The Dead Celebrity Cookbook
A Resurrection of Recipes from More than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen
by Frank DeCaro
HCI
October 2011
$24.95/Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0757315961

Contact: Kim Weiss
(800) 851-9100 x 212
kimw@hcibooks.com

Both a send-up of star cookery and a nostalgic remembrance of renowned performers, The Dead Celebrity Cookbook puts the kitsch back into the kitchen, while fondly and respectfully remembering the stars of classic television, beloved films, Broadway, and more. If you’ve ever fantasized about feasting on Frank Sinatra’s Barbecued Lamb, lunching on Lucille Ball’s “Chinese-y Thing,” diving ever-so-neatly into Joan Crawford’s Poached Salmon, or wrapping your lips around Rock Hudson’s cannoli – and really, who hasn’t? – hold on to your oven mitts!

In The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes by 150 Stars of Stage and Screen, Frank DeCaro-the flamboyantly funny Sirius XM radio personality best known for his six-and-a-half-year stint as the movie critic on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart-collects hundreds of recipes passed on from legendary stars of stage and screen, proving that before there were celebrity chefs, there were celebrities who fancied themselves chefs. Their all-but-forgotten recipes-rescued from out-of-print cookbooks, musty biographies, vintage magazines, and dusty pamphlets-suggest a style of home entertaining ripe for reexamination if not revival, while reminding intrepid gourmands that, for better or worse, Hollywood doesn’t make celebrities (or cooks) like it used to.

About the Author

Best known for his years as the flamboyant movie critic on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Frank DeCaro is heard each weekday morning on his live national call-in program The Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. A writer and performer, DeCaro pens the “Icons” column for CBS Watch magazine. The author of the pioneering memoir A Boy Named Phyllis, DeCaro previously wrote the “Style Over Substance” column for The New York Times. Visit the author at frankdecaro.com and on Facebook, and follow him at twitter.com/frankdecaroshow.

Sample Recipes

Eartha Kitt 1927–2008

Actress, chanteuse, and international sex kitten Eartha Kitt slipped into Catwoman’s catsuit in the final season of Batman. (Julie Newmar was off making a movie.) In the mid-seventies, she played a funky-fierce fashion designer named Madame Rena in the very fun blaxploitation film Friday Foster, opposite Pam Grier. Her voice-acting was much lauded in her later years. No one could purr any sexier than she could. Kitt is best remembered, though, as the singer of the Christmas favorite “Santa Baby.” Others from Madonna to Miss Piggy have recorded the song. But Kitt’s original remains the definitive version. In comparison, the others are just kitty litter. Oh, meow.

Eartha Kitt’s Chicken Wings

Serves 6

3 pounds chicken wings
1 cup water
1 (19-ounce) can tomatoes
2–3 carrots, cut lengthwise
1 green pepper, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper pod
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon celery salt
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put wings in a pot with water and tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes covered. Meanwhile, chop the vegetables. Add them with the seasoning to the chicken wings and simmer uncovered for 10–15 minutes until tender, but not overcooked, and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Farrah Fawcett 1947–2009

The iconic poster, a swimsuit shot that launched 8 million puberties and just as many lookalike hairdos, clinched what keen-eyed observers already knew about Farrah Fawcett. Those who’d seen her in Myra Breckinridge, on Harry O, and doing commercials knew she wasn’t just gorgeous, she was a star destined for bigger things. Her TV moment came when Aaron Spelling cast her as Jill Munroe, one of three recent police academy graduates who’d been assigned the most “hazardous” (that is, mundane) of duties. Charlie’s Angels took Fawcett away from all the bit parts and launched her into the stratosphere. Tabloids followed her marriage to (and divorce from) Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors and then the ups and downs of her long relationship with actor Ryan O’Neal. Critics took note when she took on a pair of dramatic roles in The Burning Bed and Extremities, two battered-women tales. Late in her career, the press reveled in Fawcett’s bizarre antics: naked painting videos, incoherent talk show appearances, and the like. But fans never stopped loving her. When she appeared with her fellow “Angels,” Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, in an emotional 2006 Emmy tribute to Spelling, the audience was floored. The trio, who’d rarely been seen together since their glory days, still looked as fabulous as ever. Time stood still, if only for a little while. Whether Farrah Fawcett’s recipe lives up to its name, you’ll have to decide. Certainly, though, she was supreme.

Farrah Fawcett’s Sausage and Peppers Supreme

Serves 4

3 green bell peppers
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 pound hot Italian pork sausages
¾ cup dry red wine

Preheat oven to 350°. Wash peppers, remove stems and seeds, and cut into chunks. In a covered ovenproof pan, sauté peppers in olive oil until they start to soften. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and reserve. Brown sausages in the same pan. Add wine, cover and bake 40 minutes. Uncover, add sautéed
peppers, bake about 30 minutes longer, and serve.

Post Mortem: Who knew Charlie’s most glamorous Angel knew her way around an Italian kitchen? As it turns out, her sausage and peppers are heavenly. Some chopped onion sautéed with the peppers would be a welcome addition.

These Recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:

Excerpted from The Dead Celebrity Cookbook by Frank DeCaro. Reprinted with permission. © 2011 HCI. All rights reserved