Vegetables on our table

The art of decorating cold cuts

Cold appetizers are served first on the festive table. It’s good if they evoke amazed sighs and admiration from the guests. Cold cuts are always popular, especially if they are intricately designed and consist of delicious delicacies:

smoked meats;
balyk;
basturma;
Ham;
lard with a layer;
language;
chicken and turkey rolls.

The simplest option is to thinly slice all the ingredients of the dish and arrange the slices in a circle, but there is nothing special here.

Advice. To get perfect pieces, you need to use a thin, well-sharpened knife, or a slicer, a special device for slicing (slicer).

Festive serving of slices:

Thinly slice all ingredients.
Place half of the ham slices along the outer edge of the plate.
Make the inner circle from a different type of meat.
Roll each piece of the second half of the ham into a tube.
Place in a circle at the junction of two varieties with the thin edge of the tube towards the outside and the wide edge towards the center of the plate. Garnish the dish with herbs and olives.

Sliced meat and sausage with vegetables

Another way is to lay out everything you have in a circle and make a meat rose in the center:

Cut thin slices of meat.
Roll the first slice into a tube. This is the middle.
Place other pieces around it, folding the edges.
Secure the bottom of the rose with toothpicks and make it stable.
Pour the meat flower into the center of the plate and open the “petals” one by one.

Vegetable cutting ideas

If it has been decided that there will be vegetables on the holiday table, then several ideas for cutting vegetables will come in handy. You won’t surprise anyone with the usual sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, so you need to be more creative. Original vegetable cutting options are presented below:

rolls made from cucumbers or other flexible vegetables will give a voluminous shape to the dish

a combination of simple cutting and curly will look very impressive

such heat - a bird made from vegetables will become a real masterpiece of the festive table

Sausage cuts and their decoration

Serving a dish with sausages is no different from cold cuts. For slicing, dry-cured and smoked sausage is most often used in combination with a meat product, for example, boiled pork.

Thin slices of different varieties are laid out in a circle, garnished with herbs and vegetables (cucumber, bright bell pepper). Some can be folded in half, into tubes or into small bags. A lush ham rose will look great in the center of a luxurious dish:

Cut the ham into 18 thin slices.
Fold each of them in half and make a sausage track.
Carefully roll the entire track into a roll.
Tie the roll in half with green onions and cut off one third to form a stable bottom.
Place the resulting core vertically in the center of the plate.
Bend the outer “petals”.
Cut 6 more slices, cut into two halves, and fold each in half.
Arrange additional “petals” around the core.

A beautiful rose can be decorated with sprigs of greenery. It is better to choose parsley or mint, imitating rose leaves.

Vegetable slicing recipe

The recipe for slicing vegetables will be very simple, and most importantly, it can be easily implemented using exactly the products that are in the refrigerator. Below are 3 options for such a dish that deserve to be included in the host’s cookbook.

Recipe No. 1: sliced vegetables with sauce

This cutting option is suitable for those who like to eat vegetables with sauce. It will be necessary to prepare the following ingredients (you can use vegetables at your discretion):

Peppers, carrots and cucumbers should be cut into strips. The tomato will look better if you cut it into slices. Cut the garlic in half, radishes and onions into 2-4 parts.

Now you need to arrange everything beautifully on the plate: place the vegetables in strips along the edges, in the center - radishes, onions and garlic. Tomatoes are more massive, so it is better to place them on the edge. Decorate with a small amount of greenery.

You need to leave some space on the plate for the sauce.

Add the sauce to the container and place on a plate.

Recipe No. 2: slicing vegetables with olives (olives)

Olives or olives will be a wonderful decoration for any cut. With their help, you can focus attention and make the dish stand out from the rest.

The cook will need:

Cut the cucumber and radish into slices, and the tomato into slices. Place the radishes in the center and the remaining vegetables around the edges. Place greens in the center. Place olives on cucumbers and between tomatoes in random order. You can also place cherry tomatoes next to the cucumbers.

Recipe No. 3: vegetable cutting “Flower”

You can make sliced vegetables more attractive and original with the help of flowers cut from the same vegetables. This recipe will take a little practice to implement.

Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into slices. Place them in a circle: first the cucumbers, then the tomatoes. Similarly, cut the olives into slices and decorate the cucumbers with them.

Now comes the most crucial moment - you need to cut out a flower from carrots and peppers. It would be appropriate to view a small master class here:

A pepper flower might look like this:

Carefully place the flowers made from vegetables on top of the slices and garnish with herbs.

Principles for serving cold cuts of meat and sausages

There are an unimaginable number of different serving methods. Memorizing them and trying to repeat them is completely useless. The main thing is to understand the basic principles and fantasize each time, based on your own taste:

The basis of any cutting is laying out varieties of different colors in a circle. Their borders can be separated by greens, olives or vegetables.
In combination with meat, it is better to use salads, parsley, dill, and basil leaves in small quantities.
Any product can be rolled into tubes or rolls. If the tube unwinds, you can put it in a cucumber slice with the middle cut out.
Slices folded in half look voluminous and lush.
An interesting idea is to fold the bags and insert them one into the other to form an appetizing path.
The meat goes well with olives, pomegranate seeds, kiwi slices, grapes and bright berries.

How to arrange vegetable slices

When the products are cut, a dilemma arises about how to arrange the vegetable slices so that it is beautiful, original and not too complicated.

The simplest option is to break it down into sectors. So the cutting turns into a motley “map”: radishes here, carrots there. You can place a container with sauce in the middle.

If bell peppers or cucumbers will be present on the holiday table, then this option will come in handy. You just need to cut the vegetables into strips and place them in glasses or shot glasses filled with sauce.

Slicing cucumbers can even look like a cake. You need to chop them into thin strips and fold them in half. Place each roll one after the other.

You can arrange vegetables in an interesting way if you use them to create a picture on the surface of the plate. For example, you can make tulips from tomatoes and green onions. To make them look voluminous, they should be filled with a mixture of grated cheese and garlic. Cucumbers cut into slices will complement the picture.

If you cook with humor, you will end up with a funny owl on your plate. Its body will consist of cucumbers, cut into slices, and cherry tomatoes. The wings are bell pepper strips, the legs and head are carrots. Instead of eyes, she will have plates of sauce.

Rules for serving cheese platters

If meat and sausages are combined, then mixing them with cheeses is not recommended; it is better to serve separate cheese plates.

Cheese plate design option

A cheese plate is a combination of several types of cheese. Unlike meat and sausage products, cheeses are cut not only into slices, but also into cubes of 25-40 grams.

Attention! The cheeses should be placed clockwise on the platter. The fresher, milder varieties are put in first, then the more piquant ones. Slices of different types should not touch each other, because can exchange scents.

The cheese plate can be decorated with sunflower seeds, nuts, and pieces of mint. Usually 5 varieties are used. If the cheese is cut into cubes, you can stick a skewer into each one.

Fish holiday cut

Like other types of cuts, fish should be on the holiday table in the form of an amazing cut. Choose several varieties of fish, which will make the fish cut more colorful and appetizing.

Fish cuts can be made from herring, pickled mackerel, salmon. To begin with, the herring should be peeled and filleted, and then placed on a pre-chilled plate.

Assorted fish always looks great with slices of lemon, different types of pickles, for example, champignons, which can be laid out in layers or divided into sectors, allowing you to make interesting fish cuts for the holiday.

On top, fish slices can be beautifully decorated with olives, and you can also use herbs and caviar, and possibly other goodies.

Juicy variety of fruits

Usually, in addition to cold appetizers, a fruit plate is served. There are no rules for decorating or combining fruits, but there are countless ways to serve them:

cut into slices and arrange in a circle;
cut into cubes and equipped with skewers;
make flowers from oranges, kiwi, apples, pears, etc.;
create animal figures, for example, dolphins from bananas;
cut out fruits with cookie cutters;
thin slices, using skewers, lay out various pictures. For example, you can create an excellent butterfly from kiwi, grapes, orange, currants and strawberries.

Fruit slices