Food Carving: Teaching and Learning. Flower Modeling: Flower Modeling

Author: Zhang Weixin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Food carving is a culinary activity that takes hard materials like vegetables, fruits, and soft materials like dough, sugar, and butter as its subjects. Using carving tools such as food carving knives, dough sculpting knives, oil sculpting knives, and ice sculpting knives, it employs techniques such as cutting, slicing, rotating, hollowing, and carving, as well as shaping methods like kneading, rolling, pasting, pressing, and molding, to create artistic forms from the food materials themselves. It organically combines cooking and art, making culinary works both edible and artistically appreciable. It is a unique gem in China's sculptural art. The "Teaching and Learning of Food Carving" series—comprising "Floral Modeling," "Bird Modeling," "Mammal Modeling," "Human Figure Modeling," "Dragon and Phoenix Modeling," and "Dough Sculpting Modeling"—has been published. This is another work by our unit's young culinary teacher, Comrade Zhang Weixin, following his book "Chinese Banquet Food Carving." For many years, he has diligently studied, actively strived, and continuously innovated, achieving remarkable accomplishments in Chinese cooking, particularly in food carving. He has won numerous awards in national and provincial/municipal competitions, published multiple culinary books, and his works have been featured in various newspapers and magazines. He has also been invited to design and create large-scale banquet display stages for hotels and restaurants such as the Great Wall Hotel and Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, receiving unanimous praise. In addition to teaching, he is often invited to teach at various hotels and restaurants.
The "Teaching and Learning of Food Carving" series is characterized by the following:
1. Pioneering Awareness and Thought Leadership. The series reflects the author's new understanding and insights into food carving, believing it will lead readers into a new realm of food carving art. The author has persistently studied and explored knowledge in areas such as cooking, folklore, handicrafts, food materials, historical geography, and architectural design, continuously innovating and expanding. His knife techniques are refined, his skills are proficient, and his carved works feature ingenious concepts, vivid shapes, and a touch of creativity, often standing out with their uniqueness.
2. Novel Format and Comprehensive Content. The series showcases unique ingenuity in both content and form, taking a fresh approach. It categorizes various themes such as flowers, birds, human figures, mammals, dragons and phoenixes, and dough sculpting, each forming its own volume with detailed elaboration.
3. Unique Techniques and Clever Designs. In addition to teaching conventional techniques like piercing, rotating, and straight cutting, as well as shaping methods like kneading, rolling, and pressing, the book emphasizes new techniques such as scoring, hollow carving, trembled knife cutting, wrapping, and filling. These techniques are simple to learn, highly practical, and easy to operate, enabling readers to quickly and effectively master and apply food carving skills.