Cooking is a sacred art form, where ingredients become instruments and cuisines give way to a multitude of modes of expression. From deciding which ingredients they want to use in their compositions to how to arrange them into an oeuvre of flavors, culinary masters around NYC are creating artworks for our tastebuds through their innovative dishes.
More and more, professional chefs are getting the recognition they deserve as artists of their craft. Just think about it… these culinary artisans can create edible paintings, melodies with aromas, and even choreographies of flavors in your mouth. They can cross and intersect with many artistic disciplines with the limited, yet limitless space of just one dish.
Just like a painter with a canvas, culinary artists are constantly motivated to challenge the confines of a dish and explore the worlds that can exist at its surface and beyond. Through their luxury private chef experiences, the NYC private chefs at Gradito are doing just this. By creating elegant tasting menus personalized for their clients, they are questioning the relationship of food to a dish and inviting others to indulge in their culinary innovation.
This private chef service offers diners multi-sensory private chef experiences with some of the most skilled Michelin-trained personal chefs in New York City. Their art encompasses all of our senses, and so these personal chefs’ dishes must reveal a story that we can see, smell, hear, taste, and feel all at once. And these private chefs’ secret to a great story is execution.
Food Presentation 101
“All artists are not craftsmen, and all craftsmen are not artists; however, a successful chef straddles both lines and creates a beautiful and harmonious piece of work that appeals to all five senses and takes a world of technical understanding to execute.” Gradito’s private chefs are not only artists in all their rights, but they are artists who have trained extensively in their discipline. The Gradito personal chef app is home to elite private chefs in NYC that have years of experience in some of the most prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants all around the world. They understand the art of plating and are well-versed in the principles of food presentation and the techniques they need to best execute their creations.
Food presentation is defined as “the art of modifying, processing, arranging, or decorating food to enhance its aesthetic appeal.” The best private chefs know that people experience food in a variety of ways - with their eyes, through smell, and, of course, through taste. If food looks or smells good, it’s probably going to taste good too. But like any great artist, the private chefs in this hire-a-chef app are looking to create more of an experience through their food instead of just for purely aesthetic purposes.
Eating is a sensual experience, and Gradito private chefs want their diners to use every single one of their senses during their private chef menu experience. Booking a personal chef with Gradito means you are about to indulge in a celebration of flavors that goes beyond what you see on your plate. They are there to transform your home into an atmosphere of enjoyment and are determined to help you experience your food as if you were strolling along the MoMA through their top-tier knowledge of plating techniques.
The Careful Art of Plating
- Planning is Key
Book your private chef with Gradito, and you’ll be in for the most luxurious dinner party in NYC. They know that preparation is the key to any great meal, so they find the freshest ingredients available and organize their kitchen tools in advance, so they make your kitchen the best workspace for their art. As I said before, a plate is supposed to tell a story - and these private chefs know that a dish’s story can be traced back to its initial preparation.
- Bring In Color & Texture
Private chefs are also color theorists and use elements of textures to bring their dishes to life. They understand how colors and textures can complement each other beautifully on a dish and are passionate about surprising their clients with different ways to cook ingredients to achieve specific colors and consistencies. Gradito personal chefs pay attention to every part of their dishes and know that these two elements are key to the sensual experience of their gastronomic creations.
- The Right Plate Can Make All the Difference
Full-time personal chefs know that the plate is just as important as the food - it's their canvas and the ingredients are their medium. It’s all about finding a balance between both the food and the plate, and seeing how the plate’s size, shape, and color are in the food’s best visual interest. Gradito private chefs are highly skilled at finding the right plate in your home to elevate their dishes to the next level.
- Experimenting With Layers & Height
Ask one of these personal chefs how to plate a dish perfectly, and they’ll tell you that the ideas for creatively plating a dish are endless. Playing with layers and height in a dish is just one of the many ways these private chefs are creating excitement and dimension within their customizable luxury tasting menus. Think of your private chef as the architecture of their dishes, where they are experimenting with the symmetry and perception of your food for the best possible culinary experience.
- Choosing the Perfect Plating Method
When it comes to actually plating the food, private chefs experiment with the placement of food on their dishes and use specific methods to ensure the success of a dish. From ‘classic plating’ that deals with visual ratios to ‘free form plating’ that plays with a more artistic design of garnishes and unique shapes to ‘landscape plating’ that consists of the long and low placement of food across the plate, these personal chefs are artistically challenging the ways we think food should be arranged on a plate.
- Only Use the Right Tools
From precision spoons to decorating brushes, premier private chef menu ideas can be achieved with the right tools. Culinary imagination can be best executed in the kitchen once you have the proper tools to craft your ideas. And so, just like they need the right kitchen equipment to cook their dishes, personal chefs from the Gradito private chef app need the right tools during their plating process to match their unparalleled attention to detail.
Transforming Your Home Into A Culinary Gallery
This NYC private chef app is the best way to experience the true art of plating firsthand on your dinner table. Their private chefs’ passion to awaken people’s senses through edible works of art goes hand in hand with their years of training at Michelin restaurants. As culinary artists, they are constantly challenging what they know, and continue to discover the most beautiful and innovative techniques to present their food with the help of their curious clients. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much a private chef is because you’ll soon find out that your private chef experience with Gradito is priceless.
