Wrightfood - recipes, food photography and culinary adventures

Food and Light Workshop 2011

February 14 th 2011

9 Comments

Well folks, this is quite an honor to announce this. Every year there is a very special food photography workshop in Boulder Colorado setup by the lovely Jen Yu and Todd Porter and Diane Cu. You might know them better by their blogs – Jen Yu is UseRealButter and Todd and Diane from WhiteonRiceCouple. I am sure they need no introductions from me.

These three are easily some of my favorite food photographers of this time. Each of them a well honed professional in food photography, having shot for publications, cookbooks, websites, restaurants, and I whole lot more. Just when you wanted to hate them for being so bloody talented – there is more. They are some of the most genuine, warmhearted people you will ever come across. Perhaps the greatest thing of all (especially for everyone else) is that they LOVE to teach, and they do it really darn well.

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Posted in food photography | 9 Comments »

Home made blood sausage

February 7 th 2011

18 Comments

This blood sausage sort of just happened. It wasn’t long ago when I was flicking through the River Cottage Cookbook I happened to see a blood sausage recipe or three. My first thought was “wow, I haven’t had blood sausage in ages”. My second was “yep, there was a reason for that”.

As with almost everything not all blood sausage is created equal. I remember eating some in motorway (freeway to the Yanks) greasy spoons that should never be served.. especially considering that people are then often locked in their cars with no quick access to a bathroom 30 minutes down the road..

Click to see more photos and to get this morcilla recipe

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Posted in Charcuterie | 18 Comments »

Roast baby turnips, guanciale, fines herbs

January 23 rd 2011

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The poor old turnip gets a bad rap. It always seems to get out classed by other winter root vegetables (back off rutabaga’s..) and never quite ever gets seen as the star of the show. Half of the problem I think for us Brit’s was its association with Baldrick (NOTHING is ever going to be cool if associated with Baldrick) from the incredibly funny Blackadder TV series. From there it was just downhill for this sweet tasting white globe. I personally prefer the smaller, or “baby” turnips. I think they are sweeter, and more delicate. Just like me.

Click to see and read more and to get this turnip recipe

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Posted in vegetables | 14 Comments »

Lamb prosciutto is done!

January 13 th 2011

12 Comments

Well folks, this stuff has been hanging a while now. It seems to have done really quite well. It even survived the great International disaster of 2010 – “the humidifier is out of water for 3 days catastrophe” which I am sure you read about in a variety of international newspapers…

About two months ago I broke down a lamb leg in to three boneless pieces, and salted them along with various herbs. Becky came over and we rolled and tied each piece up much like you do a pancetta. These were considerably harder to tie than a pancetta however given a rather uneven shape. They were then left to hang in my curing chamber, where they sat for a month, getting moldy and drying out. Because of the international disaster mentioned above, they didn’t cure as evenly as first hoped, and in fact I think one is maybe for the trash, however two came out really pretty darn well.

Click to read how to make lamb prosciutto

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Posted in adfree, Charcuterie | 12 Comments »

food photography post production – VIDEO POST!

January 1 st 2011

18 Comments

Post production often seems like a dirty little secret. I know some photographers that don’t like to talk about it. Others swear it is the devils work, and only for those photographers that cannot take good shots.

I call bullshit to that last statement.

Post Production should be considered any work you do to a photograph after you take it. Some call it “Photoshopping”, but that is rather package specific, and often implies some gross adjustment or head/body replacements that we all love to do to those photos of friends.. It isn’t the devil’s work. It isn’t for photographers that cannot take good shots. It isn’t only for people that don’t know how to setup lighting properly.

Pretty much every photograph you see today has gone through some post production work. Some might be very slight, others might be very severe (thinking about those before/after shots of Madonna that went round the web a while back..). Back when I worked in the film industry, every shot went through post production – and that had many stages to it including color grading and so on. It is the same with photography.

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Posted in food photography | 18 Comments »

lamb prosciutto

December 3 rd 2010

25 Comments

I love lamb. Absolutely love it. I will take a lamb chop over a steak any day of the week and don’t even get me started talking about legs of lamb. Oh, wait. Gonna have to, since this is a post all about curing them.

