Notes from the Test Kitchen: behind the scenes

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This week’s Food cover story, ‘A Cool Way to Finish’ by Chez Panisse alum David Leibovitz, features some show-stopping desserts that are easy to make with no baking required.

Keeping the oven off is nice when you’re trying to beat the heat in the kitchen during a hot summer, but what do you do when you’re trying to shoot those star desserts for their front-page close-ups under super-hot lights?

At the Times Test Kitchen, we not only test every recipe you read, we also shoot most of the food you see in the paper. We prepare it, style it and then work with a photographer and art director to make sure you see each dish at its most delicious best. Certain dishes, such as those desserts, require a bit more forethought and preparation...

For the Leibovitz piece, we knew we wanted all three desserts featured in a shot that would run big in the section. The recipes included a shaved granita, fresh sorbet and delicate jelly, none of which could take more than five minutes under the lights set up in the adjacent studio.

We gave the photographer extra glasses to serve as ‘stand-ins,’ so he could set up the shot and establish the lighting. As he got to work in the studio, we got to work in the kitchen. First, we put the glasses we wanted to use in the shoot in the freezer -- every little bit helps under that lighting. The glasses chilled as we sliced and macerated fresh fruit, sliced cubes and cubes of jelly, shaved an entire tray of granita and prepped multiple scoops of sorbet. Then we plated the dishes, each taking a good 10 to 15 minutes to assemble in a frosty glass.

We carried the finished desserts to the studio. Five minutes into the shoot, we rushed the desserts back to the freezer as the photos were loaded on the computer. They came out again when the photographer was ready. We refreshed the desserts as needed, exchanging cubes of softened jelly and swapping out the granita or peach sorbet scoops as they melted. In all, we went through half a tray of jelly cubes, two scoops of peach sorbet and five versions of the granita.

The shoot took an hour and a half. The desserts, when we were done, lasted barely another five minutes before they were gone.

-- Noelle Carter

Photos: Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times