinations of these hues to present attractive color arrangements. Somehow, these combinations end up giving the meal a nutritional balance as well. Japanese cuisine offers visual beauty, and the beauty of convenience and experience.

Sea bream sashimi. Each piece is cut to dimensions of about 3 × 2 × 1 cm. The small shallow dish is just the right size for dipping the sashimi pieces in the soy sauce, one by one. This example of Kyo ryori cuisine was presented by Kikunoi restaurant (Tel: +81-75-561-0015). English-language website