The art of Hannibal's food
If you have been enjoying NBC's Hannibal, surely you have been seduced by the beautiful dishes Hannibal thoughtfully crafts for his dinner guests. Granted, the man uses some unusual ingredients. (People, okay? It's all people.) But the show's food looks absolutely amazing.
For this, you can thank Janice Poon. And as long as we are thanking Poon, let's thank her for her blog Feeding Hannibal. Poon writes up a blog post for each episode which includes behind-the-scenes stories about the crazy life of a food stylist, talks about her inspiration for the dishes, and includes recipes if you would like to try making your own at home. (Don't worry, she offers meat substitutions.)
Warning: Much like the show itself, this food blog is not for the faint of heart.
For the season premiere, Poon starts by discussing the culture and history of Kaiseki, "the highest form of Japanese cuisine." Her first challenge for this episode was to figure out what Hannibal would serve someone who required a vegetarian dish.
(Note: I found it surprisingly touching that Hannibal actually did serve Chilton vegetarian food, understanding that it was a medical necessity. However, he served Freddie Lounds meat, presumably because her vegetarianism was simply her personal choice, and Hannibal is kind of a jerk.)
Then came the small matter of trying to source fresh sea urchins out of season, assembling a huge revolting buffet, a discourse on the history of roasting foods in salt, and finally a step-by-step recipe for Salt-baked snapper which looks delicious.
Reading Poon's blog, you realize how much work every person puts into an episode of the show to make it as amazing as it possibly could be. Poon's humor, her teaching spirit, and her amazing wealth of knowledge is a treasure. Whatever NBC is paying her, they should double it!
Image courtesy Janice Poon