Food Stylist's Handbook

Book excerpt: Acclaimed food stylist Denise Vivaldo shares the tips and secrets of the trade with cooks who want to become master stylists. It takes a steady hand to arrange the chocolate curls and drizzle the caramel sauce in elaborate designs on top of that sumptuous tiered cake. Whether for food blogs, television, books, magazines, movies, menus, or advertising, food stylists and photographers learn to slice, plate, tweak, and arrange so the dish becomes less a bit a food and more the work of an artisan. Learn how to create ice cream that doesn't melt under the hot camera lights, build stacks of lighter-than-air pancakes, grill a thick steak to perfection with a charcoal starter and more.