Sauce Swoosh, Quenelle: 5 Michelin-Level Plating Techniques You Can Try

By Jheelum Basu

February 7, 2026

While the taste of a delicious dish often takes away all the attention, sometimes it is also about the creative plating style that turns dining into a visually pleasing experience as well. Here’s a look at the top five plating techniques that elevate the overall experience.

Sauce Swoosh

This technique adds an elegant flair with a sweeping, comma-shaped smear of puree or thick sauce. It is created by placing a dollop of sauce and dragging the back of a spoon.

Quenelle Shape

This French technique makes a smooth, sophisticated, elegant egg-shaped scoop of any kind of soft food. It is created using one or two spoons to produce the three-sided oval shape.

Landscape Plating

Here, food is arranged in a linear, horizontal fashion that mimics a natural landscape. It often arranges food based on colors and shapes that suit the landscape vision board.

SLIC Method

This professional technique focuses on four layout styles called Stacked, Linear, Isolated, and Condensed (SLIC). This enhances the appeal of a dish based on arrangement.

Droplets With Squeeze Bottles

This style is about creating sauce droplets of diminishing sizes. Created by holding the squeeze bottle tip at an angle over the plate, this technique places larger dots near the food and smaller ones trailing away.