Photo Courtesy of Sony Pictures
To try the recipe for twice-baked potatoes described in this post, click here.
My old friend Corby Kummer has asked me to write about my experiences as culinary consultant for the upcoming film Julie & Julia, which comes out August 7th. We all know titles can mean very little, so let me try to explain what culinary consultant means.
Yes, I consulted with the esteemed director of the film, Nora Ephron, on what particular dishes might work best in scenes that were unscripted, and yes, I helped to train the actors, especially Amy Adams, who plays the blogger Julie Powell, to give her a comfort level with a large sharp knife that would be credible on film. I showed everyone in the cast (almost) and Nora how to bone a duck, the frightening task that Julie is dreading for most of the movie.
But mostly, I actually cooked the food and made it look good on camera, or bad, depending on the scene. That's what we call being a food stylist, and that is really what I was on this movie. That required cooking a lot of food almost every day for about three months straight with the help of Colin Flynn, who, thankfully handled the huge army of lobsters we invited into our makeshift kitchen, and generally was my partner in crime throughout the whole endeavor.