Okuzeka
Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Service & Plating

Garnish

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/ˈɡɑːrnɪʃ/nounCore term

In culinary arts & cooking, garnish means: A small item of food, such as herbs, a slice of lemon or a sauce dot, added to a dish to make it look and taste better. As a verb, to garnish means to add this.

In Turkish: süsleme, tabak süslemesi, dekor

How it is used

Used on recipe cards and at the pass: garnish with chives, finish with garnish. In classic brigades the garnish station (entremetier) prepares vegetables and starches, which is a different, older meaning.

Example sentences

  1. Garnish each soup with a few drops of herb oil.

  2. The garnish should be edible; no plastic flowers on my plates.

Common collocations

  • garnish with
  • herb garnish
  • finish with a garnish
  • garnish station
  • plateTo arrange cooked food on a plate so that it is ready to be served and looks attractive. The noun plating means the way a dish is arranged.
  • side dishA smaller dish, such as vegetables, salad, rice or potatoes, served alongside the main course. Often shortened to side.
  • passThe counter between the kitchen and the dining room where finished plates are checked, often under heat lamps, before servers take them out.
  • zestThe thin, coloured outer layer of the skin of citrus fruit, full of aromatic oils, grated or cut off to add flavour. As a verb, to zest means to remove it.

More terms: Service & Plating

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: