Making beef look picture perfect

Throw a nice juicy steak in the trash? That’s practically a sin, but after Chef Ashley Pado is done with a New York strip, you might just have to.

AshleyStyling3That’s not a criticism of her cooking ability, but rather highlights an important part of her job on the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB ®) brand culinary team. When Ashley is not cooking for guests visiting the Educator & Culinary Center or working on recipe ideation and other marketing materials, she’s busy styling food. Vaseline and hairspray in hand, Ashley has one goal: to get you to want to eat whatever beef is in the photograph.

“Food is an experience in every way. That can be tasting it, it can be eating it and it can be seeing it,” she says.

pADO 2It’s a team project. Ashley gets an assignment from staff photographer Mark Merryweather that outlines the “drama,” such as a dim-lit, romantic dinner or a bright, fun outdoor barbeque. Chef Michael Ollier provides vision for the dishes.

“Food styling is not 100% just food. It’s about the mood, the lighting,” she says.

Ashley sketches out how that product should look, selects cuts and accompanying vegetables or garnishes. She does plenty of prep work, because once the meat is done to perfection, there’s a small window of opportunity for the ideal shot.

AshleyStyling4“It’s all about keeping that beef looking hot….which is absolutely terrifying,” she admits. Mark has the studio lighting set, so once Ashley gets done settling the beef on a bed of half-cooked vegetables (so they don’t appear mushy) and individually applying grill marks with a hot iron he can snap many different angles quickly.

At least 10 steaks are cooked to get one image, because everything must be just right, from the marbling distribution to the shape of the cut to the degree of doneness.

Ashley will obsess over the placement of the salt and the amount of potatoes on the plate, because she never knows where these pictures will show up. A misplaced condiment will be even more obvious in a magazine advertisement or on a billboard.

And that’s where many of these pictures appear. Brand partners request specific shots for in-store signage, menus, distributor truck wraps, and the list goes on.

“That picture says everything,” Ashley says. “Retailers don’t have cooked steaks for you to buy, but if you see that picture, you think, ‘It’s going to look like that when I cook it.’”

photo 12It inspires a purchase. Likewise, seeing that roadside advertisement might firm up supper plans, or a menu image might be the difference between ordering a chicken breast or a steak.

Shortly after high school, Ashley found herself in California, shooting a TV show, working at a renowned restaurant and attending La Cordon Bleu culinary school in Los Angeles. But food styling was always calling her and, after shadowing a professional she’d found on Google, Ashley landed her dream job.

“After that I was hooked,” she says. One day she was staging a half-eaten full Christmas dinner for a sit-com and the next she was styling burritos for a Taco Bell commercial.

Comparing that experience to what she does for us? Ashley says it was good preparation, but not the same challenge. “These are close-up shots, and way more detailed.”

When you’re relying on a picture to sell your product, to convince consumers to pay up to four times more for it than other proteins, you should be as happy as we are that Ashley’s on Team Beef.

May your bottom line be filled with Black Ink,

Miranda

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As we blog our way through November, we’re not the only ones. This 30-day series was inspired by Holly Spangler, of Prairie Farmer. Visit My Generation to read her month-long series, “30 Days: Agriculturalists who Influence.” You’ll also see a full list of other ag bloggers joining in the fun.