Saturday 17 March 2012

Alton Douglas's Celebrity Recipes

Title: Alton Douglas's Celebrity Recipes

Authors: Alton and Jo Douglas

Year of publication: 1984

Back cover blurb: 'Over 50 Famous Personalities - Their photographs and Favourite Dishes'

Quick flick reveals: Exactly what the blurb says.  Recipes from the great, good, Little and Large of 1984, including a surprising number of high-up politicians and world leaders.  George Bush Sr.'s 'Oatmeal Lace Cookies' precede Marti Caine's 'Sole with Prawns'.  Neil Kinnock commands that we 'don't forget the yoghurt' for his Roghan Gosh, while Margaret Thatcher warns us 'to be careful not to over-heat the icing when blending' when making her Orange & Walnut Cake.  Ronald Reagan supplies a rather basic 'Macaroni and Cheese' presumably dating back to his bachelor days, and Enoch Powell provides a delicious-sounding 'Rivers of Blood Pudding'.  Of course not.  His recipe is for 'Crème  Brûlée'.  George Melly gives us a mini-essay on offal he has enjoyed, and William Shatner, looking trim in his T.J. Hooker uniform (and certainly NOT because he's wearing a corset), offers a recipe for 'Low Cal Apple Pie'.  Wee Jimmy Krankie's Gingerbreads are, naturally, 'FANDABIDOZI'.

Random paragraph: 'Hello, missus.  I bet you didn't know that Doddy was a dab hand in the kitchen?  Yes - give me some self-raising flour and a couple of eggs and I'm a veritable Delia Smith.  My beans on toast is the talk of Knotty Ash.  People come from miles just to see the Diddymen tuck into a plate of tripe and onions.  They say things like "Doddy ought to be grilled for serving tripe to the Diddymen".  There's a lot of humour to be had from cooking.  I use laughing gas because it makes my sausages sizzle better - they chuckle in the pan!'


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