The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes from More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen Paperback – October 3, 2011

What a book! I dont know what to try first!

No, really, what fun! ... The recipes are simple little things anyone could make, but fun to read. (after all, celebrities with personal chefs eating at exotic restaurants were once 'real people' making tuna sandwiches and soup.). A smattering of gossip and and author's thoughts. Fun to think of Liberace, William Holden, Charlton Heston, etc. whipping up a little nosh late at night.

What could be better than a good read with good recipes? And who knew that big stars like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis not only knew their way around a kitchen but also ate food that ordinary people love? Banana pudding is a holiday staple in our house - made the easy way, with pudding mix. Not this christmas! We're using Dusty Springfield's Banana Pudding recipe- made from scratch. And while I work in the kitchen I'll put her CD in and dance around the room. To quote the author, Frank DeCaro, we'll see if her banana pudding lives up to the same high standards that she set for her music!That comment is an example of why this cookbook is such an enjoyable read. Frank DeCaro has done his homework. It's obvious that he enjoyed writing the book, and he is a big fan of these celebrities AND the recipes.From Anne Bancroft's Che Che Pasta to yvonne De Carlo's Exotic Chicken Ecstasy, he has given readers a vignette of the celebrities along with a recipe which is entirely "do-able" for anyone. From the appetizer to the desert, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks - this is an enjoyable read which will result in good eats!

I have been a big fan of Frank Decaro since his years of doing movie reviews on The Daily Show. I also love listening to him daily on Sirius Radio. He is hilarious, and his co-host Doria Biddle is even funnier than he is.Now to the book...This book is chock full of recipes from celebrities who have passed on. I would also call it a trivia book. Each recipe contains some sort of witty story or trivia about the dead celebrity from which the recipe comes. I don't know how serious some of these recipes are. Some seem quite ridiculous, but that could be because these people are all dead and their recipes come from a different time and place. I would have enjoyed a little background about the recipes themselves and how they got attributed to each celebrity. But overall this is really fun, and great to have laying around. You can just pick it up and read a few pages here and there. You can learn something about a dead celebrity you didn't know, and perhaps, find a decent recipe for dinner.

I have this book on Kindle, so I am sure I am missing out on the traditional perks of a photo-filled printed book. No matter for me, because Frank's cookbook manages to create a situation one doesn't normally find in a cookbook - an eagerness to turn the page and see what he's written next. I will admit that I don't know how many of these recipes I'll actually be making. And I don't think I'll take on the adventure that Julie Powell achieved when she cooked everything in Julia Child's first cookbook. But I find myself wanting to read more and more, and with that I appreciate each recipe more and more. And with each story, we see how he adds life to an otherwise neglected aspect for each of these departed celebs - they all donned the proverbial apron and ventured into the most basic of human activities, cooking. Dead Celebrity Cookbook has more life in it than a lot of what's being issued by chefs, celebs, and celeb chefs, and those people are alive. Look forward to volume 2... and development of the DCC brand.

I agree with the other reviewers-this book is a lot of fun. It's got some great recipes but also some great stories about the celebs who offered the recipes and some gossip as well! I admit I might never cook something from this book, (but then again, some of the recipes look really good) but it's enough that I enjoyed reading it cover to cover and then passed it along to my mother (age 75+) who also enjoyed it. If you are buying this for an actual cookbook a la Food network, maybe not so much. And if you are buying this for someone who is 20-30 something and part of the reality tv generation, maybe not. Most of the celebs are older (they're dead, right?)but if you're a fan of classic movies and classic television this can't be beat for a guilty pleasure!

Apparently canned tuna was big in the '40's and 50's with yesteryear's movie stars... Seriously, great recipes from those stars of yesteryear... and the recipes are good. Try Miss Peggy Lee's Jade salad, (quite good) Shelley Winter's caesar salad, or Janet Leigh's Gateau Dore. Recommended!

I think this book was a really good idea. Some of the recipes are worth trying - but some I wouldn't even touch! I wonder if some of the celebrities died from eating their own cooking??!?! I enjoyed the anecdotal references about the celebrities that went along with the recipes. It really is a fun read and a great conversation piece.On a side note, Frank Decaro is a great writer; I also listen to his SiriusXM radio show on a regular basis. Hopefully Frank will put out another dead celebrity cookbook in a few more years...maybe he can call it "Dead Celebrity Cookbook 2: More entertaining from beyond the grave"? But we don't want to see any personal recipes in there just yet!

Super!

A great book so pleased to have it in my collection.

I bought this book for my sister - more for the stories than the recipes, but both turned out to be terrific. I really wish this book had a spiral binding (all cookbooks should have spiral bindings) so it could be easily laid on the counter for reference.Anyway, this is a great book for film-buffs, cooks, and those who enjoy bits of interesting trivia (my husband would say I have a mind full of useless trivia, but it does come in handy from time to time).

The cookbook is interesting and I have tried a couple recipes that turned out very well, but on the whole the recipes aren't that exciting. The purchase of this book would mostly be for the celebrity value and that's it.

I love this recipe book Frank Decaro did a great job compiling all these recipes. I highly recommend it to any one that wants to see how the big stars ate.