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Ray McVinnie, a renowned chef and author, has long been a culinary icon. His son Alex, a talented photographer and videographer, brings food and culture to life through his lens. Recently this dynamic father-son duo decided to combine their expertise, collaborating to produce mouthwatering and visually inspiring food content shared widely on social media.
Having the pleasure of working with Alex on several of our journals, we were thrilled to sit down with him and Ray ahead of Father’s Day to delve into their creative partnership.
Alex – We had been considering doing recipe content for a while and both had the time to begin at the end of last year. I think the time was right for us to work on a creative project that was unrestrained by commercial interest. I felt that there was a library of recipes in Dad that needed to be made into video format.
Ray – It is the perfect thing for staying active and doing what I enjoy, cooking, I don’t even have to speak. The whole food area has been very good to me and my family so I didn’t mind giving something back. We realised instantly that we worked well together and enjoyed it.
Alex – It runs surprisingly smoothly when we work together, I think part of the reason for this is that our roles are relatively well defined. I feel like our skill sets are really well suited to creating this type of content and we do like to collaborate on particular things we might want to shoot.
Ray – I have lots of cooking experience to share and Alex is a very good videographer, we just be ourselves.
Alex – For me in particular, I think short form recipe and food content has become patently homogenous. Excessive use of sound, graphics and movement were something we wanted to avoid. The style of video we set out to create was therefore partly a rejection of the common types of recipe content I was seeing. Like Dad’s food, I wanted the video production to be stripped back. I feel like adding layers of stimulation to the work just obscures the simple nature of the dish.
Ray – We often shoot four recipes at a time so I always aim to do a range of food that we like to eat, which can also be sourced easily.
Alex – All the recipes are things Dad would make when eating as a family or with friends. We made a conscious decision not to follow any trends we saw online.
Essentially the inspiration comes from the places he traveled to, the chefs or people who gave him the recipes, or the ingredients that were available. The audience engages with some recipes more than others but I like the fact that almost anyone will be able to find something they like within the work, even if not every video is a “success”.
Ray – I am lucky that I have the luxury and freedom of being able to choose the recipes I love and want to create, and even more lucky that people seem to like them. This is also due in a great part to Alex’s talents. I also read cookbooks, and get ideas when I’m hungry.
Ray– We have worked with Megan previously when she remodelled our Mt Eden house. Working with her is easy as we happen to have similar tastes—she talks our language and she listens.
We recently polled the audience on whether they liked tomato sauce on sausage rolls and the result was 50/50 - you are never going to please everyone.
Ray – We create recipes that we feel people can see themselves making, without being pretentious. We’ve also made a big effort to engage with our community by paying attention to comments and answering questions.
Ray – As Michael Pollen says “ I just want to eat food, not edible food like substances”, so that’s what I do. I cook from scratch so I have to plan ahead. I avoid food additives. I eat everything, but not too much. Vegetable gardens are great if you have the space and can maintain it - gardening is interesting. Avoid food fads, just eat food and enjoy it.
Ray – Good food most often smells good. The key is to not obscure what it is you like about something with too many other flavours.
I like frittatas for a late breakfast and having bacon and eggs in one dish always appeals. It’s a hearty robust dish you see a lot in Italy.
Bacon and Egg Frittata
Serves 4-6.
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
5 rashers nitrate-free bacon, rinds cut off, bacon cut into 2-3cm pieces
8 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/ cup pitted Greek olives
Parmesan for serving
Preheat the oven to 200°C
Heat the 3 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat and add the onion and bacon.
Fry gently without browning for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft.
Remove from the pan and cool.
Clean the pan.
Add the cooled onion mixture, parsley and olive to the eggs, season and mix well.
Heat the cleaned pan over moderate heat. When hot add the egg mixture.
When it bubbles, place in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until well set.
Remove and serve in wedges dusted well with freshly grated parmesan.
I’m either editing or shooting most days, so that never-ending, slow refinement of the work is the overall driver for my creativity.
@raymcvinnie 10 May 2024 on Instagram - go and have a look.
I like the Benchpress surface spray, as it regularly comes in handy on shoots and isn’t overpowering.
Imagery by the talented subject, Alex McVinnie. Make sure to head to Ray McVinnie's Instagram to see an impressive array of delicious meals you can whip up in your own home.
