{"id":3516,"date":"2008-06-22T12:41:09","date_gmt":"2008-06-22T11:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2018-02-20T15:54:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T15:54:03","slug":"decadent-cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/decadent-cookbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Decadent Cookbook by Medlar Lucan and Durian Gray – review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"decadent<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0The Decadent Cookbook is by Medlar Lucan and Durian Gray \u2013 I kid you not! I am sure the authors are grateful to Alex Martin and Jerome Fletcher for their editorial assistance, though.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, although it has recipes and tales of meals, it\u2019s the weirdest food-related read around. It\u2019s well written, funny and shocking.<\/p>\n

The authors draw no distinction between the bizarre and the delicious. The Decadent Cookbook educates us on elements of culinary history that we (or is it only I?) knew nothing about. The chapter headings give you a clue as to what\u2019s in store: Dinner with Caligula, Blood \u2013 the Vital Ingredient, I can Recommend the Poodle. I had thought that a Labradoodle was a cross between a Labrador and a Poodle but now I could be persuaded that it\u2019s a cross between a Labrador and a noodle.<\/p>\n

What makes the Decadent Cookbook both shocking and funny is that all the recipes and histories are said to be original and true. Yes, there are recipes for dog and they come from the most refined cuisines, Chinese…..and French. The winter of 1870 saw Paris under siege from the Prussians and both cat and dog became common on restaurant menus.<\/p>\n

Most of us would have heard of a Turducken (chicken in a duck in a turkey) but Raimbault\u2019s Le Parfait Cuisinier offers Roti Sans Pareil (Roast without Parallel). This has not three elements but…20! It starts with a caper and includes lark (ahh, shame), lapwing, woodcock, and finishes with a bustard.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about decadence \u2013 \u201cso the decadent pushes on, trying new, ever-riskier sensations.\u201d It focuses on excess and extremes \u2013 from choice or necessity. The writing style is flowery and convincing. You might not give The Decadent Cookbook as a Christmas present\u00a0 to your maiden aunt, but I found it amusing and fascinating and it would be an after-dinner (perhaps roast hedgehog) talking point.<\/p>\n

The Decadent Cookbook
\nAuthors: Medlar Lucan and Durian Gray
\nEdited by: Alex Martin and Jerome Fletcher
\nPublished by: Dedalus
\nPrice: \u00a39.99
\nISBN 1 873982 22 4<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0The Decadent Cookbook is by Medlar Lucan and Durian Gray \u2013 I kid you not! I am sure the authors are grateful to Alex Martin and Jerome Fletcher for their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,22],"tags":[1108,649,1109],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-cookbooks","tag-decadent-cookbook","tag-food-literature","tag-medlar-lucan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3516"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9334,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions\/9334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}