The Ingredient Commercials Add To Steaks To Make Them Glisten Onscreen

If you've ever wondered why the food that comes out of your kitchen doesn't look the same as what you see on television, it's for the exact same reason why your real life isn't quite as glamorous and entertaining as the ones depicted on your favorite shows. In a word, fakery. Fast food photography is as heavily edited as an Instagram selfie, and something like whipped cream may actually be made from shaving cream. 

Angie Knost, food stylist and photographer for Angie Knost Photography, told The Takeout that even steaks aren't immune from such tricks. One particular insider secret she shared with us is how stylists get steaks to look nice and shiny when it's time for their close-up. "Olive oil or glycerin are my go-tos to create a glistening surface on meats and other foods as well," she told us. Glycerin is a type of sugar alcohol with a shiny look. She added, "Sprays are okay if you are covering the food before it's plated, but I prefer to apply the oil with a small natural bristle paintbrush so I can localize the effect without too much oil coating the plate." 

There are numerous ways to cook steak — you can broil it, pan-fry it, sous vide it, or even throw it directly into a fire the way President Eisenhower cooked his steaks. If you were to go by photos alone, though, you might think that every steak was grilled, since those hatch marks from the grates certainly make for a photogenic presentation. "Ideally, it's great if you can use a grill pan that will sear those marks right in, in an authentic way," Angie Knost shared. Sometimes the time or resources aren't available, though, so she admitted she has also used an electric charcoal starter. "Just heat it up, and brand those marks right in, one at a time, taking care to keep them parallel," she explained.

Even though Knost's grill marks may not come from an actual grill, she is still burning them in — so that counts for something. There are other, much less appealing ways of achieving the same effect, though. Knost disclosed a shocker: "I have heard of things like shoe polish or motor oil being used for food styling." She assured us, though, "I have never used harsh chemicals when there are plenty of other options. I always try to use edible styling elements and keep things as natural as I can to eliminate waste and keep the food safe for consumption wherever it is practical." If for some reason her burned-on grill marks didn't work, she'd lean toward using black food coloring or frosting.

By the time a steak looks picture-perfect, it has likely cooled off completely. One of Angie Knost's food tricks is used to make the steak look like it is still hot off the grill. She'll use a de-stringed tampon that has been dipped in water and microwaved. "The tampon will smoke for several minutes, and that can be strategically tucked behind the food, giving off visible 'smoke' for quite a while, so the photographer can continue working on finding the right angles," she explained. "Of course, I cut the tampon into small sections and tell my client it is 'special compressed cotton.'"

Yet another trick involves adding a little color (think of it as steak makeup). "Steaks photograph best when slightly undercooked," said Knost, explaining that cooking them for longer makes them appear dry. If the steak looks overdone, Knost revealed that she uses maraschino cherry juice to fake a rare or medium-rare cook. To enhance darker colors, she'll paint on steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce.

Depending on how the photos are being used, Knost may style her food differently: "I aim for a well-styled meal that doesn't need a whole lot of adjustment most of the time when working in a restaurant atmosphere. For a cookbook, I would definitely lean toward more styling and adjustments." She did say, though, "There are no hard and fast rules; you often just improvise with what you have available to achieve the look needed."