House of Wax
In this 1953 film starring Vincent Price, wax sculptor Henry Jarrod is horrified to learn that his business partner, Matthew Burke, plans on torching their wax museum to collect on the insurance policy. Henry miraculously survives a fiery confrontation with Matthew and re-emerges some years hence with a museum of his own. But when the appearance of Henry's new wax sculptures occurs at the same time that a number of corpses vanish from the city morgue, art student Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) begins suspecting wrongdoing.
I mostly wanted to pay homage to this movie and its food for fun. It doesn’t have a ton of food in it, nor are they big plot drivers, so I got “creative” in the recipes below.
“You ever thought what would happen if we had a fire here? In the cellar there’s six barrels of wax. Wax. Wax has a paraffin base that’s highly inflammable. This whole place would go up like a paint factory.”
The Scene: Burke and Jarrod are discussing buying out the wax museum to another investor. Burke, anxious to get his hand on a return on his $20,000 investment, instead decides to burn down the museum to collect the insurance money. He hits Jarrod over the head and leaves him for dead (or is he?) while the museum bursts into flames. We watch as all the wax creations slowly melt and burn down in the fire.
Fun fact: Although the film one of the first to be produced in 3D, ironically, director André De Toth was blind in one eye and hence could not see the effect. It must have been easy for Vincent Price to act alarmed in the sequence in which his museum burns down.
Image and Recipe Source
Today we will be making:
Roasted Garlic
Wax Beans
Garlic roasted wax beans are a great side dish for dinners or any time you need a quick side dish that’s simple to make. You only need a handful of ingredients and a few minutes of prep time before you pop the wax beans in the oven.
Ingredients
4 cups fresh wax beans
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ teaspoon dry oregano
1 handful fresh parley and oregano to top
Directions
Wash and trim the ends of wax beans
Place them on the baking sheet and cover with olive oil, salt, oregano, pressed garlic and breadcrumbs
Mix well with your hands and spread evenly on the baking sheet
Cook in the preheated 200C oven for about 25 minutes, until golden crispy and tender
Garnish with fresh oregano and parsley and enjoy!
Why This Recipe Works
Wax beans are a summer produce—so this recipe is best made seasonly
While roasting is a popular cooking method for many vegetables, it’s not typically used for green and wax beans – but it should be! Roasted beans are truly a revelation. Unlike boiled beans, which are bland and squeaky when you bite into them, roasted beans are tender, caramelized, slightly shriveled, and full of flavor
The beans are roasted with heaps of sliced garlic, olive oil and breadcrumbs, which turn mellow and sweet, and finished with fresh oregano and parsley
This is a great dish for entertaining because it can be made ahead and served at room temperature
Pro Tips
It’s important to trim the beans before you roast them to get rid of the tough ends. You can trim several at a time. Grab a few and turn them so the stems are all on one side. Use your knife to slice off the ends with the stems. The other ends of the beans should be fine. But if you notice any that are a little shriveled or tough looking you can trim the other end, too.
No need to blanche the beans
While these are already vegan, you can make them gluten-free as well by using gluten-free breadcrumbs if desired
“It is Cathy. It’s Cathy’s body under the wax. I knew it all the time!”
The Scene: After the fire, the character Henry Jarrod wears a wax mask to hide his disfigured face, which is the result of a fire. The mask is cracked, and Jarrod's burnt face is visible underneath, especially towards the end of the movie when Sue hits him and breaks it off after he tells her he wants to immortalize her forever as his new Marie Antoinette.
Fun Fact: Since the film was to be shot in both Technicolor and 3D, great pains were taken to ensure that Vincent Price's makeup looked as convincing as possible. The result was a patchwork of hideous burns that shocked audiences-and nauseated a lot of Warner Bros. employees. "I was banished from the studio commissary," Price later recalled. "This cold shoulder treatment started when I walked [in there] for lunch for the first time and the girl at the register turned green and almost fainted. Then the patrons got up and headed for the door. It was a bad day for business." Source
Image and Recipe Source
Today we will be making:
Flambe for Two
A hot, sweet, and oh-so-creamy dessert!
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ cup orange juice
1 large banana, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon rum
1 cup vanilla ice cream
Directions
Melt butter and brown sugar together in a skillet over medium heat until caramelized, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in orange juice; mix well for 2 minutes. Stir in banana slices until evenly coated with orange juice mixture
Pour rum into the skillet. Light rum carefully using a long match. Shake skillet back and forth until flames die down, about 30 seconds. Cook for 1 minute more.
Divide vanilla ice cream between 2 bowls. Spoon banana mixture over ice cream
Why This Recipe Works
In this method of cooking, alcohol is added to the pan in which the food sautés in a sauce. This catches fire in a dramatic presentation. Because the fire is short lived, the flambé does not burn the food, as is imparts a smoky flavor to the food and a savory or sweet flavor to its sauce.
Pro Tips
Use caution when igniting the run. Use a long match such as a fireplace match or long barbecue lighter. Ignite the fumes at the edge of the pan, not the liquid itself. Do not lean over the skillet as you ignite the fumes
“Lager for the gentleman. Sarsaparilla for the lady.”
The Scene: Brennan and Sue take in a can-can show downtown. Even with the distraction of the dancing girls and sipping on sarsaparilla, Sue can’t shake her suspicion that Jarrod has somehow used the body of Cathy, even down to the wearing of one earring, for the Joan of Arc scene in the Wax Museum.
Fun Fact: There is a goof in the film. Sue tells the police that the wax Joan of Arc figure has only one pierced ear, but an earlier scene shows that she only saw one ear.
Image and Recipe Source
Today we will be making:
Sarsaparilla Cocktail
Vanilla whiskey and root liqueur paired with the added flavors of orange, brown sugar, and bitters produces a spectacular sip
Ingredients
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of water
4 ounces of Crown Royal Vanilla
2 ounces of Art In The Age Root Spirit
The juice from half an orange
2 to three3dashes of orange bitters
Orange wedge, for garnish
Directions
In a cocktail shaker, dissolve brown sugar in water. Add whiskey, root liqueur, orange juice and bitters. Shake well. Strain over ice in a glass. Serve with an orange wedge
Makes two servings
Why This Recipe Works
Crown Royal Vanilla and Art In The Age Root Spirit, star in this drink. Crown Royal, of course, is blended Canadian whisky. This variety tastes of vanilla. Art In The Age Root Spirit is a liqueur replicating root tea, which was traditionally made from sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen birch bark, and other roots and herbs. That may sound strange, but it’s the essential flavor of root beer minus the sweetener and soda
Pro Tips
You can also use other root spirits such as Resurgent Botanical Whiskey if you can’t find Art in the Age
