Food Styling for Photographers

MEETING MEAT HEAD-ON

When the meat reaches a medium-rare internal tempera-

ture, place it in cool or room temperature vegetable oil.

Completely submerge the meat. Reserve any cooking

liquids that remain on the griddle or in the skillet for

later use on set. Use an angled spatula to scoop up the

juices and collect them in a mug or cup until needed on

set. Refer to the section on slicing meat earlier in this

chapter for cutting techniques and to the section on

coloring photo meat for adding color and interest to the

exterior of the hero meat.

Depending on your specifi c set, the hero plate can be

built at a prep table or on set. You will need to assess the

time sensitivity of all items on the hero plate to deter-

mine the order in which items are to be built onto the

plate. If a cut piece of meat is to be in sharp focus, I

normally build the plate using a stand-in. My stand-in

here is a souffl é cup turned upside down with circles of

masking tape to stand in for fried leek rings that will be

on the hero. Th e cup is about the same size as the hero

cut of meat, but you can also use a piece of stand-in meat.

When the build of other elements on the plate is fi nal-

ized, I substitute the hero meat, keeping the cut area

covered with plastic wrap until fi nal photography, remov-

ing it only to check focus and lighting on the cut surface.

Th e clock is ticking at this point and the hero meat will

not last for more than 5 to 7 minutes.