Finishing Touches
The last minute is where a dish is won or lost. These are the small finishing moves — for clarity, gloss, balance, and the look on the plate.
Garnish
An edible final touch that tells you what is in the dish — herbs from the sauce, a few of the nuts inside. It should taste of the plate, not just sit on it.
Glaze
A glossy coat — a reduced sauce, a syrup, an egg wash on pastry — for shine and a last layer of flavour.
Drizzle
A thin finishing stream: good olive oil, a balsamic reduction, a bright sauce. Restraint is the technique; a flood is not a drizzle.
Skim
Lifting the fat and grey foam off the surface of a stock or sauce. What you leave in is exactly the murk you will taste later.
Strain
Passing a liquid through a sieve or cloth for a clean, smooth texture — the difference between a rustic pan jus and a refined sauce.
Mount with butter
Whisking cold butter into a sauce off the heat (monter au beurre) for gloss and a rounder body. More: Reducing →
Plate
Composing the dish — height, a little negative space, the sauce placed deliberately rather than poured over everything. The eye starts eating first.
Adjust seasoning
The final taste-and-correct. A pinch of salt or a few drops of acid at the end fixes more dishes than any technique earlier in the process.
