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ysabetwordsmithRecipes from the World of H. P. Lovecraft: Inspired by Cosmic Horror
Hardcover – July 25, 2023
by Olivia Luna Eldritch
This cookbook draws inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. In addition to photographs of delicious food, it also features a lot of eldritch horror illustrations, some black-and-white, some full color. There's also a good deal of information about Lovecraft, his writing, his eating and hosting preferences. So there's an interesting mix of actually eldritch-themed recipes and others that are inspired by things he liked or his home territory. The chapters are Breaking Fast, Lighter Bites, Strange Feastings, Toothsome Sweets, Potions & Concoctions.
We marked a good handful of recipes. These include Sonia's "Edible" Bran Muffins, Shantak Eggs with Spinach, Shunned Fungus & Garlic Crostini, Cthulhu Tentacles, Baked Ark-Ham, Meteor Cakes, and Dunwich Devil's Food Cake. Some like Cthulhu Tentacles -- an octopus recipe -- are dramatically eldritch-looking. There were some other very interesting twists; the Dunwich Devil's Food Cake has a ganache that's almost entirely sour cream, thus much higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates than typical icings. Add some white filling and you could turn that thing into a (Phantom of the) Opera Cake. Other times the connection is much more tenuous. In several cases, we liked the title but had better ideas for matching it, so it's useful as inspiration. There are a few menu sets too.
This is a great cookbook for Lovecraft fans and/or Cthulhu Mythos parties. It also generalizes well to any other horror-type occasion when squidgy food may be appreciated, such as Halloween. Recommended.
Hardcover – July 25, 2023
by Olivia Luna Eldritch
This cookbook draws inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. In addition to photographs of delicious food, it also features a lot of eldritch horror illustrations, some black-and-white, some full color. There's also a good deal of information about Lovecraft, his writing, his eating and hosting preferences. So there's an interesting mix of actually eldritch-themed recipes and others that are inspired by things he liked or his home territory. The chapters are Breaking Fast, Lighter Bites, Strange Feastings, Toothsome Sweets, Potions & Concoctions.
We marked a good handful of recipes. These include Sonia's "Edible" Bran Muffins, Shantak Eggs with Spinach, Shunned Fungus & Garlic Crostini, Cthulhu Tentacles, Baked Ark-Ham, Meteor Cakes, and Dunwich Devil's Food Cake. Some like Cthulhu Tentacles -- an octopus recipe -- are dramatically eldritch-looking. There were some other very interesting twists; the Dunwich Devil's Food Cake has a ganache that's almost entirely sour cream, thus much higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates than typical icings. Add some white filling and you could turn that thing into a (Phantom of the) Opera Cake. Other times the connection is much more tenuous. In several cases, we liked the title but had better ideas for matching it, so it's useful as inspiration. There are a few menu sets too.
This is a great cookbook for Lovecraft fans and/or Cthulhu Mythos parties. It also generalizes well to any other horror-type occasion when squidgy food may be appreciated, such as Halloween. Recommended.
