Pie For Dinner At Four & Twenty Blackbirds

Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty BlackbirdsFour & Twenty Blackbirds, one of my favorite pie places, recently started doing a monthly "Pie For Dinner" with Chef Nate Smith. I randomly came into contact with Chef Smith, he saw my photo of a dish he made at The Spotted Pig and emailed me for a copy of it. I was curious what he was up to and that was when he told me about the Pie For Dinner event at Four & Twenty. When he first told me I *GASP. I do love pies very much. I asked if I can go and take behind the scenes photos at one of the pie dinners and he said sure.

This past Sunday I was in the Four & Twenty kitchen for over 5 hours shooting photos. I had so much fun that night. Everybody was so cool and nice enough to offer me beer and wine. While plating the starter dish I jumped in to help and grated cheese onto the dish. The night ended with all of us trying out Brooklyn Brewery's Black Ops, beer that was aged in bourbon barrels.

Here's what they served that night. Warm Cabbage with Wild Mushrooms

Rabbit and Root Vegetable Pie

Salty Nut Chess Pie with Maple Cream

Complimentary beers selected by Brooklyn Brewery.

Chef Smith told me that he had spent about a week preparing and freezing the pies. Around 4pm when he arrived at Four & Twenty they started right away with the preparations. First was adding egg wash onto all the rabbit pot pies. After that the pies went straight into the oven. During that time they spent cleaning up the place, cleaned the dishes, forks and cups and arranged the tables for the night. As the night progressed the kitchen was filled with the warm smell of delicious pies being baked in the oven. Everyone was tempted to open the oven and just stared at the deliciousness. At 7pm the guests began to arrive. Bottles of Brooklyn lager were passed out to the guests and the chef started work on the starter, though he told me that it wasn't really a starter since he intended the veg dish to be eaten at the same time as the pie. Before getting to the starter, he took out all of the pies from the oven, unmolded them from the pie tin and back into the oven to crisp up the bottom part as well. When both the starters and pies went out it was time for Melissa and Emily, owners of Four & Twenty Blackbirds, to get to work on their dessert pies. The night ended with so many happy filled tummies and happy faces. I even bumped into my friend Liza de Guia and somehow talked her into watching The Walking Dead.

As of now both December and January dinners are sold out but they are planning more for 2011 so stay tune! ALSO vegetarian pies are available too, just let them know ahead of time.

Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

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Pie For Dinner at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

Great Food Photos: Marina Aurora

I don't know what else to say about these photos by Marina Aurora except for AWESOME!! When I first saw these photos I quickly remembered what my college drawing teacher told us. "Just because the piece of paper we're drawing on has borders, we're shouldn't think that we have to keep the drawing within the borders." I guess Marina's photos are sort of the opposite but in the similar idea that you shouldn't be bound by the limits of the medium. It's such a fresh way of interpreting recipes and what a photo should be.Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. In the photographs I deconstruct different dishes into the distinct preparation phases in a single image. I want to inspire home cooking by showing the ease of making food that we often take for granted.

Q. How did you come up with the idea for your “Visual Recipes”? A. It was one of the assignments for school, in which we had to make a five-image story about a social issue, for me it was food and time. So in those five images I had my first two Visual recipes. It still took some time before I realized how well the images work just by themselves.

Q. Any obstacles while developing and executing the idea? A. It is somewhat demanding to fit everything into one image and to make sure the food stays fresh, as the process does take quite a long time.

Q. Are you the one actually prepping all the foods for the photos? If so, how did the cheese come out in your cheese recipe photo? A. Yes, I have prepared all the foods myself. The cheese is delicious, and was used in the beetroot pasta image. Cheese is a perfect example of food that we as consumers have distanced ourselves from. We are so used to buying products, that we have forgotten that it is possible to make for example cheese yourself. Q. What do you think is the one thing that has affected you as a photographer and your photography style? A. I have a background as a history and social sciences student, so that of course affects the topics I want to capture in my personal projects. All in all, I think it is a strange mix of influences and events that have shaped my style. One of the things could be my never-ending curiosity.

Q. Any photography heroes? A. One of my favorites is Jacques Henri Lartigue. I adore the curiosity and the joy of life in his works.

Q. I have never been to Helsinki, what foods should I MUST eat if I ever visit? A. Finnish food consists of simple flavors. I would highly recommend fresh fish or game together with mushroom or wild berries. One of my favorites is the traditional finish rye bred.

All photos courtesy of Marina Aurora