Creative Cooking

I can easily spend hours looking through decades-old issues of Gourmet. I don't necessarily look through them searching for recipes, although many of them do seem quite appetizing. Rather, I enjoy looking at the magazine's photos. Whoever styled those old food photos, which are so staged-looking and yet so charming, must have had one heck of a good time doing so.  I know that I would have.

Take, for example, that photo seen above.  When I first glanced at it, I thought that whatever creamy food was nestled within that puffed pastry must be something good.  Well, it's not.  Or at least, I don't find Brains to be something good.  But the styling of that photo certainly made what seems to me a vile dish look downright delicious.

Then there's the Swordfish Mirabeau.  Yes, the plated dish looks a little too man-handled, but those strips of anchovies and sliced olives do create an interesting-looking pattern.  And check out the photos of Boeuf à la Mode en Gelée and Leg of Lamb in Aspic.  A little too precious?  Perhaps.  But both dishes, especially the lamb in aspic with that herb and vegetable garnish, took skill and artistry.

Now, I doubt that many of us are going to start decorating our food with floral-motif garnishes, strips of anchovies and sliced olives, and peas in aspic, but I do think that these old Gourmet photos are great examples of how design can enhance food immeasurably.