Creating Menus

 When creating a menu it is best to keep it small, focused and specific to the restaurant theme, in order to keep ingredients simple and to keep food cost down.  

Strive for balance over an entire menu, Appetizer, Entrée and Dessert. Envision the courses of a menu as a piece of music with rhythm and tempo.    

Menu

Appetizer – Entrée – Dessert

Tasting menu

Amuse Bouche – Appetizer – Fish – Meat – Dessert 

The heavier the main course the lighter the dessert should be.

It is very easy to get lost in creating menus. Some inexperienced chefs or cooks might put as many as 100 items on their menu.  When I see this I wonder how many of those items are actually fresh. I am thinking probably 95 % of those items are frozen instead of made in house, therefore, not fresh. Having such a big menu and inventory, is expensive and can be cause for improper rotation of produce, and becomes dangerous both for contamination and food cost, especially if these ingredients or menu items are not used frequently and are left in the fridge or freezer for a long period of time.  It is very important to know how to properly store your ingredients to ensure freshness and to diminish cross contamination with other ingredients. 

As easy as it is to get lost in too many menu items, it can also be easy to get lost in having too many different types of food on the same menu. It is important to concentrate on one theme for the menu for example Italian or French or Japanese.  Too many restaurants do not focus on one theme but rather go in too many directions all at once, for instance having appetizers, then an Italian section with pastas, as well as a French section, burger section, and the famous miscellaneous section, the “catch all” just in case the guests can’t already make a choice.   The thought is that this will attract more people but it actually has the opposite effect as people will find it difficult to make a choice because of the confusion of the menu.  

First, make a decision as to the theme of your restaurant so that there is no confusion when it comes time to create your menu. Second, creating a small menu will make it easier to control inventory and food cost while maintaining the freshness of ingredients, helping to ensure the quality of each dish.  There shouldn’t be more than six appetizers, eight main courses and four desserts.  Remember that each dish should not have more than three to four components so that people know what the main ingredient of the dish is. Third, menu composition should always focus on the present season.  Ingredients that are in season will be at their peak performance and flavour when properly ripe according to the daily weather and temperature. They can usually be purchased locally and therefore more affordably. With particular produce and a certain style of cooking, the season should provide the keynote for the entire meal. 

Learning the classics involves knowing how many ingredients should be on a plate and understanding why.  Each creation should be approximately the same size on the plate so one dish doesn't look bigger than another when beside each other at the table.  When creating a menu, it has to flow, like the movement of a symphony,  from the size of the dish to the aesthetic appeal to the way the courses flow from appetizer to main course and from main course to dessert.  Hitting the rights notes in terms of the flavors within a single dish is one thing, coming up with a harmonious sequence of dishes is quite another.  Planning a menu is one of the most difficult aspects of Chef Artistry. A menu is not a moment of inspiration, as a single dish might be. It is not a single song but rather the entire concert.   

The new trend in cooking is simply to make excellent food that is done well.