1 of 4 | Brie Larson stars in "Lessons in Chemistry." Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
NEW YORK, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Chef and cookbook author Courtney McBroom says the biggest challenge of creating dishes for the new Apple TV+ drama, Lessons in Chemistry, was the sheer volume of food she and her team had to prepare.
Based on Bonnie Garmus' best-selling novel of the same name, the show stars Brie Larson as Elizabeth, a 1950s chemist who headlines a cooking program in which she also teaches housewives scientific principles.
Lewis Pullman co-stars as Elizabeth's husband Calvin. New episodes air on Fridays.
"You have to take into account the number of takes. If there is one shot where Calvin is taking a bite of lasagne, they might have to take 15 to 20 takes of that, so you're not just making one lasagne -- you're making 20 lasagnes. That was not really something you deal with in the restaurant world," McBroom told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"Luckily, I had a great, amazing team of people working with me, so I was set up for success," she said. "We were almost like an army of ants, going back and forth. The food definitely has a shelf life and, if it got to where it wasn't looking it's best, then we would replace it with a fresh one."
The chef -- who counts among her kitchen inspirations Martha Stewart, Julia Child and Keith Floyd -- didn't even try to keep the crew from eating her creations.
"We had so many leftovers. We would compost things we couldn't eat anymore, but we gave so much food to the crew. The crew never left work hungry," she said.
McBroom is friends with Larson and one of the first people the Oscar-winning actress contacted when she landed the role in the eagerly awaited miniseries.
"She was like: 'Hey, Courtney. I'm doing a show. It's set in the 1950s. I'm a chef. I know that you love vintage cookbooks and you have a big collection. Can I come over some time and check them out?'" McBroom recalled.
Although McBroom immediately said, "yes," Larson -- who is always in demand and also a star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- went off to film another project and didn't reach out again for several months.
When Larson returned, she told McBroom: "I really think you'd be the perfect person to work on the show. If you have any interest and if you have availability, I'd love for you to talk to the producers."
Intrigued, McBroom immediately picked up the novel about the connections between love, science and food to prepare for her meeting with the filmmakers.
"I read that book in one day and I was laughing. I was crying and I was so obsessed, so touched by the book, so inspired by it, that I was like, 'I really, really want to work on this show!'" she said. "I hit it off with the producers and was on the set a week later."
This was the first production on which McBroom worked, and she said said she was pleasantly surprised to find she, the cast, filmmakers and crew were on the same page.
"It was hard work, but we all worked together so well and it was so cooperative. It felt so synergistic and like the energy was there," she said.
"Everyone felt heard and ideas were being executed," McBroom added. "It was a great environment."
Since Elizabeth is depicted as a smart and artistic trailblazer, McBroom wanted to show her as a woman both of and ahead of her time.
"We wanted to make sure we showed that in the food," the chef said.
"Everything she made, she made from scratch. She used fresh ingredients. She had a basil plant in her kitchen, was putting fresh herbs on things -- stuff that was still available in the '50s, but not necessarily the way a person from the '50s would normally cook."
McBroom said she hopes to inspire viewers with the meals she helps Larson create for the screen.
"I want them to see the food and be so hungry that they will go and make all the food they just saw," McBroom said.