Dad of Divas' Reviews: Book Review - The Dead Celebrity Cookbook

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Book Review - The Dead Celebrity Cookbook

About the Book
For anyone who loves Hollywood memorabilia, is an entertainment junkie, and loves to eat and cook – they will treasure Frank DeCaro’s The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes from More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen (HCI Books). Frank compiled favorite recipes from some of Hollywood’s biggest names; including Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Sonny Bono, Liberace, Michael Jackson, John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, Humphrey Bogart, and Peter Falk, just to name a few.

“I love these dead celebrities! They’re the stars I grew up watching, and they deserve to be remembered even if they were more talented on screen than they were in the kitchen. Frank clearly worships them as much as I do, and after reading The Dead Celebrity Cookbook you will, too.” -Rosie O’Donnell

“Celebrities die--eventually--but their recipes live on, thanks to Frank DeCaro’s thorough and thoroughly delicious book. DeCaro’s dry wit is tasty, and judging from these yummy concoctions, most of these celebs died really happy!” --Michael Musto, Village Voice

Inspired by a “Dead Celebrity Party” during his college years, DeCaro thought the one thing missing from the event was the food of the dead. Since then, he’s been collecting recipes of the stars and lucky for us, he’s put them together in, THE DEAD CELEBRITY COOKBOOK: A Resurrection of Recipes from More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen (HCI Books – October 2011- $19.95).

DeCaro, who is best known for his nearly 7-year stint as the movie critic on The Daily Show with John Stewart, and now heard weekdays on his own call-in radio show, gives us a giggle while feeding us treats from Tinsel Town like: Liberace’s Sticky Buns, Mae West’s Fruit Compote, John Ritter’s Favorite Fudge and Bea Arthur’s Vegetarian Breakfast.

THE DEAD CELEBRITY COOKBOOK is here to remind you that before there were celebrity chefs, there were celebrities who fancied themselves as chefs. They were whipping up culinary delights, and sometimes sharing them with us on shows like Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas or even Johnny Carson. DeCaro gives us some entertaining and informative commentary before each section of recipes in chapters that include: “Talk Show Chow,” “An All-Night Oscar Buff,” and “I Lunch Lucy,” a whole section dedicated to the red-haired TV goddess (and during the 60th anniversary of her show!).

Says DeCaro, “I miss those days when celebrities still had mystery about them, and a glimpse inside their radar ranges seemed, for any fan, like a window into the world of glamour and excitement, which is why I put together this book.” This book delivers recipes that the stars are dying for you to make.

For more information, please go to: www.deadcelebritycookbook.com.

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.

My Take on the Book
While I had not heard of this author before reviewing this book, I have to say that I was impressed enough in the book itself to look now into his website and his show. This book was a great collection of recipes that were from, as the book relates, dead celebrities. More than this though the book shares some very interesting stories and tidbits about each of the celebrities that you might not know unless you were an true fan. Some of the recipes are a bit out there, but they seem interesting and we tried Lawrence Welk's Lake Tahoe Meatloaf and were quite impressed with the flavor and how easy the recipe was to follow.All-in-all you will learn something new in this book, whether it is about the celebrity or about cooking, you will leave reading this book satisfied!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
New to the Divadom or to Dad of Divas Reviews?
Please Subscribe to my RSS Feed! Subscribe in a reader
Questions?Drop me a line at dadofdivas@gmail.com

No comments: