eG Foodblog: TheFoodTutor - The Man Behind the Curtain.

[johnder]

I have seen similar ones at the container store. They ones they sell there are pricey -- you can probably find them cheaper elsewhere.

Here are the ones they sell. click

Edited July 7, 2005 by johnder (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

That's brilliant.  Any chance you could tell me where you got them .... and do they have a website? 

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Not sure where Food Tutor bought her spice rack but I have seen them at Target for $29.95 ... another nice website is here: Caynes Housewares and something close but now $96 is this one

[lambfries]

What software do you use to create the Hugh Hefner airbrushed food porn? Do you have a set sequence of changes that you typically make? I use Photoshop for my work-related pictures, and generally have two steps: make the whites true white (thereby correcting both brightness and color balance) and then "unsharpen mask" (which I basically don't understand at all, I just know that it makes thing look much nicer, though of course not airbrushed).

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Photoshop. What I typically do is manually adjust the brightness and contrast (color usually never needs adjusting), then I duplicate the layer. To copy the layer you first have to unlock it by double clicking on the little padlock icon in your background layer.

When the new layer promp appears just click ok.

Then duplicate the layer.

Then I apply blur to the bottom layer by clicking on it once to select it, go to the filter drop down menu an select gaussian blur

and set it between 7 or 8. Click to select the top layer and start erasing around the perimeter of the subject with a large "soft" brush

to give it that dreamy out of focus glow. Then just crop to enhance the focal point of your photo and thats it.

Whew, that seems a bit long winded, but once you go through it once it makes sense and is actually fairly easy. Here's the results:

[Genny]

Is the foam from the risotto? How do you get it soft and bubbly?

I have a CO2 cartridge foamer that I use for whipped cream mostly but it seems like foaming a small amount of something for presentation is an awful waste of a CO2 cartridge since once you open the canister the compression is lost.

[TheFoodTutor]

That's brilliant.  Any chance you could tell me where you got them .... and do they have a website? 

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Not sure where Food Tutor bought her spice rack but I have seen them at Target for $29.95 ... another nice website is here: Caynes Housewares and something close but now $96 is this one

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Yes, definitely available cheaper than the $9.99 per resource linked above. Not sure I've seen them at Target, but I think I got mine at Linens 'N Things, where they're available in sets with a rack, or a slanted platform, or individually for $1.99 per.

Thanks for pointing out that you can see the tattoo on lambfries' profile. He's very dedicated, of course, so his arm reads, "Mise en place."

[TheFoodTutor]

So where do you buy your spices?  Online, bulk natural foods?  Are they labelled? (I'd use my handy P-Touch labeller!)  I love the idea of the magnetic spice rack but would be afraid of the lid coming off and having spice all over my floor.  How secure are the lids?  Twist on or snap on?  My guess is that your fridge is pretty close to your stove?  I'd have to walk 10 steps to my fridge to get to the spices, which are currently in the drawer on the stove island to my right.  It's a messy drawer though and I am constantly seeking A Better Way.  Maybe these little jars would be better in the drawer than the jars on their sides. 

Do you and lambfries work together outside of "TFT" business as well?

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Whew! Nice questions! I buy spices here and there, as I need them. The whole nutmeg, for instance, is from an odd ethnic store where I stopped one day. Some are bought in bulk, and I try to grind spices last minute any time that's possible, as you can see the cardamom is whole, as are the cloves. The lids stay on very well, but neither screw nor snap. The lids fit snugly, and a slight vacuum keeps them in place.

I don't label them on the front, because I like the clean appearance, but there's a little sticker on the back of each one (which reads "Bed, Bath and Beyond" - oh, yeah, that's where I got them) and I put a little abbreviation if I think there's any chance I might forget what's in there. The paprika, for instance, has a little note that says "pap" on the back, though I doubt I'd mistake it for anything else.

I don't have enough space in my kitchen to take up a whole drawer for spices, and the whole room is kind of small, actually, but there are lots of cabinets, and all of them are used wisely.

And we both work at Restaurant Eugene together, at least one night a week, aside from the Food Tutor stuff. He sees more than enough of me to be tired of me by now.

[TheFoodTutor]

Is the foam from the risotto?  How do you get it soft and bubbly? 

I have a CO2 cartridge foamer that I use for whipped cream mostly but it seems like foaming a small amount of something for presentation is an awful waste of a CO2 cartridge since once you open the canister the compression is lost.

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The foam is more of a light froth, actually. Lambfries took some of the creamed corn, pureed it in the blender, thinned it with veg stock, then frothed it with the immersion blender in a saucepan.

Voila!

[johnder]

...

and set it between 7 or 8. Click to select the top layer and start erasing around the perimeter of the subject with a large "soft" brush to give it that dreamy out of focus glow. Then just crop to enhance the focal point of your photo and thats it.

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This is really cool! I do have a question on the brush aspect. When you erase with the brush, are you just erasing it in white? It seems the default in photoshop cs when using a brush is to do it in black.

The problem I had when following your directions is when I blur the background, and erase the edges of the foreground layer, it seems that even though I am viewing both layers, it is blurred. I tried switching the order, ie put background first in the layer list but that didn't do anything. Do I need to change the opacity of the background layer?

Thanks

--john

[lambfries]

...

and set it between 7 or 8. Click to select the top layer and start erasing around the perimeter of the subject with a large "soft" brush to give it that dreamy out of focus glow. Then just crop to enhance the focal point of your photo and thats it.

←

This is really cool! I do have a question on the brush aspect. When you erase with the brush, are you just erasing it in white? It seems the default in photoshop cs when using a brush is to do it in black.

The problem I had when following your directions is when I blur the background, and erase the edges of the foreground layer, it seems that even though I am viewing both layers, it is blurred. I tried switching the order, ie put background first in the layer list but that didn't do anything. Do I need to change the opacity of the background layer?

Thanks

--john

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Are you sure the foreground layer isn't hidden? Make sure you can see the little eyeball icon on both layers.

[lambfries]

I aslo fogot an important detail when photographing food. Have a fairly decent light source and don't use a flash. It will look more natural and you can always brighten it up in photoshop.

[lambfries]

SCORE !!!

[TheFoodTutor]

SCORE !!!

Very cute. Obviously, he's quite enthusiastic about duck liver.

So, it took me a minute to figure out how to use the extra space available for uploading images, but I'm ready to show you what I had for dinner last night.

This is the bottle of wine I was setting aside for a special occasion. Kosta Browne Pinot Noir, one of the last bottles available until the next batch is ready to drink in September. I don't often bring a bottle of wine to a restaurant, but this one is legimitately not going to be found on many lists, and if one dines in a restaurant where one also works, corkage fees are waived, so this makes for a less expensive option for dining.

Sitting at the bar, with some bread sticks and pimiento cheese.

[jmolinari]

Foodtutor, where in ATL did you get that premium estate rice? I need to go get some immediately.

j

[TheFoodTutor]

Foodtutor, where in ATL did you get that premium estate rice? I need to go get some immediately.

j

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Viking has it. Possibly Cook's Warehouse, too.

This is the bread service. Homemade rolls baked fresh every day.

Oysters with grapefruit and black pepper granita.

Lobster risotto.

Sorry this one's so blurry. This is a foie gras "breakfast" with a corn pancake, peach compote, granola and a fried quail egg. It was really great.

[TheFoodTutor]

Heirloom cherry tomato salad, with house made ricotta.

Now this is where it starts to get obscene. That's a whole roasted truffle, wrapped in bacon, on potato puree, presented by Chef Linton Hopkins.

King salmon, cucumber and mushroom, cippollini onion.

Dry aged ribeye. Hoo boy!

This is the cheese course. I forgot the name of the cheese, but that's sort of a crisp raisin tuille, and pickled sweet okra. Yes, there is now okra in my blog. I didn't show lambfries' plate for this one, because he requested bread and butter pickles, in place of the okra.

Lavender flan with poached fig. An excellent finish to the meal.

Now, I have a lot to do today, but I promise I'll try to sneak a picture of the kitties in here somewhere.

[mhadam]

What a beautiful meal. I'm quite jealous and hungry now.

Happy Birthday.

[TheFoodTutor]

I'm re-posting an earlier entry to the blog, as I needed to fix an error in the previous one.

Went to the new Atlanta IKEA store today, and bought some furnishings toward finishing the list of things I need for the condo I bought in December. It's a great store, but shopping makes my blood sugar drop, so I got a 50 cent hot dog for myself, and one for lambfries as well, plus a Pepsi with no ice (they never have ice at IKEA). Lots of mustard on the dog, and a smidge of relish.

