CHAPTER SEVENMake certain the knife you are using is sharp. Making
a one-stroke cut, if possible, is the best way to avoid
secondary cut marks. Immediately after the cut is made,
you will need to assess the hero quality of the interior
of the meat. If it appears to be the correct hero quality
for fi nal photography, place a piece of plastic wrap
tightly against the cut surface. Make sure the entire cut
surface is covered by the plastic wrap, and trim the
excess plastic wrap so the edges are not in the way as
you color the exterior of the meat. Th e plastic wrap will
need to remain in place until immediately before fi nal
photography.
Use a second piece of the same type of meat as the hero
to make meat slices that will be arranged on the hero
plate. Th is secondary cut will need to have the same treat-
ments as the hero meat up to this point. Remove the
secondary meat from the oil and follow the hero slicing
technique. You need to precut plastic wrap pieces to wrap
each slice of hero meat individually. Lay the wrap out fl at
on the work surface and wrap each slice as it is cut. Make
twice as many slices of meat as your shot calls for. Wrap
each slice to seal out air with the plastic wrap and lay the
wrapped slices in a cool place until they are needed to
build on the plate. Notice in the image above that the
wrapped slices have a freshly cut appearance. Th e section
of skirt steak that is unwrapped, however, is darker even
though it was cut at approximately the same time as the
wrapped slices. Unwrapped meat surfaces will oxidize
quickly. Th is is a great example illustrating how the plastic
wrap preserves cut meat for a longer time, making styling
much easier.Color for Photo Meat
Th e coloring agent for beef, pork, and poultry is basi-
cally the same mixture with slight variations for color