This Ingredient Can Make Any Food Beautiful, According To Wolfgang Puck

The ever dynamic and entertaining Wolfgang Puck recently sat down to answer some foodie questions from Twitter. The session, available to watch on Wired's YouTube channel, is full of Puck's bluntly hilarious advice and opinions: "That's a stupid question," was his response to one Tweet asking how to become a celebrity chef. When another user asked Puck to rate the uninspired contents of a school lunch tray, Puck suggested the poor kid change schools. The famous restaurateur also responded to a question about fine dining restaurants, saying that he hates when these establishments try to snub or embarrass customers over unfamiliar dishes or wines. "They should make you feel good, and be sure that you have a good time there," he said, proving that despite all his fine dining success, this chef stays focused on giving patrons great food and a great experience. As he told The Washington Post, "If people are not happy, they'll go and spend their money somewhere else."

Puck's Q&A session also included a few kitchen demos. One Twitter user asked, "How do chefs make their food look so nice ... my presentation game is weak." Puck's response? Simply by adding edible flowers. He went on to show how just a few of these gorgeous and tasty blooms can elevate the look of so many dishes.   

Puck didn't hesitate with his solution (shared via Wired's YouTube channel): "Put a few edible flowers on it, and people are going to think you are a chef." Puck went on to demonstrate this with a two different dishes, starting with a salad (which for many is probably the first thing that comes to mind when they think of edible flowers). Spruce Eats notes that a few flower varieties that work especially nicely with salads are violets, lavender buds, and rose petals. Puck showed viewers some extra salad presentation tips, too, such as using a baking sheet to toss salad leaves in just the right amount of vinaigrette, and how to prettily arrange the greens on a dish. Puck then tore petals from purple Johnny Jump-Ups and pink dianthus flowers to scatter over the salad. Gorgeous.

The chef then demonstrated how to enhance a mouthwatering steak with tasty blooms. After carefully arranging grilled vegetables and melted herb butter over the steak, he sprinkled vivid yellow and orange calendula petals over the whole dish. "It looks like summertime," he said. Puck says edible flowers like nasturtiums and chive blossoms elevate and beautify so many foods, from dinners to desserts.

What's Cooking America notes that it's important to use organic blooms with no traces of pesticides, and to make sure they're actually edible. (Not all flowers are.) Some edible flowers they suggest are squash blossoms, lilacs, hibiscus, and dandelions.