High-quality meat platters are a great way for any host to make an incredible impression upon their guests, catching their eyes with their vibrant presentation and satisfying their palates with delicious flavours. On top of the mouthwatering tastes these meat platters bring to an event, there are a number of culinary and decorative techniques that a host can implement to elevate their event.
In this article, we’ll be introducing four key strategies for enhancing the catering of your event, including presentation, flavour pairing, ingredient selection and other practical techniques. Equipped with these techniques and the right selection of delicious meat platters, you’re guaranteed to provide your guests with an elevated culinary experience and unforgettable evening.
Presentation Techniques
Layering For Visual Appeal
Layering is an incredibly important aspect of creating visually appealing meat platters. This means placing a great deal of focus on factors like variety, texture and balance. A good place to start is to select the right ingredients, blending or contrasting with one another to create an eye-catching tapestry. Try arranging these ingredients in an interesting pattern, like overlapping spirals or fans, or add dimension by rolling or folding thin slices of your meat.
Keep these layers visually interesting by pairing the meats with complementary items like cheeses, crackers and vegetables, grouping them in sections to frame the platter and provide visual balance. If you’re working with multiple kinds of meat, keep similar meats clustered together for an organised look, but don’t be afraid to experiment with creative shapes in your presentation. Be sure to keep the edges of the platter neat and clean to ensure a polished and inviting presentation.
Themed Platter Design
A great way to present meat platters (and dinner events in general) is to incorporate an interesting theme, be it anywhere from a rustic farm-style, Mediterranean, gourmet or tropical theme.
To create a themed meat platter, you’ll have to start by selecting meats, garnishes and other components that align with the theme. For example, Angie’s Chicken And Pistachio Pesto platter embraces a strong summery Italian theme. This platter features honey and lemon roasted chicken with a fresh pistachio, rocket, lemon and parmesan pesto, garnished with slices of crisp sun blushed tomatoes. The flavours and visual appeal of this platter are summery and refreshing, helping to evoke the feeling of a warm summer’s day in Italy.
These kinds of dishes highlight the importance of choosing the right colours, textures and shapes to bring a theme to life, rather than relying on the flavours alone. Reserve some attention for the table too, ensuring the presence of small decorations that contribute to the theme, be that small flags, sprigs of herbs, candles or other relevant festive table wear.
Use Height And Levels
Alongside the main platter, incorporating small dishes, stands or bowls for dips and spreads can be an effective tool that creates a sense of height and level, catching the eye of guests and drawing them in. This is an effective yet functional way of making a dinner table visually interesting without overwhelming the natural allure of the food being served. The final result is a table that looks decadent and plentiful, almost overflowing with food, without appearing untidy or disorganised.
Flavour Pairing Techniques
Sweet And Savory Balance
In the culinary world, there are few tricks quite as effective as simply pairing contrasting flavours. Contrasting flavours tend to bring out complex notes in one another that may not stand out as well when served separately. Meat platters are perfect for pairing different flavours by including elements like dried fruits, honeycomb, or jams to contrast the savoury taste of the meats. This helps add depth to the dish and make the flavours more complex.
An excellent example of balancing contrasting flavours is Angie’s Honey And Soy Glazed salmon. This dish comes with lemon wedges and pickled cucumber served atop a fresh and hot chilli and dill salad. The sweet and floral honey works wonders alongside the dark and salty flavours of the soy sauce, which are both tempered by the citrussy and spicy notes that come through from the garnish and salad. The final result is a successful contrast and balance that allows the dish to contain multiple strong flavours without overwhelming your guests’ taste buds.
Regional Pairings
Just as the ingredients within a platter work in great harmony when selected from the same regional pairing, you can further elevate this by adding complementary sides from the same culinary tradition. Angie’s selection of meat platters, for instance, includes our delectable Turkey Kofta. This dish contains rolled balls of turkey meat, corn and courgette served with a zesty sweet chili lime and mayonnaise, garnished with fresh lemon and crunchy pea shoots. As a host, you can draw from Turkish cuisine and include side dishes like Turkish flatbread, stuffed eggplant or fava beans with chili oil to complement the Turkey Kofta.
