Cooking Price-Wise

Step back in time and marvel at horror-icon Vincent Price preparing culinary dishes from all over the world – in a DIY kitchen courtesy of Thames Television. During a sojourn in England in 1971, hobby cook and gourmet Price gave filming a break and instead decided on a televised cookery show comprising six episodes. Its aim was to inspire British housewives to step out of their comfort zone and try their skills at different dishes. The result is very 1970’s and compared with many cooking shows nowadays, some of the main ingredients used back then seem positively calorie-laden!

Thanks to the fabulous people at BFI, the actual TV-cooking show is now available on Blu-ray and it’s clear from the outset that chef Vincent Price loved his food and was just as passionate about whipping up dishes ranging from well-known to the more exotic or rather, what was considered to be exotic in the early 70’s! Although accustomed to the finer things in life when it came to drink and food, as demonstrated in the book ‘A Treasury of Great Recipes’ by Mary and Vincent Price, ‘Cooking Price-Wise’ the book (available via eBay, Amazon UK etc) is the perfect printed companion to the TV-series and focuses on more crowd-pleasing dishes which one can re-create by using whatever ingredients are available or already in the fridge.

Over six episodes (each roughly 25 minutes long), Price points out time and time again that when it comes to the ingredients for some of the recipes, these can be substituted according to taste and availability (and budget). Viewers will be shocked at how liberally Price uses cream and double cream, sugar (white of course, this was the 70’s), butter and cooking oil (don’t expect olive oil…) while seasoning mainly consists of salt, white pepper and the occasional sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley (which seems about the only herb he uses frequently). Then again, with our modern-day penchant for truly unhealthy foods such as pepperoni pizza, KFC and what have you, perhaps we shouldn’t sneer too much… At least Price took time and pride in cooking properly!

The episodes are divided in ‘Potato’ / ‘Rice’ / ‘Lamb’ / ‘Cream’ / ‘Bacon’ and ‘Cheese’ while introducing and of course cooking well-known fare such as cheese soufflé and gammon joint baked in dough (a Scottish variety from Ayrshire with a tasty stuffing is also on offer) to lesser known dishes (at least in this country) such as New Orleans-style golf coast salad – a starter using American long grain rice, prawns, chopped spring onions and celery with a dressing made of horseradish sauce, mustard, tomato sauce, American hot pepper sauce and mayonnaise.

Truly exotic for the 1970’s British housewife must have been Nasi Goreng, a rice dish originally from Indonesia which these days is readily available to buy in every supermarket and Chinese takeaway, while chicken salad Hawaiian style must have felt like another truly exotic dish. Really, Price whips up dishes from countries as diverse as Italy, Morocco and Holland (fish fillet ‘Noordzee’) and it’s fun to watch him in action, as clearly he doesn’t take himself too seriously though he takes cooking very seriously indeed. Pots and pans all sport a typical 1970’s pop-art floral pattern and wait until you see Price prepare what he calls proper coffee… because clearly, things like percolators weren’t in use then. What makes this program so interesting is Price’s knowledge when it comes to food-related history, often demonstrated via illustrations and drawings popping up on screen.

He also clearly had a big fondness for cakes and desserts, if the episode ‘Cream’ is anything to go by! Best example is the so-called ‘American Ice Box Cake’ – a calorie and sugar bomb in the truest sense of the word comprising three layers of meringue, chocolate spread, tons of whipped cream and strawberries wedged in between… then chilled in the fridge for 2 hours. Just looking at this monster is bound to bring on a heart attack, never mind eating it! Talking of monsters: his humorous and witty side comes to the forefront when he prepares some monster munch party food and creates a monster cucumber called Herman Monster and a monster melon filled with cheese dip called Hermione Monster. There’s also a chessboard with chess pieces created from different types of diced cheese and pickles on cocktail sticks. Bon appetit!

The Bonus Material is a rich and as varied as a banquet and includes a selection of vintage, food-related clips from the 1940’s including ‘When the Pie was opened’ / ‘The Good Housewife in her Kitchen’ and ‘Oatmeal Porridge’ complete with a bizarre energy-saving tip on how to cook porridge with the help of a big wooden box filled with straw. It has to be seen to be believed (and thank goodness for modern-day microwave ovens and instant porridge!). Another little gem is ‘Tea making tips’ – a wartime instructional film on how to achieve the perfect cuppa. There’s also the obligatory interview with Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria, who recollects treasured memories of her father’s passion for food. Last but not least, film archivist and author cum obsessed recipe collector (movie star recipes, that is) Jenny Hammerton re-creates Vincent Price’s monster crocodile and monster melon, which seems a little pointless seeing how the great man himself has already created it in his cookery show. It would have been far more interesting if Jenny had re-created some of Price’s recipes which did not feature in ‘Cooking Price-Wise’ (according to Jenny, she has countless of Prices’ recipes). As ever, there’s also an illustrated booklet completing this mouth-watering release.