Vegetable Carving

If any of you have ever eaten out in a good quality Thai or Chinese restaurant, one of things that you may have noticed - and been impressed by – are the beautiful garnishes that are presented on your dishes when they arrive. Carrots transformed into butterflies, swede turned into delicate flowers, cucumbers into roses and leek ribbons or even radish or mushrooms carved into delicate, divine shapes. Have you ever wondered how long they take to make or the training involved getting to a professional level?

Well, like you I used to take them for granted, but after a delicious meal at the Thai Thai restaurant in Egham, I decided to find out a little bit more about how they are made. Fortunately the restaurant was very understanding and one morning last week they offered to show be the basics of what turns out to be a very intricate skill. My first challenge came almost immediately – my host, the chef from Bangkok - could not speak English! So for the next two hours I had to use sign language and the occasional bit of translation from a passing waitress to help me as we spent our time cutting carrots and swedes. One of the tricks is to have a very small sharp knife similar to a pairing knife and to hold it with your index and middle finger in order to get the right knife movement for carving. Definite smooth carving actions will produce the best results. The chef told me ( in a manner of speaking) that it took him one month of constant practise to be able to perfect just one of the fancy design, but now he can turn out a carrot flower in 10 minutes. Well it took me nearly an hour to produce just one of the creations shown on this page - as they say practise make perfect!

Take a look at my creations!