 |
 |
HOLLYWOOD — When it comes to the cult of celebrity chefs, they don’t come more celebrated than the late, great grande dame of gastronomy, Julia Child.
Child’s lasting contribution to the current armchair foodie craze is as undeniable as her larger-than-life personality, which is effectively given the Streep treatment in Julie & Julia (although it still can’t beat Dan Aykroyd’s immortal Saturday Night Live homage).
Not to take anything away from The French Chef, but there once was a time when the term “celebrity cook” took on a different meaning.
For proof, just visit any used book store, where, buried beneath those dusty copies of The Complete Galloping Gourmet Cookbook and Yan Can & So Can You, you, too can find personal recipe collections shared by those who wisely opted to keep their day jobs.
Examples?
How about Granny’s Hillbilly Cookbook in which Irene Ryan’s Beverly Hillbillies feisty matriarch schools the reader on all manner of fish fixin and hog heatin, lifting the lid of many of her hitherto secret recipes, including Possum Dip and Baby Owl Liver Munchings.
|
Then there’s Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook, where Dawn Wells’ fresh-scrubbed farm girl serves up such transporting grub as Mrs. Howell’s Imported Caviar Pie, Hot Ginger Lemonade, and, naturally, Mary Ann’s Famous Coconut Cream Pie.
You think a bunch of castaways are tough to feed? How about that wacky extended family known as The Brady Bunch?
Fortunately Ann B. Davis weighs in with Alice’s Brady Bunch Cookbook, and although she admits right there in print that “I can’t cook,” that doesn’t prevent her from supplying cheerful anecdotes while her collaborators furnish the recipes for Cindy’s Buttery Just Butter Cookies and Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Muffins.
Sounds a bit too cloying for our taste.
At least Davis actually wrote part of the book, unlike Aunt Bee’s Mayberry Cookbook, which came out something like a decade after Frances Bavier’s death.
Wonder how she would have felt about her beloved alter ego lending her name to the likes of Barney’s Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Canape or Goober’s Radiator Flush Punch?
If the name Karolyn Grimes doesn’t ring a bell, then how about Zuzu, George and Mary Bailey’s adorable, scene-stealing daughter whom she portrayed all the way back in 1946?
Now in her late ’60s, Grimes penned Zuzu Bailey’s It’s A Wonderful Life Cookbook: Recipes and Anecdotes Inspired by America’s Favorite Movie, with an emphasis on holiday fare and including items such as Bedford Falls Meatloaf and Old Man Gower’s Early Riser (With A Kick).
Now, if you’ve got one killer signature dish, there’s no need to commit yourself to an entire cookbook when you can simply do your bit for a greater cause.
Take The Celebrity Cookbook: Kitchen Secrets of the Rich and Famous, where us mere mortals can learn how to make such superstar dishes as Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone, Vanna White’s Layered Pea Salad and even — we’re afraid to ask — Barbara Bush’s Mexican Mound.
Meanwhile, over in Celebrity Cookbook: Recipes For A Cure, you can feel good about doing something charitable while whipping up Pat Sajak’s Gin Fizz Egg Pie, Siegfried and Roy’s Pichelsteiner or Shirley MacLaine’s Gourmet Lamb Stew.
For some reason we suspect that last item would likely repeat on us.