Click to see more about this lam curing experiment! (inc. photo setup info!)

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Posted in adfree | 25 Comments »

Home Cured Lonzino (pork loin)

November 19 th 2010

23 Comments

This blog is fast becoming a mix of salted dried meat and vegetarian recipes by the looks of what I have posted recently – and frankly I am rather enjoying it!

This is the latest in my meat curing expedition, and whilst I have most likely only eaten 15 slices of it, I would consider it a favorite. Lonzino is a section of pork loin that has been cured then air dried. A very simple whole muscle cure that has a wonderful tenderness to it, with clean pronounced flavors, possibly thanks to the low amount of fat in each slice. It is pretty much the pork version of bresaola – the cured air dried beef eye of round that seems popular these days (especially with me!!)

click to find out more about this charcuterie, and see the lonzino recipe

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Posted in Charcuterie | 23 Comments »

chickpea, chanterelle, local black truffle

November 4 th 2010

21 Comments

There are some dishes, quite a lot of dishes in fact, that I cook and never think twice about blogging the recipe for. In my mind they are too simple, too “everyday” and have no cured meat element to them!

Sod that I thought one day however. This is how I like to eat. Simple food, quality ingredients, honest cooking. If there can be a shed load of butter involved, than this makes it all the more reason to talk about it, no?

My favorite way of appeasing the hungry vegetarian in our household (Danika) is to cook up a variety of small plates most nights, depending on what is in the fridge or the garden. Typically I will muster together four little dishes, generally including some kind of green salad, and for me just add in some fish or meat. I am finding this vegetarian thing of her’s super fun. Whether I will in the dead of winter will be another matter, but right now it is enjoyable, creative and fun.

Click to get this chickpea recipe and read more

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Posted in vegetables | 21 Comments »

Artificial Light Food Photography

October 24 th 2010

66 Comments

Artificial Light Food Photography tips

Raise your hand if you have a problem taking food photography in the winter?

If you could see me now, I would have my hand raised (with an alocholic bevy in it too, most likely). Heck, I would most likely be pouring one out for all the fallen photos I have tried to take in the winter, but have had sucky lighting.

The problem is this, unless doing a photography job, I shoot most of my stuff in the evening. In the summer, this works out OK – it stays light here pretty late. Sometimes you will find me taking shots at lunchtime on the weekends too, but busy weekends (hello toddler) mean this often doesn’t happen. Even if this does work out through the winter months, typically it can be too dark to get those really lovely light filled shots we are all seeking these days.

It can work out good. Natural winter light can be really majestic. It can have an almost dreamy, distant quality to it. Course, it can also be gone in a flash too. That is why From about this time to march I tend to have to rely on artificial light to take my food photography.

Click to see my advice and setup for shooting in artificial light

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Posted in food photography | 66 Comments »

Bresaola

October 14 th 2010

28 Comments

home cured bresaola recipe

Bresaola is the salumi that got me started in to meat curing at home a couple of years ago now. Some of you might remember the story of rat cage and the thing eventually ending up in the trash. Since then I have got far more obsessive (some might say that isn’t possible), and a little more scientific with my meat curing. I have cured a lot of meat over the last couple of years, but somehow keep coming back to this simple air dried beef charcuterie.

click to see how to make this classic charcuterie and more food photos

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Posted in Charcuterie | 28 Comments »

making dry cured pork loin (lonzino) – video!

October 1 st 2010

15 Comments

Something a little different today folks. A full on video post. Well, almost full on. I recently put a pork loin in to cure, and air dry and thought it might be rather fun to video the making of it. Turns out it was fun, and I now feel the need to inflict the video on every reader of this blog (hi Mum!).

Lonzino is really pretty simple. A section of pork loin that has cured in salt and herbs, and then is left to dry hang until ready – normally about a month. To make things far less boring, I tend to case all of my whole muscle cuts now – so you get to watch me try and force a big piece of meat into a small casing (no jokes please..). The reason to case is that it slows down the drying process, and also helps prevent the exterior of the meat drying out too much – so you get nice even dryness across a slice.

