A mess of food photography - Steph Goralnick

After a hard fought battle with Keller and Achatz a calm settled over us as we prepared for our next series of dinners in Chicago. The preparation for those events was pushed to the back of our minds and we threw a party with our friends at PhotoJoJo in celebration of the photography of food. All the attendees were invited to bring a camera and get up close and dirty with whatever was created.

After our first hard fought battle with Keller and Achatz a calm settled over us as we prepared for our next series of dinners in Chicago. The preparation for those events was pushed to the back of our minds and we threw a party with our friends at PhotoJoJo in celebration of the photography of food. All the attendees were invited to bring a camera and get up close and dirty with whatever was created.

Aside from us the lovely ladies from the HAPA Kitchen were there, as well as Ted Allen and Amy Sedaris’s supper club. The whole event was hosted by the Whisk and Ladle with cocktails poured by resident bartender Nick Bennett and virtuoso cocktail artist Mayur Subbarao.

Here is a small collection of photos taken by our good friend Steph Goralnick.

A little while ago I traveled to Panama with some loved ones. It was a ridiculously silly thing to do at the time and when we arrived it became an increasingly silly adventure to be on.

Upon our return two of our very good friends decided that they wanted to host a party where we would recreate the dishes that we served in Panama and film it for a TV network.

All in all it sounded like a great idea so here is a semi recap of the dinner we served in Panama being served to Americans in a loft in Brooklyn for television, with really nice lights and an unbelievable mean ambient temperature. Needless to say the moving picture version of this night will be broadcast sometime in future in a format beyond my control but hopefully with my diction.

Here is a small peak into what an amazing photographer and food stylist can do for the equatorially inspired food we made.

Menu
Butter Poached Lobster on Panamanian Tortillas with Cilantro Pesto and Candied Aji
Balsamic Pickled Peach Gaspacho
White Risotto with Black and White Prawns and Coconut Crisps
Mixed herb salad with fresh tomato, pixbae (pickled palm fruit) and toasted spiced nuts
Whisky Drizzled Crepes with goat cheese, mango and dark chocolate w/Cold Brewed coffee and tobacco whipped cream

Menu written with Mark Low and Danielle Florio

PS: If you look closely you can see Hunter.

All Photos:
Andrew Casey © 2008
Food Styling: Pablo Munoz (This man is an unbelievable talent.)

We started the meal off with a Panamanian style tortilla with a cilantro and chili sauce and a slice of reconstituted lobster meat that was poached in a beurre monte. A couple of candied chilies were place on top to cut through the richness of the lobster with some spice and sweetness.

We originally thought that putting the sauce on first was the best idea. But after some sober and personally introspective deliberation we agreed that the version pictured above and was amazingly less soggy and aggressive with it sauce delivery.

On to a delightfully refreshing dish we worked on all summer from our peaches party in July to this meal where it was retired due to the season change still unperfect but with great character. Pickled peach gazpacho with crème fraîche and compressed peach slices. When this balance between the pickled peaches and the fresh peaches finally works itself out this will a brilliantly refreshing dish. Topped with a touch of mint for greens-sake.

Look close to see the color break between the pureed fresh peach and tomato bases and the balsamic pickled peaches and cipolini onion core on which the fresh tomato slices sit.

Here we attacked the risotto and shrimp dish with a Coconut as the serving vessel, clearly showing that Mark has a flair for the dramatic. What seems to be a wasteful amount of salt and pepper used to hold the coconut in place was actually part of the final plating because it allow for the dish to be seasoned better by the guest as we had varying opinions on how spicy and salt the dish should be served.

I opted for super spicy with the blackened shrimp but we ended up toning it down a little after a guy on staff almost passed out. I will gladly serve this too you that spicy if you want and you too can almost pass out. I must say that if the test isn’t conducted in a room that is above body temperature and after a day of you holding a boom microphone out into space for 9 hours it won’t be completely equal.

Little herb salad with some delightfully ripe tomatoes and nuts, oh such spicy nuts.

This is dessert and we were really keen on the racing stripe for like an hour, and then I thought it wasn’t awesome. Then I ate it and thought it was great again. Then Pablo took this photo with Andrew and I like the background better than the crepe but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t tasty.

Did I mention that Mark’s Whisky Dizzle is stupid good.

Coffee and cigarettes rule the day again!