The Decadent Cookbook: Recipes of Obsession and Excess [Paperback]

Medlar Lucan (Author), Durian Gray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2003

The spirits of Caligula and the Marquis de Sade haunt this viciously witty send-up of "la grande bouffe." The morbid minded and the terminally degenerate will especially enjoy such scandalous chapters as "I Can Recommend the Poodle" and "Blood, the Vital Ingredient." The decadent gourmand can't help but go wrong with this celebrated collection of recipes, an ideal gift for the terminally degenerate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (August 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568582692
• ISBN-13: 978-1568582696
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,911,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Wicked, and Tasty, too., April 1, 2000

By 

N. Martin (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Decadent Cookbook: Recipies of Excess and Obsession (Dedalus Literary Concept Books) (Paperback)

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.