Not a single celebration can do without a beautiful cut on the festive table. Bright colors of fruits and vegetables, juicy meat and sausage in themselves create our mood, and even decorated in a festive manner with chopped vegetables, meat, cheese, undoubtedly, will cause guests appetite.
Vegetable cutting on the festive table
Fresh vegetables must be included in the menu no matter what occasion you have for celebration. Vegetables are invariably successful, especially if you serve a meat dish on a hot one. They go well with almost any alcohol, and at a children's party will be very appropriate. In addition, not everyone loves ready-made salads, and someone even follows the figure and does not accept any dressing. Then vegetable slicing on the festive table will be your salvation.
What and how to cut?
If you cannot cut your products into thin, even slices, purchase or borrow special slicer cutters from someone for a while. You can simply use special knives that figuratively cut the fruits in waves or zigzags for a beautiful cut on the festive table. They are more suitable for dense vegetables. Small ones, such as cherry tomatoes, it is better not to cut. But onions would be nice to add, but use non-aggressive varieties: red, white, shallot. Cut large tomatoes into large slices, as they are very watery and can lose juice. With cucumbers you can show imagination - they are cut even in the form of a spiral, ribbons, rings, ovals. Onions are usually cut into rings and placed either on top of other vegetables, or alternating with them. And do not forget about fresh herbs - parsley, dill, basil, cilantro.
Beautiful meat cuts on a festive table
Cutting meat is a great appetizer. As a rule, various types of meat of various cooking techniques are spread on a large plate - boiled-smoked, smoked, salted, as well as several types of sausage and ham. Combine meat with greens, cheese, olives. Combining meat and vegetable slices on one plate is extremely undesirable, because vegetables emit juice. An exception may be only those vegetables that do not require slicing, like cherry tomatoes. The meat is cut into thin slices to lay out with "scales" or in the shape of a rose. Large thin pieces are rolled into rolls.
Sausage and ham
Most often, sausage is on the festive table. It is not difficult to arrange sausage slices so that it looks beautiful and appetizing. Sausage, like meat, is combined with cherry, olives, physalis, cheese, salted and pickled vegetables, previously dried from excess moisture. You do not need any special skills to beautifully lay out the products. It will look advantageous if you first sprinkle the plate with red and black pepper. The main secret of successful slicing is the presence of a very sharp thin knife. It is impossible to cut thin and even slices with an unsharpened knife.
If you do not have a slicer at home, you can contact the sausage or cheese department of a large supermarket - they usually provide free services for slicing the product purchased from them. So you reduce labor costs and get perfect slices. If you want to cut yourself, and the sausage or meat is too soft, just put them in the freezer for a while. It will be easier for you to remove the film, and the sausage will be cut much easier. When preparing for the holiday, always start with sausage and meat cuts, because it will retain its freshness longer than cheeses and greens. The finished dish is stored in the refrigerator, covered with cling film to avoid airing. After all, you need a beautiful cut on the festive table.
But what about cheese?
Yes, do not forget about cheese. A beautiful cut of cheese on a festive table makes it beautiful and interesting. If you put lettuce leaves under the cheese, it will retain its freshness longer. It goes well with herbs, sausage, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pine nuts. Cheese is also served with berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. One of the most interesting combinations is with honey. A cup of molten honey is placed in the center of the dish. Different varieties of cheese are laid around and slices of it, before being sent to the mouth, dipped in golden, viscous melted honey. Cheese can be cut into thin slices or cubes. In the latter case, it would be nice to stick the skewers into pieces - so it will be convenient to take and dip in the sauce.
Product Selection Rules
In order not to spoil the holiday, you should responsibly approach the choice of products. When buying, pay special attention to the shelf life. See that the cheese is not trimmed at the edges - this way the weathered parts or mold is usually removed. Sausage should not be wrinkled. If it is wrinkled and shiny, most likely it was rubbed with sunflower oil. The package should not contain moisture or mucus - they indicate a spoiled product. Vacuum packaging should be without air inside, otherwise the product will begin to deteriorate. Try to buy products with a minimum content of various artificial additives. Beautiful design of slices for the festive table is not such a difficult process, any person who does not have much culinary experience will cope with it.