There is a fine line between cooking and food
styling. When it comes to styling food, it is an art wherein you are the artist
and the dish is your canvas. Food styling is all about the presentation—perfecting
imperfections.
What makes a dish so appetizing that you would want
to sink your teeth in the minute you see it? The fresh green vegetables, the
grilled juicy steaks, the moist golden brown roasted chicken… they all have one
thing in common: they are not fully cooked. Food styling is not about cooking at
all; the aim is to make the food look presentable and attractive. And when it
comes to appetizing looks, Chef Eugene Raymundo emphasized that perfect food
styling is actually making the dish seem imperfect. These imperfections are
what actually sells in commercials and advertisements.
Chef Eugene Raymundo’s work experience started in Café
Ysabel with him as a junior chef in 1993. A year later, he became sous chef in
Gino’s Fine Dining for three years. Raymundo graduated with a degree in Hotel and
Restaurant Management from the University of Santo Tomas. He also took related classes
in London, Australia, and France. He has a master’s degree in Cake Decorating
from Heny Sison School of Cake Decorating. He attended University of the
Philippines to have a master’s degree in Food Service Administration. And in
2010, he took a course on Cantonese Cooking Essentials. Chef Eugene Raymundo
has six awards in different categories to date.
The CCA (Center for Culinary Arts) at the Podium
mall are holding a 4-week class on Food Styling by Chef Eugene Raymundo. First
week was a discussion on food styling. Second week, which was today, was a
hands-on application on food styling. Third week will be about food styling
beverages and the fourth will be food styling photography.
Before the class started, Chef Eugene told us to have our lunch first. Since it's free (yes, we media people tend to get fat or fatter with these events! Full of free grub!), I ordered the CCA Baked Fish, err, I forgot the name of the dish. It was very palatable! The sauce was rich but not too rich that'll make you get sick of it. I think the dish was good for two because it was very filling!
Their Sansrival cake looked positively yummy but, I could not eat another bite after my meal.
Chef Eugene Raymundo first discussed a bit about
food styling for us, newcomers, and then we were quickly rushed to the kitchen.
Aprons and tweezers were given to us students and Chef Eugene started off by demonstrating
how to food style a Lechon Manok. Since
cooking the chicken will tend to make the skin look old and dirty, one must use
a blow torch for food styling.
While torching the whole chicken, Chef Eugene
kept brushing it with the sauce to have that golden brown look. And when the
roasted look is finally done, the chicken legs are tied with a thread first,
and then wrapped with lemon grass.
In
getting the juicy grilled look, Chef Eugene gave a demonstration with a
slightly cooked liempo. In order to get the grid diamond look for a grill
finish, Chef Eugene heated an ice pick over the stove and used it to scour the liempo.
After
the demonstrations, each of us were given a partner and a different Filipino recipe
to try our take on food styling. I was paired up with a chef named Tim, who was
also a student in the class. We were assigned to try the Pinakbet.
When
food styling vegetables, it is indispensable to not overcook them. To give that
fresh green look, Chef Eugene showed us a raw string bean, a cooked string
bean, and a blanched string bean. The raw could not simply do, and the cooked
one looked old, the blanched one looked perfect.
Chef Tim and I blanched all
the vegetables except for the eggplant. Somehow, the cooked eggplant looked
better than the blanched ones, so food styling really does depend in trial and
error.
Students
were given ample time to prepare their dish and Chef Eugene instructed us to
present it at a straight angle rather at a 45 degrees angle. As Chef Tim and I
arranged the vegetables on the plate, we added a few sliced pork to make the
meat pop out from the greens. The finishing touch to our dish was the fish
paste sauce. In order not to have a messy look, we used a hand painter’s brush to
dab a few sauce on the vegetables and meat.
The
other pairs prepared a chicken and pork adobo,
bulalo, sinigang na baboy, and beef kaldereta. After all the dishes
were done and presented on the table, Chef Eugene inspected each of them one by
one. He gave constructive criticisms and comments on each of the dishes and we
really picked up a lot on how to improve our presentation. With our Pinakbet, Chef Eugene gave a compliment
on how each of the different vegetables were well presented and how each of
their colors popped out. He also gave his advice on filling in the holes in our
dish, because the holes will make the dish look dark in the photos.
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| With Chef Eugene Raymundo |
The
overall food styling experience was very enlightening. It was an art for gastronomical
captivation. And when it comes to food styling, the options for decorations are
limitless. Materials like ice picks, mighty bond, hand painter’s brush are
highly unlikely when it comes to food, but it can be actually possible. Food
Styling is a dream come true to chefs and food connoisseurs out there with the
desire to go beyond and take their creativity into a whole new level.
PS. I met a lot of cool new people and made new friends! They're so much FUN!
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| With my classmates! (The two ladies are food bloggers, the man in the scarf is Chef Tim, and the two other guys are working at Cravings) |
