The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving

'The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions' is a book I ordered from Amazon. I recieved it in the last days of 2012 and that became a christmas present for me :) I bought this book because its cover looked so promissing.  This post  is a review of the book.

The Decorative art of Japanese Food Carving by Hiroshi Nagashima

"Japanese Food Carving" book is printed on glossy paper. It is a pleasure to hold it in your hands. 

I found lot of attractive photographs of garnishes and dishes, most of them are taken in macro mode. Definitely this book is a great sample of food photographing art.

Authors use a black background for food serving (black plates, ceramics) what makes food look excellent.

food served in black plate and garnished in japanese style

The book provides step-by-step photos on making garnishes, comments to the steps and large photos of comleted dishes. So you can learn not only 'how to make', but how to implement the garnishes in a dish.

After reading this book you understand that food garnishing is an integral part of Japanese dishes.

Daikon garnish integrated in a dish

'The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving' book gave me ideas on using the japanese garnishes in European cuisine (including Russian). I highly recommend to read the descriptions to the pictures (I mean not just watching photos), you will discover interesting things. At the end of the book you will find recipes of all dishes presented in its pages. 

This is a an excelent book, I am happy with the purchase.

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Vegetarian Rolls With Pickled Radish and Cucumber Garnish

More japanese recipes:
Mukimono the Japanese Method for Garnishing
Bento the Japanese Lunch Box
Salad With Daikon and Syabu Syabu Sauce

For Vegetarian rolls you need:

rice,

carrot,

cucumber,

pickled radish

pickled ginger.

Korean pickled radish (daikon)

Japanese pickled ginger Syoga

Cook rice. Prepare vegetable for rolls.Boil carrot, skin cucumber and cut. Keep the peeled cucumber skin for plate garnishing. Unpack ginger and add ginger vinegar to the cooked rice (one or two teaspoons for a rice bowl). 

I make rolls with a help of silicone mat Makisu (made by Lekue company, Spain)

Dish rolls up with pickled ginger and soy sauce. Make knots out of cucumber skin to garnish rolls (see carrot knots at my tutorial page).

Submitted to:

 Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable August 2011 event by simply.food guest hosted by Dinner recipes by Sonias Kitchen.

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Vegetable Plate And a Pair Of Carved Birds. Using Cucumber Garnishes

Vegetable parrot birds and vegetable plate presentation for a wedding party (Gagarin Restaurant). For this vegetable display I used samurai cucumber garnish, thai lotus garnish from cucumber, lilly form carrot and simple flowers cut out from a beetroot.

Material:
Japanese radish,
carrot,
cucumber (Mukimono cut method)
broccoli,
tomato,
pepper

Weddings in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island, Russia

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Picnic Food Garnish

More articles:

Easy Fruit Garnish For Kids

Mukimono

Cucumber Garnish

My blog post today is about picnic food garnish! I love BBQ all the year round. I love summer picnics with grilled fish cooked by my father and winter picnics with fairy cardinal drink made by my friend. Picnic food is not a simple sandwich. There are plenty of Picnic Food Ideas for BBQ, meat, deserts, hamburgers and cookies what are helpful for kids picnics, romantic, family picnics, gourmet and budget-friendly picnics.

Picnic food garnish should be quick and easy with no special tools requied, but a knife. The best method for picnic food garnish is Mukimono (a japanese method of cutting and food garnishing).

Meet Carrot Knots

1. Slice carrot

2. Make a cut

3. Reverse the slice and make another cut as the photo shows

4. You get "N" letter. Cut it away

5. Hook the ends

6.Carrot Knot is done!

Enjoy easy picnic garnish with me :))

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"Mukimono" The Japanese Method Of Food Garnishing. Cucumber

More articles:
Mukimono Art The Japanese Food Carving
Vegetable Plate and Birds From Radish. Mukimono Cucumber Garnish
Plating Techniques

Mukimono is a traditional japanese art of carving vegetables and food garnishing. Some of the japanese garnishes are simple and easy to do and some other methods are intricated. Carrot, daikon or cucumber help to complete a look of a dish when you know a couple of special Mukimono techniques.





Maple and ginko leaves, curlies, marine creature etc.

Original pictures






Mukimono video - A Special Way Of Cutting Cucumber

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Cucumber Picture

Related articles:
Mukimono Cute Garnishes
Cucumber, Tomato and Salami Garnishes. Sandwich Art #1
Plate Food Garnish. Part 1: Lemon and Cucumber
How To Garnish Plate. Part 2: Tomato and Olives

These cucumber garnishes are made of two easy elements, two types of a "fan" garnish. Place them on the plate edge or on top of salad with a flat surface. I decorate open sandwiches with the cucumber butterflies.

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Culinary Art Every Day

More articles:
The Best Way To Enjoy GarnishBlog
Thai Carving Class In Japanese Club

I have often been asked by people in my class about using carving centerpieces in a routine life. I am told 'OK, I learned how to make such beautiful things, but how can I use them to garnish food on my plate? On your website I can see a lot of garnishes but without food ideas'.

I absolutely agree with the statement. Food is primary and garnishes are just an accent dedicated to present food nicely.
In this blog I have sections about easy garnishes, drink garnishes and fruit carving arrangements. Read this blog if you want to get idea about daily food decorating and then 'Easy Garnish' is your section. Read this blog if you want to go further and get ideas how to make fruit and vegetable carving arrangements for buffet table and other display exhibitions. Read this blog if you are looking for ideas about family entertaiment and time with kids and then YouTube Video Section could be also in help.

I would be glad to recive your feedback. Feel free to ask and comment.

And back to the topic. I would like to represent you my video "Culinary Art Every Day" with garnishing techniques and nice food pictures.

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