To ask how you make your meals a bit more posh/fancy?

[WanderingWildflower]

We used to eat out a fair bit but our income has reduced due to maternity leave plus we are feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis (like most I imagine).

So I'd like a few of our (mainly weekend) meals to be a bit more 'restauranty' as a compromise!

So I'm asking, what makes a meal feel 'nice' to you? Good wine, nicer condiments?

And how do I make a REALLY nice roast to match the ones you get at a posh pub on a Sunday 😁

Presentation is everything I put rice in a bowl to form it in to a mound. I also grow my own herbs. I have always hated seeing huge amounts of food on a plate thrown on. I decant relishes etc in to small bowls and don’t put jars on the table.

I have got those chef squeeze bottles for glazes and dressings. I have a few concoctions in the fridge for drizzling.

Have a cheese board at the end of your meal, nothing like a chat over cheese. I bought myself a really nice cheese knife a few years ago.

I have friends round for high tea and bought mismatched vintage China very reasonably and they always love it. I just make sandwiches and bake a few scones. Takes me back to my Aunts garden parties.

Yes that’s certainly true! I use at least one block of butter per week. I’ve discovered that red wine stock jelly pots work very well in stews and casseroles. Keeps costs down (plus I’m not tempted to finish the bottle every time ).

We bake our own ‘artisan’ bread which I think costs us 50p per loaf instead of £4 or more. It’s lovely to have freshly baked bread with olives and other antipasti before a meal.

i think it’s also about how you approach it. So once the food is ready stop for a minute, relax, leave all stresses and worries behind and just sit together and take the time to eat slowly and really enjoy the food like you do when you’re at a restaurant.

Edible flowers like Nasturtium are easy to grow and look amazing on meals.

I freeze leftovers from bottles of wine (recognise this is not a problem many need to solve) as you can then just use in cooking whenever.

I think for me it's:

1. Nice chilled water with ice and lemon/mint/cucumber.

1. Candles on the table.

1. Plating up - you can literally Google how to plate things up stylishly. I don't want to eat off a wooden board or a slate but plating up things to then serve from them can look good.

1. Fresh herbs and other garnishes, as well as doing proper homemade dressings for salads.

See images below for illustrations of 3 and 4. One is a roulade (not mine sadly) and the other is just a butternut squash salad. The roulade hasn't technically gained any ingredients from its garnishes it had raspberries and pistachios in it, but it looks way fancier with them on the top. The salad could be put in a bowl and all mixed up but looks much posher and more expensive all spread out, showing off the nice prosciutto with decent balsamic drizzled over it.

I freeze leftovers from bottles of wine (recognise this is not a problem many need to solve) as you can then just use in cooking whenever.

Yes that really isn’t a problem we ever face!

We do sometimes have a half bottle left (because DH doesn’t drink much wine anymore and I tend to keep it to a couple of glasses) in which case I will use some for cooking if needed, but we don’t buy a lot of wine anymore so we tend to just keep it for drinking. The stock pods come in handy if I don’t have any wine in or don’t want to open a bottle. And the flavour really is plenty good enough for home cooking even at a higher level.

You can freeze wine in ice cube trays also. So if your opening to drink, you can always just freeze a few cubes

True! Might start decanting a small amount every time I open a bottle.

Yes, I also always decant relishes/condiments into small dishes/bowls/tiny ramekins. Looks much nicer.

I always buy table runners (cheaper than table cloths and I like the two-tone look of table + cloth) and linen napkins in out of season sales, to save on overall cost. I’ve got Christmas table linens, spring/summer and autumn as well as winter. Once you have a few to choose from you don’t have to buy more unless you want to - just mix and match in each category to make new schemes.

You can make a lot of sauces with mayo.

1/2 and 1/2 mayo and yoghurt and 1 crushed garlic to make a dip.

Mayo with a teaspoon of smoked paprika.

I agree with putting things in rings.

Cut / chop things nicely. Carrots on an angle, put a cross into a potato before you bake it and then press underneath to have a cross of fluffy potato bursting out.

Think about placing on the plate, if necessary buy new ones.

Place settings and decent wine.

And if you want your mayonnaise to taste really good, make your own! But don’t use olive oil unless it’s very light - it’s too strong and will make it bitter/affect the flavour.

I always have plenty of lemons and limes handy as I use them a lot. They keep fresh for a long time if you keep them in the fridge, submerged in water. However if you don’t use them much you can chop up any extra and freeze it and then you’ve always got some available to add to drinks for flavour/in place of ice cubes.

What's the recipe please and is it easy? How long does it last?

@NiqueNique I'd also love the recipe if you are happy to share 🙂

I love these. I'm adding lemons and limes to the shopping list and will freeze some and splash out on some good butter too although the non spreadable sort does infuriate me 😀 I imagine it will be a more expensive shop this week but when you offset it against the lack of meals out it will all seem much cheaper I'm sure.

Also looking on Pinterest for some nice ideas for presentation 🍽

@landantan

The recipe itself is straightforward enough but it’s finicky to make and you have to do it properly or it won’t work at all and will split. It doesn’t last long, a few days in the fridge, but I don’t make huge amounts at a time.

I don’t use homemade all the time tbh because I don’t like plain mayonnaise all that much and DH is happy with a jar in the fridge for his sandwiches and so on, but if I’m doing something like an aioli (here I do use half olive oil for that lovely flavour) or a Marie Rose sauce then I’ll make up a batch.

Here’s a recipe

I’ve also just seen this one which uses a whole egg. I’ll give it a go next time because it means I don’t have to think up a use for the whites.

Whole egg mayonnaise

@WanderingWildflower well there’s your excuse to buy a lovely butter dish! No need for spreadable butter, and your table will look more elegant too!

Another top tip (as long as you like red meat):

Learn to cook steak well (if you don’t already know how - not presuming to teach a grandmother to suck eggs ) A good steak, garlic butter, chimichurri or pepper sauce, bottle of wine, home made chunky chips, salad on the side is heaven and you’ll get all that easily for less than it costs for a decent bottle of wine in a restaurant.

I bought a balsmaic reduction once but it didn't work? Don't knw6what went wrong?

If you’re not actually “posh” yourself, no amount of gussying up your meals will makes them “posh.”

But some tips:

Lay the table - tablecloth, cotton/ linen napkins etc. sit down to eat with no television or phones. Practice good table manners. Have a proper butter knife, and serving dishes.

I think it’s quite clear what OP meant. Class doesn’t need to come into it.

And the most patronising poster award goes to ...

That looks lovely

It really does! Makes me want to sit outside and eat! <makes side eyes at the ‘summer’ weather>

I found a couple of little garlic bread trays/platters in the charity shop last week, which I’m looking forward to using when there’s actually some sunshine...

Smaller portions presented nicely in the middle of the plate. Then when you finish it you can go back for seconds, which can be dolloped onto the plate less carefully as it's only the initial serving that matters in terms of presentation