Garnishing 101

Today, as I was looking back at all my pictures and thinking about a possible post I ran across these pictures I took when my student Amy was in the Culinary 1 class. I'm game for anything so I jumped right in with the kids. Okay, I have to admit my forays into garnishing left a lot of wiggle room. (A LOT since I had never done any.) My idea of a garnish is a spritz of something cute on top or a splash of color on the side. The instructor had other ideas. After watching a video that I think was made in prehistoric times everyone received an apple, a pear and a radish and a very sharp knife. We started with the pears.

MOUSE

1 pear preferably with a stem
2 Cloves
3 toothpicks broke in half
1 whole toothpick

• Find the flattest side of your pear or the side that is not the cutest and cut about an 1/8 of an inch off so that your "mouse" sets flat. 
• Cut that piece in half so that you that you have 2-ears.
• Give your pear a good look at the narrower end of the pear. Can you SEE the face? Make two slits at the top of the face for the ear pieces you cut from the bottom and slide them into the slits. You may have to widen the slice by just a smidgen to allow for the ear pieces. 
• Using your cloves place your eyes.
• Using 3 halved toothpicks place 3-whiskers on each side of the "nose."
• Using the stem or another tooth pick, insert the tale just above the indentation for the stem.

Wa-La! You now have a cute lil-mouse!

The Apple Swan seemed harder. We had a lot of smooshed apples. Someone, (rolling my eyes) was humming the funeral dirge. I can't imagine who would have done such a thing since we were all trying so hard. (hee-hee) 

APPLE SWAN

1 med - large apple is all you need

Keep everything in the order that you remove it so that replacing it is easy. Otherwise all you have is a big mess.

• Find the flattest side of your apple or the side that is not the cutest and cut about an 1/8 of an inch off so that your apple sets flat. You don't want your bird taking flight. Set that aside. 
• Look at your apple. Where will you put the head? Right behind where you envision the head, make a small V shaped cut about an inch long. This will be the tiniest cut. Leave it in place other than to check that it is free and movable. 
• Working in threes, make two more V cuts. Making sure not to break your V. Keeping it in contact... OR at least in order, remove your 3 pieces and set them aside. 
• Look at your apple from the front view. See the head placement. Immediately to the left and right will be your wings. Repeat the process of slicing 3 V's on the left and right sides. Keeping your pieces in tact or at the very least in order.

Yes                                                          NO!

Lastly, we made flowers out of radishes... well, the ones that didn't disappear into our mouths.

Radish Flowers

Radishes different sizes

Ice Bath (Cold water in a bowl, filled with ice)

• Starting on the outside make a half moon type, thin-sliced cut, 4 or 5 times around the outside. DO NOT pull on it. Leave it be for now.
• Working at the corners, or the V of the outside slice... work in making small slices until you get to the center. The goal is to look like a rose. Obviously, some look better than others. AND practice makes perfect. 
• When your radish is finished, plop it into an ice bath. The ice will cause the "flower" to open up.

All done! What do you think? Easy? Wait until you try them. You will feel like you are all thumbs. Ha! Good luck!

(Thanks Todd!)

Enjoy!

Kerri Downey