Swapped my finishing tweezers for a paintbrush on plating last month and it felt wrong at first

I used to obsess over every little garnish placement with tweezers for years at my station in Chicago. Last month our head chef told me to try painting a sauce smear with a brush instead of dropping it from a squeeze bottle for a duck dish. At first I thought it was a gimmick but after three tries I saw how the brush gave me way more control over the thickness and shape. Now I keep a set of small brushes in my kit and use them for everything from dots to swooshes. It cut down my plating time by maybe 10 seconds per plate which adds up during a busy service. Has anyone else swapped a classic tool for something weird and had it actually improve their workflow?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim.dylan25d ago

Traded my tweezers for a butter knife once, ended up looking like Jackson Pollock's ugly cousin.

skyler_baker25d ago

Kim.dylan you just described every bad decision I ever made with my eyebrows. I used a tiny little scissors once and swore I'd never touch my face again after that mess.