Food Styling for Photographers

MEETING MEAT HEAD-ON

On a rack of ribs, it is normally desirable to have approxi-

mately the same spacing between the ends of all the

bones and the beginning of the meat. You will most

likely need to create this appearance. After the meat is

cooked, you can cut and scrape away undesirable meat

between the bones to make the spaces appear even. Use

a sharp paring knife, tweezers, and scissors to accomplish

this task. If meat is stuck to the bones in areas where it

is not wanted, use the knife blade to scrape the meat

away.

After the meat has undergone basic cooking and any

unwanted meat is removed around the bones, use a torch

to lightly fl ame the bone surfaces. Th e torch can also be

applied to areas of the meat to create slight charring for

visual interest. Th en, as you apply color or sauce to the

meat, apply the same color to the bones. Th e base color

of the bones is much lighter than the meat and you may

need to reapply an additional layer of color to the bones.

A good trick to remember is to brush a light coating of

sauce on the meat and bones, followed by running a torch

fl ame over everything. Th e sugar in the sauce will cara-

melize as the fl ame hits, so take care not to burn the sauce

in too many places.

When you go to set with hero ribs, check the positioning

of the ribs. If it is necessary to make slight position

changes for the ribs, do that now. Before fi nal photogra-

phy you will need to check the sauce on the ribs and

bones and apply additional sauce with an artist’s brush.

Where new sauce was added, be sure to follow with a

quick torch fl ame to blend the color of the new sauce

with the existing sauce.