The Bite #111

Vincent Price’s Scream-Worthy Recipes, ASMR Horror And MORE!

May 27, 2020

In this Issue:

Horror History: Recipes So Good, You’ll Scream … And Scream Again
Image of the Week: Cooking Price-Wise
Tiny Bites – This Week’s Best Horror Headlines
Things We Love: Where Tingles Meet Terror
Hey, That’s Us! – Shudder in the News

HORROR HISTORY

Recipes So Good, You’ll Scream … And Scream Again

By Kaci Hansen, The Homicidal Homemaker

With a nearly six-decade-long acting career, the name Vincent Price is synonymous with horror. But the Master of the Macabre’s talent didn’t stop on the movie set — he was also a gourmet chef who published a number of best-selling cookbooks with his wife, Mary, hosted lavish dinner parties, and even had his own cooking show, Cooking Price-Wise.

After digging deeper into his past and learning more about his family history, it seems as though Price was born to be a foodie. His father, Vincent Leonard Price, was the president of both the National Candymakers’ Association and the National Candy Company, and his grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, was a food scientist whose invention of baking powder — now a household staple — made him a millionaire. So anytime one finds themselves dipping into their baking powder, or enjoying a jawbreaker or jellybeans, in a way, they are honoring Vincent Price’s legacy.

Vincent and Mary spent their lives traveling the world, indulging in delicacies from the world’s finest restaurants and hotels. Their favorite recipes were collected in A Treasury of Great Recipes, originally published in 1965, and Come Into the Kitchen Cook Book: A Collector’s Treasury of America’s Great Recipes, originally published in 1969. Featuring the most sumptuous of tablescapes and spreads, along with photos of the actual restaurants and menus, flipping through the hundreds of pages is a glimpse back in time.

While mid-century recipes often channel nightmarish visions of leftovers encased in jewel-toned gelatinous towers, Price’s cookbooks offer something much different — tried-and-true dinner party classics, such as Beef Bourguignon, Moussaka, Goulash (or, in this case, wouldn’t it be GHOUL-ash?), along with simple favorites like ballpark frankfurters. But they definitely aren’t for the faint of heart, or for those who may need to watch theirs. The recipes are riddled with lots of cream, butter, and a whole lot of streaky bacon — but for the most part, the recipes are surprisingly easy to follow.

While this collection of recipes may represent the epitome of fine-dining in the 1960’s, one question remains: do the recipes still appease the modern palate?

I was determined to find out.

As a fan and collector of vintage cookbooks, I started my Cooking With Vincent series not only to put the three cookbooks I own to good use but also to venture into other styles of cooking that I may not be familiar with. But after delving further into the books, I found that just as Vincent could so eloquently deliver words, he could do the same through his culinary creations by elevating otherwise simple recipes with a little something extra, such as his recipe for Stilton Cheese Slaw, or Pineapple Meringue Pie.

The verdict? Everything I have made from his books has been nothing short of outstanding, and are delicious as written. That said, I have made minor tweaks to some of them, such as adding black pepper to a savory dish, or vanilla extract to a dessert.

Through his extensive film work as well as his cookbooks, Vincent Price’s legacy lives on forever. Reading each ingredient and step in his unmistakable voice is an experience in itself, making one truly understand what it means to cook Price-wise.

*Kaci Hansen is the creator/ host of The Homicidal Homemaker horror food blog and cooking show, featuring easy-to-make horror-themed recipes inspired by your favorite films. She is the frightful food columnist for Rue Morgue Magazine, and the resident chef on Dread Central’s Chronic Horror.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Cooking Price-Wise

Like Kaci mentioned, Vincent Price had a short-lived cooking show in 1971 where he explored various foods from different nations.

Don’t torture yourself — we have such titles to show you. New members can try the platform free for 30 days when they sign up online with promo code: SHUTIN

TINY BITES

HORROR TRIVIA, JASON VOORHEES PPE AND MORE

Amber Tamblyn slayed the “My Plans/2020” meme.

Vanity Fair gave us a first look at the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand.

We got a new trailer for Antebellum and The Relic, and we’re officially counting down the days for both of these incredible upcoming releases.

For the next 18 weeks, Birth.Movies.Death. will be revisiting Twin Peaks: The Return.

Hereditary star Alex Wolff shared his 10 favorite horror films of the last decade with Coming Soon.

Deadline discussed writer-director David Prindle’s new project, The Flower Tapes, a remotely-produced horror film.

Dig into the fragile bodies and projections of pain in horror with this essay from 25 Years Later.

Entertainment Weekly has a list of some of this summer’s hottest reads, including an entire section dedicated to haunting tales.

Tom Savini’s making personal protective equipment cool for the horror crowd with this Jason mask from Jason Baker.

Queen Jamie Lee Curtis will be directing Mother Nature, a climate change-based horror film for Blumhouse.

Birth.Movies.Death. explored the new landscape of horror trivia nights.

Many horror fans collect old VHS tapes as a hobby, but for some, it’s a coping tool for getting through quarantine.

THINGS WE LOVE

Where Tingles Meet Terror

Alexandra Serio’s new horror short, Tingle Monsters, explores the scarier side of the ASMR community, focusing on the harassment female ASMRtists face on a regular basis.