The Decadent Cookbook: Recipes of Obsession and Excess

Rating:
Summary: Witty, Wicked, and Tasty, too.
Review: If Oscar Wilde or Dorothy Parker are coming to dinner, cook for them from this cookbook. _The Decadent Cookbook_ has something to intrigue, fascinate, repel, and offend everyone; that and its dry, droll tone are its two biggest charms, but it has many, from literary selections to recipes that actually work. One note on the latter, though: the recipies are amusing but, because they are all historical and many of them are quite old (and therefore taken from sources that didn't trouble with measures or temperatures, or transcribed directly from cooks' dictation), they are sometimes less than precise. Many don't contain measurements, and/or have directions such as "grill furiously until scorched and crisp"; they do require a bit of creativity and experience on the part of the cook to come out well.

I could continue describing the decadent charms of this book, half literary compendium, half cookbook, and all outrageous, but instead I think I'll recommend that, inspired by an Ancient Egyptian menu and a description of a Papal feast, the curious cook try their hand at such Decadent recipes as Lady's Navels, Soles in Coffins, and Mock Hedgehog. If the cat interferes, promise him the fate of the Cat in Tomato Sauce.