The Art of Food Carving

The Art of Food Carving Elizabeth Jennings: Chef Rusty was a wood carver hailing from a small artistic community in rural Philippines. After he was discovered by Era Cabases on a cruise ship, he shifted base to Long Island where he now works as the master carver at the Mediterranean Manor. Chef Rusty is proficient in the traditional Thai carving and can turn any fruit into a work of art with a mere carving knife. Chef Rusty invited me to the Mediterranean Manor in Long Island where we chatted more about the fabulous art of food carving. You must be Chef Rusty. Chef Rusty: Yes I am. Elizabeth Jennings: So here we’re going to be doing some vegetable carving today. Chef Rusty: Uh-hmm. Elizabeth Jennings: Well I'm excited. Chef Rusty: Okay. Elizabeth Jennings: Lead the way. Chef Rusty: Go. Elizabeth Jennings: We’re here at the Mediterranean Manor which is home to carved creations where Chef Rusty is Master Carver. So tell me Chef Rusty, how did you get started? Chef Rusty: The town that where I live back there in Philippines is famous in wood carving and most of them you know, they’re moving to work in a cruise ship. Most of my family work in the cruise ship as ice carver and you know, from them they send to work in the ship as an ice carver so it’s easy for me to translate those talent to do some fruit and vegetable carving. Elizabeth Jennings: So is carving a bit of a tradition in the Philippines? Chef Rusty: There’s only town in the Philippines that do some wood carvings and I'm from that town and that’s why I learned some wood carvings, some fruits and vegetable carvings. Everything is there, it’s just a matter of creativity. Elizabeth Jennings: I don’t know if—I’ve never looked at a watermelon and said, “You know that would be a car with two oranges driving it.” I mean it really is simply amazing. The art of vegetable carving originated over a thousand years ago in China and Thailand. It still flourishes at the Thai Goi Croutons Festival, where water rafts are individually decorated using many objects including banana leaves, carved fruits and vegetables. In the culinary world, carved fruits and vegetables are used as centerpieces in garnishes. Today, food carving is practiced all over the world as an exclusive art form. Now what sort of skills do you need to do this specific kind of carving as opposed to say, wood carving? Chef Rusty: When I started it, I look at the magazine, I’d buy some fruit and vegetable carving and from there, that’s a basic idea what you can do from the fruit and vegetable carving. And you know, I just kind of practice— Elizabeth Jennings: Right. Practice makes perfect as in anything, I suppose. Now do you carve other things aside from fruit? Chef Rusty: Aside from fruit I do ice carving and then chocolate carving, cheese carving—cheddar, usually we use cheddar and the wax carving. Elizabeth Jennings: Ah, which is the bride and group behind us. So here at the Mediterranean Manor, I’m assuming there’s weddings and people get this as sort of a special thing. Chef Rusty: Yes, that’s what they ask for, you know this is a picture. Most of the bride you know when they see it, “I want this on my wedding”-- Elizabeth Jennings: Yeah. Chef Rusty: And then I saw—I make a watermelon carving with their names on it, so— Elizabeth Jennings: Oh isn’t that lovely. Chef Rusty: Yeah. Elizabeth Jennings: Oh that must be such a nice little treat to have. So can people request certain things? Chef Rusty: Yes they are. Elizabeth Jennings: So they can sort of give you their inspiration and then you take it. Chef Rusty: Yes some them they said they give us some picture and they ask if you can do this, in a watermelon, if you can do this on ice carving. So “Yes, we can do that.” Elizabeth Jennings: So now, how does vegetable carving differ from say, wood carving? Chef Rusty: Wood carving is kind of hard you know, and wood carving is easy. It’s so soft you just—doing this you just need knives and some—and cutter. But in wood carving you need a lot of chainsaw to do it. A good chainsaw. For me it’s more easy to doing this than the wood carving. Elizabeth Jennings: So you’re definitely a bigger fan of the— Chef Rusty: I am. Elizabeth Jennings: Of fruit and vegetable carving. Chef Rusty: Yeah. Elizabeth Jennings: Wonderful. The watermelon is one of the most widely preferred mediums for vegetable carvers. Because of its striking red interior, when carved it displays a gradation of colors from bright red to dark green. Here, Chef Rusty demonstrates the carving down of a watermelon in a fabulous concentric pattern. [Demonstration] Here is another demonstration of one of the Manor’s most popular pieces. [Demonstration] It was then my turn to try my hand at vegetable carving. I requested the Chef for an easy first lesson. Okay Chef Rusty so now prior to coming here to the Mediterranean Manor you were an instructor at the Culinary Institute of Mexico. Chef Rusty: Yes. Elizabeth Jennings: Right, so its time to get back to your roots you know upon intended. And teach me how to do a little of this carving. Chef Rusty: Okay. Elizabeth Jennings: So what are we making today? Chef Rusty: We’re going to make a palm tree, yeah. Elizabeth Jennings: A palm tree out of green peppers— Chef Rusty: Carrots-- Elizabeth Jennings: And pineapples. And we’re using specific tools for vegetable carving? Chef Rusty: That’s usually a pairing knife. Elizabeth Jennings: A pairing knife, and then we’ve got some-- Chef Rusty: Some cutters. Elizabeth Jennings: Some cutters and then a nice big knife. Bamboo stick things. Chef Rusty: Okay. Elizabeth Jennings: All right. Chef Rusty: Yeah, should we start? Elizabeth Jennings: I think we should. Chef Rusty: Okay. Elizabeth Jennings: Now is this a simple thing to treat somebody? Chef Rusty: Yeah that’s a simple thing. Elizabeth Jennings: Yeah we’ll start. Chef Rusty: Okay then we use bamboo skewer. Elizabeth Jennings: Okay. Chef Rusty: The other— Elizabeth Jennings: Pop the other end? Alright the other one. Oops, sorry. All right. Okay. This is so easy. Chef Rusty: We’ll make another one more. Elizabeth Jennings: Sure. Chef Rusty: Oh la. Palm tree. Elizabeth Jennings: Look at that. It’s like my own little deserted island. I love it and that was really quite simple to do. Chef Rusty: It’s just like-- Elizabeth Jennings: We need to have a little wow. Where’s my fruity drink? I love it. So easy, so simple yet so creative. Chef Rusty: Thank you. Elizabeth Jennings: At the end of the day, I learned that it is not an easy task to carve down a supple fruit. It requires great dexterity and just the right amount of pressure so as not to destroy it. Knowing exactly what fruit will manifest into what magnificent shape is the quality of a master carver. With gentle yet firm hands, Chef Rusty guides the knife into exquisite designs. Paying homage to a glorious old tradition.