melon carving sculpture

Having finished all of the garde manger stations, we moved on to more lighthearted activities.

During one session we observed Chef carving different melons and assembling all the resulting pieces into a sculpture. This was a step up from the carvings he showed us in meat lab last semester.

First he started with etching fish shapes all around the circumference of a watermelon.



The top and bottom ends of the watermelon conveniently opened up into flower pieces.



The fish shapes he took and carved details into them - fins and tails and scales.



At the end he stuck a peppercorn in for an eye.



Then he carved a clam shape out of a cantaloupe.



This was stacked on top other pieces of melon. And then he mounted the watermelon fishies onto kebab skewers (several skewers for each fish to support the weight) and disguised the skewers by sliding scallion stems onto them.



And voila, an "under the sea" theme sculpture made entirely out of melons. He even added some fennel fronds as pretend seaweed.