Garde manger, a French term for "pantry", refers to the task of preparing and presenting cold foods for banquets and buffets. These typically include such food items as salads, hors d'oeuvres, cold soups, aspics, and charcuterie, as well as other decorative elements of buffet presentation such as table arrangements and edible centerpieces made from materials such as ice, cheese, butter, salt dough or tallow. Garde manger is a highly artistic speciality within the field of culinary arts, with a strong emphasis on attractive and colorful presentations and garnishes. State Banquet. ... A Chinese buffet restaurant in the U.S. A buffet is a meal-serving system where patrons serve themselves. ... A salad is a food item generally served either before or after the main dish as a separate course, as a main course in itself, or as a side dish accompanying the main dish. ... Hors dœuvre (or alternatively appetizer or starter) refer to the food served before or outside of (French: hors) the main dishes of a meal (the œuvre). ... Soup is a savoury liquid food that is made by boiling ingredients, such as meat, vegetables and beans in stock or hot water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth. ... ASPIC can refer to: Advanced SCSI Programmable Interrupt Controller Application Service Provider Industry Consortium Armed Services Personnel Interrogation Center Association for Strategic Planning in Internal Communications Authors Standard Prepress Interfacing Cod This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... Ice sculpting on the streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. ... Tallow is rendered beef or mutton fat (suet). ... A garnish is a substance used primarily as an embellishment or decoration to a prepared food or drink item. ...
The person in charge of this area is known as the chef garde manger.
Reference
Culinary Institute of America. Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen ISBN 0764576631
To me this book on the Art of GardeManger is important because it presents the classic method and is very detailed.
This was my textbook in culinary school for gardemanger class, and it covers all the essentials from sausage making, cold salads, and hot hors d'oeuvres to platter design, edible and nonedible garnishes and decorations, and classical buffet presentations.
It may not be suitable for the casual cook, but as a professional guide to the gardemanger, it is very thorough.