Spices And Marinades
All meats taste better with the right seasoning and marinades, although white, lean meats like chicken tend to do exceptionally well with extra seasonings as they soak up flavours well. A perfect example of this is Angie’s harissa chicken, which is marinated in our delectable North African harissa paste, made from red peppers and herbs. It also includes a sweet grapefruit glaze and is served atop a herby chili and parsley salad. This fiery and exotic dish shows off the transformative power of a good marinade, making what would otherwise be a simple meat platter an unforgettable culinary experience.
Ingredient Selection Techniques
Quality Over Quantity
When creating meat platters, it is important that you focus on including fewer, higher-quality cuts of meat rather than overloading the platter with the cheapest meats you can find. While this may mean there is less on the plate, high quality meats are better appreciated and will leave a good lasting impression on your guests. Here at Angie’s, we use only the highest-quality of meats in all of our meat platters, ensuring the satisfaction of your guests and success of your event.
Seasonal Additions
You can never go wrong by including fresh, seasonal produce to your platter, which adds brightness to the dish and complements the protein-rich meats. Not only are seasonal ingredients more affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly, they also pair better with meat platters that use seasonal flavours, like hearty, comforting winter dishes. The warm summers yield plenty of vibrant, crisp and bright fruit and vegetables that are perfect to serve fresh on one of our light and summery meat platters. On the other hand, the winter produces many of the darker, richer and wholesome crops that work perfectly in a heartier winter platter.
Texture Variety
Enjoying a meal is far more than simply experiencing the flavours of a dish – a good meal needs to have the right textures and variety of tastes. Textures create an interesting mouthfeel and interact with flavours, which can elevate cuisine exponentially. As flavours can be contrasted with one another to enhance a dish, so too can textures. Try mixing soft, creamy ingredients like pâtés or cheeses with crisp crackers and crunchy pickles to provide some balance.
At Angie’s, we offer many meat platters with satisfying and unique textures, especially with our Coronation Chicken patter. In this dish, soft shredded chicken and chewy apricots are topped with crunchy roast almonds and a crisp salad of parsley and watercress. Even small additions like a crunchy topping give a dish more complexity and a more satisfying mouthfeel.
Practical Techniques
Pre-Slicing And Portioning
An element particularly important to the art of serving meat platters is the correct portioning of the meat. It is best to slice meats into bite-sized pieces that are easy to serve and eat at your event. At a buffet-style event, bite-sized meat platters are ideal as they allow each guest to easily load their plate with a variety of dishes. This also applies to moving platters served by waiters as they can be enjoyed on the move, without needing to sit down at a dinner table. Angie’s keeps this principle in mind, carefully portioning each platter with quality slices of meat that can be easily eaten and enjoyed by your guests.
Temperature Control
Due to the nature of how meat platters are served, either at a buffet table or with moving platters, dishes that are meant to be served hot will cool quickly and be served cold. Here at Angie’s, our curated meat platters can be served at room temperature or even slightly chilled without having to worry about re-heating or serving on hot plates for your guests.
Pre-Event Preparation
To make your evening stress free and more enjoyable, it is best to assemble your platter components ahead of time while also adding fresh elements like herbs or other garnishes for serving.
Fortunately, Angie’s is all about convenient catering. Our meat platters can be ordered up to four weeks in advance, and they’ll be completely prepared with the perfect timing in mind, being delivered to your doorstep right on time and freshly made. This ensures that you can rely on the convenience of fully prepared meat platters delivered right to your door that are made to order and ready to serve.
In Conclusion
Meat platters are an excellent way to make an event stand out, helping to add extra sophistication and vibrance. However, by using the four techniques we’ve just covered, you can take your catered event to the next level and leave a truly lasting impression on your guests.
Presentation techniques like layering, visually appealing ingredients and themed cuisine draw in the eye of diners, making the platter an instant conversation starter. Contrasting flavours, using regional ingredients and marinades are an excellent way to add incredible flavour and complexity to a platter. Ingredient selection techniques ensure that a platter is seasonally appropriate and texturally varied. Practical techniques like correct portioning, temperature control and pre-preparation make for a seamless and convenient dining experience. If you follow these techniques correctly, you’re sure to impress your guests and host an unforgettable evening.
If you’d like to host your own fine-dining experience or casual get-together with mouthwatering meat platters, look no further than Angie’s. View our online menu here and get in touch with us to order your personal menu today!
