Ratatouille is one of the most underrated Disney/Pixar movies of all time. Totally not here to argue, thems just the facts. It’s heart-warming, it’s sweet, it’s funny, and it has Paris and food in it. If you’re going to do a dinner and a movie night, this flick is perfect. You can indulge your inner child, and whip up some mighty good eats to go along with it.
Remy is a rat with a talent. He is a total foodie and a darn capable chef. But, being a rat, this makes it kind of hard to get a job in the food industry. Through a series of events, Remy ends up befriending a young guy named Linguini. Linguini is trying to find his place in the world. He works in a restaurant, but can’t cook to save his life. Thus begins a friendship that is mutually beneficial to both man and rat. Remy gets to cook, and Linguini gets to discover himself. There’s naturally plenty of hilarity along the way.
Disney/Pixar is known for having their animators study real life subjects to help make their animation more authentic and lifelike. In the case of Ratatouille, for a year pet rats were kept in the animation hallway. This way, animators could study their movements and anatomy. Animators were also sent to Paris to study the city and eat the food. While there, they took around 4500 reference photos.
You can’t have a movie this food-centric and have the food look unappetizing. Over 270 pieces of food were actually prepared and styled in a real kitchen. Then, they were photographed for reference purposes and created in the computers. Don’t worry, all that food didn’t go to waste. The crew, animators, and filmmakers ate it.
Animators paid a lot of attention to how hair moved on actual rats. But,when it came time to animate Remy, they gave him plenty of it. In fact, they rendered around over one million individual hairs on his body. By comparison, the character Colette only has about 115,000 animated hairs.
What rat, or human, can resist a bit of cheese? Brie is a French cheese that is mild, melty, and utterly delicious. It works well with a lot of ingredients, and can serve as both a savory or a sweet dish. This recipe from Taste And See is amazing. It has crunch, a bit of sweetness, and is beyond easy to make. Brie also tastes great with fruit, so you could always add something like fig, blackberry, or even some fruit preserves under the puff pastry. You can serve some crackers, small bread points, or even fruit slices alongside the brie. You might just be tempted to eat the whole wheel of cheese.
Photo Credits // tasteandsee
C’mon now. You didn’t honestly think we would suggest anything other than the namesake of the movie for dinner, did you? Any dish that can make a highly cynical food critic light up and remember their childhood has got to be good, right? Right. Ratatouille is comforting and delicious, even if you didn’t grow up on the stuff. It is, however, somewhat of a labor of love. It’s not difficult, it’s just all the slicing.
You want your vegetable slices to be thin and uniform, so that it all cooks evenly. If you have a mandoline food slicer in your kitchen, now is its time to shine. If not, just take your time. This will be worth it in the end, we swear. If you want to beef this dinner up a bit, you could always serve the ratatouille over pasta or rice. Or, serve some simple chicken breasts alongside. Check out Chef De Home for the recipe.
Ever met an eclair or a cream puff you didn’t like? Yeah, us neither. This “cake” is like making a cake pan full of eclair. But, instead of all that creamy goodness in the inside being totally enclosed in the pastry “shell”, the pastry serves as the crust. Then, it’s just a matter of filling the cooked crust up with some creamy filling, and topping with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. This stuff is good. Like, really good. And sooOooo easy. If you’ve never made this before, be prepared to not have this be the last time you’ll make it. Head over to The Girl Who Ate Everything for the recipe.
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