That's a sharp contrast with the other pictures of things I've eaten, but the dog was enjoyable, in an eat-on-the-run sort of way.

While we're on the subject of presentation, I thought I'd point out that there is another way to make dishes taste better, aside from photoshopping them. Great front of the house staff can heighten the enjoyment of a meal, by knowing about the food, and knowing how to talk it up. Here's one of my favorite men behind the curtain:

The man in the lower left corner is Patrick Mitchell, the GM of Restaurant Eugene. This is the second restaurant where he and I have worked together, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. It's kind of ironic that I picked that name for this blog, and that he's actually a man underneath the curtain, helping to take down the curtain in this picture. He and Steve are taking the curtains down because this picture was taken on the day that Restaurant Eugene was flooded in February of this year.

Anyway, it's a shame that Patrick won't be making an appearance in my blog because this week, he's having back surgery, so he'll be taking some time off. The reason I want to include him, however, is because he's so especially good at building the grand spectacle of fine dining.

For instance, take the Farrow Beacham mushrooms. Who's Farrow Beacham, you ask? Well, click here for a little background on that. This guy cultivates mushrooms in his basement, basically, because he's a mushroom fanatic, and these mushrooms are really, really great. Let's look at some mushroom porn:

Damn, those are some nice oyster mushrooms. We serve those at Eugene, and Patrick is fond of putting one of those big clusters on a plate and waltzing around the dining room, to show everyone how beautiful they are. And then the kitchen sautees them up, and serves them in a salad, with some Sweetgrass Dairy cheese and mixed greens. Folks, you've never seen a mushroom salad sell so well as this one does.

And of course, they taste good, too.

Edited July 8, 2005 by TheFoodTutor (log)

[bleudauvergne]

This blog is wonderful. Thank you so much for the photoshop tutorial!

[johnnyd]

I'll echo Lucy here. Your PShop tips are very helpful.

A stupid question perhaps: I was trying to make a creamed corn base for a lobster tail dish and found the result too kernel-y, little bits of cellular stuff dominated. Should I have cooked longer to soften these or strained the mixture?

Can I come down and do some prep??? If I get on my trike now, I'll get there by Christmas...

[TheFoodTutor]

Can I come down and do some prep??? If I get on my trike now, I'll get there by Christmas...

That would be extremely helpful right now, since the party's tonight. Too bad you're so far away, but I appreciate the offer, and all of the birthday wishes!

Incidentally, it's common for me to go the whole day without eating when I do a Food Tutor class, and then nibble when I get to the event. This morning, I had a very small bite for breakfast, and my choice of food was made in hopes of sneaking in a picture of someone.

Canned tuna for breakfast. Not everyone's idea of a gourmet item, but I know someone who likes it. His name is Dahmer, and it's hard to get a good picture of him, because he's all black except for the little white cravat, whiskers, gloves and spats. In spite of his name, he doesn't actually dismember other kitties and keep their body parts in the freezer. I don't know what I was thinking when I gave him that name over 10 years ago, but he's stuck with it now.

[Gifted Gourmet]

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Does anyone else think these mushrooms resemble the Sydney, Australia, Opera House? oyster mushrooms as the architect's muse??

[TheFoodTutor]

This is a duck's liver.

This is also a duck's liver. There's a bit of a disparity there.

Ya' think?

[Gifted Gourmet]

This is also a duck's liver. There's a bit of a disparity there.

Ya' think?

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Perhaps the disparity is due to the much-mentioned force feeding?

[TheFoodTutor]

Perhaps the disparity is due to the much-mentioned force feeding?

Force feeding builds character. At least, that's what my mother used to tell me.

You'd think that my cats are force fed, to look at them. They don't seem to think that eating too much is a bad thing at all.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Okay, is the disparity due to the fact that one duck had a drinking problem?

Will you and lambfries (whatta moniker that!!) give us some direction on this duck and his/her cirrhosis diagnosis? (gee, that actually rhymes...)

I have to go with the horrific artificially fattened response ...

Now this is where it starts to get obscene. That's a whole roasted truffle, wrapped in bacon, on potato puree, presented by Chef Linton Hopkins.

A question on this item: does he serve the entire truffle to one person? and if so, what does Chef Hopkins charge for the item?