Gold Service Scholarship masterclass: how to prepare fresh fruit

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Gold Service Scholarship has produced a series of masterclasses in essential hospitality skills. Here, Elizabeth Forkuoh explains the knife skills for fresh fruit

 

Mise en place

 

The fruit salad is prepared in front of the guest, and this is a very good skill to have. You will need a chopping board, a chef’s chopping knife and a smaller knife for segmenting. The knives must be incredibly sharp.

 

You will also need some forks and spoons on a side plate, a debris bowl, a napkin to cover the debris bowl and an additional bowl to catch the juice and segments from the orange.

 

I also like to have a bowl of lukewarm water and sliced lemon for the diner to rinse their fingers if need be, and some caster sugar to offer.

 

Getting started

 

Present the fruit bowl to the guest and talk them through what fruit you have. I might have a pineapple, kiwi and orange as well as some strawberries and raspberries in a bowl on the side to add some decoration and colour.

 

Pineapple

 

I fold a service napkin around the stalk of the pineapple and move it to the chopping board. Once you have a good grip, lay it flat on the board and with the carving knife remove the base. Then use your service cutlery to transfer the base to the debris bowl.

 

Next, we begin to remove the skin. Use the carving knife and cut from top to bottom, removing the skin but ensuring the eyes are not completely removed as they will be a guide later. Repeat around the pineapple, keeping your back straight and remembering to smile. Transfer the debris to the bowl.

 

The next stage is to cut off the eyes on the pineapple. With the small knife cut from left to right diagonally around the fruit, being careful not to cut too deep as you remove them. Then transfer the debris to a bowl. The next stage is to cut the pineapple into slices. We don’t want the slices too thin as we want to make a fruit salad, but if the guest wanted a pineapple carpaccio, for example, we would need to cut the slices very thinly.

 

Once you have your slices, place the tip of a fork in the centre of each slice and, using the smaller knife, cut out the core. Then turn the pineapple over using a spoon and repeat on the other side to ease the core out.

 

Kiwi

 

To pick up the kiwi, use two forks to cradle it, but do not pierce the fruit. Place it on the chopping board. Cut both ends off the kiwi and move them to the debris bowl. Pierce one end of the kiwi with a fork, being careful not to push too far down. Use the smaller knife to remove the skin in one piece by twisting the kiwi on the fork and gently carving around in a spiral. Place the kiwi on the board and remove the debris. Cut the kiwi in half in a star shape, using a zig-zag cut all the way around the fruit.

 

Orange

 

Place the orange on the chopping board. Use the small knife to cut a slice from one end and then pierce the slice with a fork right in the centre. Push the fork into the other end of the fruit so the slice acts as a guard to stop juices running on to your hand.

 

Make a circular incision around the uncut end, all around the orange, before cutting off the skin from the top of the orange to the bottom, moving around the fruit. Try to follow the curve of the segments so they maintain their shape. Place the debris in the bowl.

 

Take a second bowl and hold the orange over it before segmenting it by cutting between the membrane and the segment, letting each segment fall into the bowl below. Then use a fork to squeeze around the membrane so you have some juice for the dressing later.

 

 

Presentation

 

Arrange each fruit on the plate as you carve them. Place the bowl containing the orange juice on to a plate with a napkin and spoon the juice over the fruit. Adorn with the halved berries.

 

Watch all of the series

 

Elizabeth Forkuoh is the Gold Service Scholar 2020 and assistant restaurant manager at Gleneagles’ Strathearn restaurant in Auchterarder, Perthshire. You can view the rest of the masterclass videos at: thegoldservicescholarship.co.uk/masterclass-videos