Click to see the video of me stuffing meat in to a casing!!

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Posted in Baking recipes, Charcuterie | 15 Comments »

rustic modern sofrito

September 19 th 2010

13 Comments

I had this post almost typed up and for some reason WordPress thought it would be funny not to save it. Quite frankly, and being honest with myself, that isn’t such a bad thing – it was a little dry. Lets see if it, like everything else, is better the second time around..

Sofrito is a very slow cooked mixture of finely chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic. This all gets slowly cooked in olive oil until reduced, caramelized and very flavorful. Bell peppers are often added in to the mix as well – but a classic sofrito is just those aromatics mentioned above.

The last time I did a sofrito was about this time a year ago and it took for bloody ever. The whole deal took about 5 hours – course most of that was cooking and drinking time, which is never all that bad – but it took a while. Typically sofrito is used as a rich flavoring component, and not something featured on its own. Last year I used it in a halibut and bean recipe, which was one of my more favorite things I have ever cooked. Honestly, that is most likely because of the sofrito, and after cooking it for so long I was sure as heck gonna enjoy it.

So once again fate happened, and I ended up with a bunch of tomatoes and bell peppers, wondering what to do with them. I thought of sofrito again – the first time in a while. Then I hit myself in the head with a pan, just for thinking of a building block that takes ages to make given my hectic schedule. Now, I never like to let a pan get the better of me, so I started thinking of sofrito again – this time out in the garden, away from anything I could bludgeon myself with.

Click to get this sofrito recipe and see more pictures!

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Posted in lunch, vegetables | 13 Comments »

Herb and oil poached fish

September 7 th 2010

17 Comments

Some things automatically go against the grain. Dumping two bottles of half decent olive oil in to a pan, and then loading it up with fish and herbs for instance. However, 20 minutes later and it all becomes understandable. Tender, flaky moist fish with such a delicate flavor and texture. If you get it right, the fish just quivers as you carry the plate to the table. This to me is the very exciting sign of a perfectly cooked piece of fish. It can seem like you don’t even need to touch it with a fork, merely just get it close, to see it flake in to pieces. Each bite yields perfectly cooked fish throughout, with subtle flavors pulled from the oil and herbs.

I first started cooking fish this way a couple of years ago and haven’t stopped since – especially in the summer since this yields light, but rich fish. Originally it seems like an extravagant preparation, requiring a lot of oil that will no doubt get junked after cooking. Screw it up, and you waste a good job lot of olive oil, and some lovely pieces of fish. Get it right and you would be hard pushed to find such an intricately flavored piece of fish. Thankfully, it really isn’t hard to do – a careful eye and an instant read thermometer (or a fancy candy thermometer) and you are set.

Click to learn more about this easy way to cook fish

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Posted in Seafood Recipes | 17 Comments »

Indian sweet and sour chickpeas, spinach roti

August 24 th 2010

23 Comments

Being British I am genetically disposed to Indian food. I am also ridiculously snooty about Indian food. Outside of India, I reckon that England could quite possibly be the best place to pick up some fantastic authentic Indian nosh.

Being this snooty about it doesn’t make eating out in Seattle for Indian food fun. Not that much. Not for my incredibly patient wife, who has to listen to my food rants, and not for my taste buds either. The first time I went to an Indian restaurant here in Seattle, I got the worst food poisoning I have ever had, and spent three days in the smallest room in the house, kneeling, cursing the seafood mixed grill.

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Posted in vegetables | 23 Comments »

Homemade apple brandy mustard

August 17 th 2010

20 Comments

Mustard. I love the stuff. Especially because it goes so brilliantly with charcuterie. I had never given one second of a thought however to making the stuff, until last week.

I was sitting around, eating some rillette and salad, and thought “some bloody lovely mustard would go so nicely with this”, and opened the fridge. You can imagine the utmost horror when I realized I was out of Dijon (mustard of choice in my household). I had used the last of it to make the salad vinaigrette I had happily poured over the leafy greens on my plate not moments before.

Click to get this homemade mustard recipe, see more photos and read about monks

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Posted in condiment | 20 Comments »