Disclaimer: Image is OC, plating not mine.

Red wine poached pear (Rioja Reserva wine, brown sugar, star anise, ginger, vanilla pod) Vanilla Mascarpone (powdered sugar, vanilla pod) syrup from the reduced poach liquid.

This is a dish I’m planning on making for my high school culinary competition where I have 1 hour, no access to power tools or ovens and am only allowed to use white plates. Any critiques and suggestions are greatly appreciated

Xian Spice, spicy herb vinaigrette, cilantro flowers

Jerusalem artichoke purée and pickles, red grapes, caviar, dill fronds, finished with some pickling liquor from the artichokes

Croquette of confit leg, black cardamom dressing, pickled carrot ribbons, half pickled baby carrot

Smoked Cured Mackerel, poached egg, pumpkin seed Vietnamese coffee crumble, hatch chili charred ramp sauce, trout roe, chickweed From 2014

Seared scallop, fried prawn, roasted cauliflower, pickled kohlrabi, charred sunchoke puree, crispy sunchoke.

Nice little winter starter. I remember it being light with a nice contrast of temperatures and textures. Wish I kept the plating tighter. But that sear on the scallop was money.

Hey all, I am an absolute pure beginner about serious plating, and this sub is amazing. I am well aware of a bunch of the issues this has (Messy sauce running, cheese is super messy, meat looks kinda bare here).

I'm a pretty good home cook, but terrible at plating, and specifically bad at even thinking about how a dish should look and feel on the plate. Things like how to cut / shape food for fancy plating is a huge black box for me.

What I don't know is what I should do to go about getting better. Recs for resources for where to learn some basics of serious plating? How do y'all get from beginner to intermediate in this world?

Home cook open to all feedback.

Self-critiques:

Rice looks sloppy, and the broccolini doesn’t look great (did it in the oven maybe pan frying is better, or just over cooked it).

Wondering if the paprika ring will be controversial.

In spite of the above very happy with this plate relative to my current skill level, as it feels like the first dish that is somewhat cohesive, and could with better execution turn out really nice.

Dry cured turbot, poached in buerre monte, Jerusalem artichoke, mustard seeds, trout roe, apple and sauce supreme.