RSSLanding a Space Shuttle & Gratin Potatoes?
December 30th, 2006 by Francesco, Director of Media Deployment
What does landing a Space Shuttle and Rouxbe’s Gratin Potatoes have in common? Well, for one, they’re both the real thing. When NASA lands the Space Shuttle they land the real vehicle, not a mockup nor a test. When Rouxbe posts the Gratin Potatoes, you see the actual dish, not a mockup or a styled plate.
Think about this. The other day (Dec. 22) the space shuttle Discovery landed in Florida. The way they do it is that the shuttle orbits the earth at around 28,000 km/h (it only takes them about 90 minutes to go around the earth!). To bring the shuttle down they fire the thrusters in reverse to slow the orbiter down and in effect make it fall into the earth’s atmosphere. Mind you that at that point the vehicle has almost no more propulsion. It literally falls from the sky and has no way to stop it until it lands on the runway. There is no going around for another approach at the runway, there is no second chance.
Well, in most cases Rouxbe’s recipes are kind of like that. Since the production schedule to make the video recipes is so tight there is very little chance for a reshoot or a retake. Once the Gratin Potatoes get cooking, the only way to stop the shooting is by getting them done and plated right or by to redoing it all almost from the ground up. The interesting part about this is that what you see on the videos in the majority of the recipes was all from the first and single take. Remember that there is no food styling involved here. We do take care to ensure that things look nice, but they’re real. Ultimately the idea is that you can achieve the same results as in the video by following along.
I’m sure the Space Shuttle and International Space Station crews would love to prepare those Gratin Potatoes in space. They could make them in less than one full orbit. I wonder how would the cheese grate in microgravity?
P.S. Best wishes to all for this 2007!
I love this entry! Who would have guessed the relationship between Gratin Potatoes and the space shuttle and yet…this blogger has done it. Thanks. It was instructive too!
T
AKA Meredith Chase’s mother-in-law. I absolutely love everything you are doing and can’t believe that at 66 yrs. I have jsut learned to dice onions the right way. Everything I’ve tried on friends and family has been a hit — especially the Tilapia, which is an inexpensive, yet elegant way to impress guests — even found the Pandan leaves for the basamti rice at a local Oriental grocery store. I am your target customer, albeit a little older than you may have projected. It’s just that I haven’t really had time until now to do more creative cooking.
Many thanks,
Karen Larson
Thanks So Much Karen
So glad to hear that you like it.
It is fun to go out and hunt down those few unique ingredients like Pandan leaves isn’t it, heck even knowing what they are is fun.
Keep on Cookin’
Love the feedback
dawn