Recipes <\/p>\n
Guidelines are a good thing when you\u2019re working on a new recipe. Without them, it\u2019s easy to feel paralysis in the face of so much possibility.<\/p>\n
Here at Bon App\u00e9tit, guidelines for the food team are usually things like \u201crecipes for salmon<\/a>,\u201d \u201cone-pot dinners<\/a>\u201d or \u201cdishes inspired by recent travels<\/a>.\u201d They\u2019re prompts to get our wheels turning, culinary umbrellas we can ideate underneath. But every so often, the denizens of the test kitchen receive a story premise that blows up our usual process (in a good way!). In the May installment of the magazine, our art and design issue, such a feature presented itself, entitled \u201cBite at the Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you ever looked at an abstract impressionist painting and tried to figure out what food it could represent? Until recently, I would have said, \u201cMe neither!\u201d But that was the ask\u2014that we treat contemporary works of art as the jumping off points for new recipes, and work backward to develop dishes that look as close to the original paintings as possible.<\/p>\n Of course, the hardest work in achieving these gorgeously copycat photos fell to the food and prop stylists and photographer (Michelle Gatton<\/a>, Christine Keely<\/a>, and Heami Lee<\/a>, respectively), who meticulously arranged each ingredient, surface, and light to best emulate the art. In the test kitchen, our job was to translate the works into food to begin with, keeping seasonality, make-ability, and personal perspectives in mind. Here\u2019s how we got there:<\/p>\n Easter Salad<\/a>, inspired by Judy Chicago\u2019s Let It All Hang Out<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cRadishes!\u201d I shouted, the second I laid eyes on this piece by Judy Chicago. I was certain nothing else in nature could provide the same round shape and bright, bold color. But radishes alone do not a recipe make, so I set out to create the rest of a salad that would make sense hidden beneath a shingled radish roof. After playing with a few components, I decided that the radishes<\/a> (cut in a few different ways) could carry the team, alongside torn boiled eggs, briny olives, and a punchy mustard vinaigrette.<\/p>\n My coworker Shilpa Uskokovic\u2019s first idea was to interpret the small rounds in this piece as chickpeas, in the form of a green-tinged chana masala<\/a>. But in considering the story as a whole (spoiler alert: we use chickpeas elsewhere) the team decided to go with a seafood moment instead. For Shilpa, the background color was reminiscent of Jean George\u2019s spring pea soup<\/a>, so she made a spinach version (prepared, like the soup, with just a handful of ingredients in a blender) to plate under an array of simply seared scallops.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes literal is best,\u201d says my colleague Jesse Szewczyk. When he noticed we didn\u2019t have a Neapolitan cake already on the site, he brought this image to the team as something we might feature in the art and design issue. And when \u201cBite at the Museum\u201d was conceived, his pitch fit nicely with the premise. \u201cIt\u2019s maybe the most practical interpretation of the assignment,\u201d he says of the tri-flavored cake that uses one batter, doctored up with cocoa powder and freeze-dried strawberries<\/a>. \u201cBut I liked that I had very specific guardrails.\u201d<\/p>\n I spent a long time looking at Summer View<\/em> before coming to falafel burgers. The shapes inspired sandwich thoughts, but it wasn\u2019t until I remembered former BA staffer and cookbook author<\/a> Zaynab Issa\u2019s great black bean smashburger<\/a> on the site that a riff took shape in my mind. Canned chickpeas became the base for an herby falafel<\/a> mix, flattened into patties and seared in a hot pan. The other colorful layers became toppings: cucumbers, lettuce, and a harissa-spiked mayonnaise<\/a>.<\/p>\n If anyone was going to go drink with their work of art, it would be Shilpa. \u201cI\u2019ve done 16 million frozen drinks<\/a> this year,\u201d she says. Blueberries were the obvious choice (look at those vibrant orbs!), but in blending them, she found the resulting color too burgundy-esque, rather than the purple of the painting. \u201cI looked up purple drinks online and the Aviation cocktail<\/a> popped up,\u201d Shilpa says. Thanks to the inclusion of creme de violette<\/a>, it was the closest to the color of the art of anything she\u2019d seen. Shilpa tapped clear spirits and additions (vodka and white wine) to ensure the hue and flavor of the liqueur shone through.<\/p>\n A funny wrinkle about print media is how far ahead we have to develop recipes to ensure they can hit mailboxes and newsstands at the proper time. In thinking about recipes for the May issue, we had to remind ourselves in the doldrums of winter that spring produce would be in abundance when the story went live. I ran with the idea of what would be on offer at the farmers market in developing a dish to look like Krausner\u2019s bold work. Spring\u2019s favorite fruit duo, strawberry and rhubarb<\/a>, seemed like the vibe, with dollops of orange marmalade<\/a> to mimic the bright swipes throughout the painting.<\/p>\n Whether you want to expand your weeknight repertoire or get abstract in your own kitchen, we’re here to help. Our editors thoroughly test every recipe we publish. Subscribe<\/a> to get full access to our archive of more than 60,000 recipes across bonappetit.com<\/a>, epicurious.com<\/a>, and the Epicurious iOS app<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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