FOOD STYLING

Last week I was asked to prepare some desserts for a photo shoot at a swanky New York studio. It all seemed pretty straight forward until I remembered the sinking souffles and shiny salads of the days when my co-author and I were photographing recipes for our book. At the time, we were purists and refused to succumb to using anything artificial to alter the image (we did though place an upside down ramekin inside the onion soup bowl to keep the bread afloat) - so I insisted on the same parameters here.

The stylist, director and photographer all agreed that the colors had to be vibrant and the shapes as angular as possible. They wanted deep purples and oranges and were looking for straight lines.

Fortunately, on my way back to the kitchen, I remembered that we had made hibiscus flower curd tarts for the Mexican independence day celebration last year that was a deep purplish pink and I had some in my freezer. I went to the market and bought raspberries for a rich raspberry mousse.

Once in the kitchen, the jamaica (hibiscus) worked like a gem... I filled one of the crystal flutes that they had given me to work with and the result was a mouthwatering, satiny vision that needed only a dallop of cream on top (the cream i have to admit was loaded with sugar and stabilizer so that it would not fall) One down and two to go.

The raspberry mousse though delicious and luxious just made me yawn and I kept trying to alter it but it was just ... cream with a faint pink and dots of yellow... it killed me but this was selection two.

Midnight came around and the orange creation was NOT proving to be a success.... I had even started using food coloring to explore the different hues. Nothing doing. I finally remembered a mango puree that we often use to make specialty cocktails at big summer parties. I pulled one out of the freezer and was giddy at the site of the golden orange that reminded me of the robes that the monks wear in Thailand. Little had to be done - just a bit of gelatin for one part and a larger bit of whipped cream for the other - to compose a beautifully bi-colored creation that had the same elegance and sensuality of the first. I was done.

After dropping everything off, I went home and laughed at myself and the anxiety that I had passed. For all I knew, none of these would ever make it to the final cut anyway. I was proud though to know that I had used natural products and not fallen back on artificial fillers. For me, the food should look real and not a tennis ball covered in paint.

This weekend, I read a couple of articles in the New York Times that gave me further solace: creative folk who are foodies and also adhere to the same principles.... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29movie.html... hurray!