Practical Dish Preparation and Plating to Standard
This domain tests execution under observation: whether the dish is cooked to the standard, thickened correctly, hot enough, and plated cleanly enough to leave the pass.
The checks the examiner applies
色、香、味、形、器 plus temperature and hygiene. Sauce standards: 明油亮芡, a 二流芡 that coats without pooling, no lumps, no 澥芡. Texture must match the method - 滑炒 should be tender and glossy, 干煸 should be dry and aromatic.
Plating rules
- Leave at least one-third of the plate as clear space.
- Use odd numbers and a triangle or arc composition rather than a symmetrical ring.
- Build height by stacking, not by scattering loose garnish.
- Wipe the rim; no drips, no fingerprints, no sauce on the edge.
- Garnish must be edible and belong to the dish - 香菜, 葱丝, 红椒丝. Anything inedible must not touch the food.
- Warm the plate for hot dishes and chill it for cold ones.
Worked example
清炒虾仁. For 200 g shrimp, 上浆 with 盐 2 g, 蛋清 8 g, 淀粉 6 g; 滑油 at 三四成 for about 10 seconds; pour off, leave底油 with 葱姜, return the shrimp, add 碗芡 (盐, 料酒, 淀粉, 汤), fold twice, finish with 3 g 明油. Plate on a round white dish, stacked into a low 山形, a pinch of 火腿末 at the centre only, rim wiped. Reasoning: the light starch keeps the shrimp 玉白, and a thin 芡 with 明油 produces the gloss the standard asks for.
Traps that cost marks
- Over-garnishing so that the dish reaches the table lukewarm.
- Too much starch, producing a 糊芡 and a gluey mouthfeel.
- Cold dishes plated warm, so they weep onto the plate.
- Sauce pooling under the food, which reads as a 澥芡 even when the flavour is right.