The Recipe Project: A Delectable Extravaganza of Food and Music
By One Ring Zero
116 pages;
Black Balloon Publishing
Have celebrity chefs turned
into the new American rockstars? This snappy book-CD package takes this
question to hilarious heights by recording the recipes of famous chefs—word for
word—as songs. What results are 10 tracks in which Mario Batali's 100 Sweet
Tomatoes is sung as a whimsical Italian number and Tom Colicchio's Creamless
Creamed Corn is performed as a classic rock tune, complete with guitar solo.
Along with the music comes a book—co-edited by Oprah.com's Leigh Newman—filled
with chef interviews (read about David Chang's struggles with violin lessons),
recipes you can actually cook (try Michael Symon's Octopus Salad with Black-Eyed
Peas) and personal essays by food writers from just about every major newspaper
and culinary magazine (catch
Melissa Clark from The New York Times on the Beatles' White Album). The star-studded chef lineup—Aarón Sanchez
to Mark Kurlansky—makes The Recipe Project a natural for die-hard foodies, and the music by
the band One Ring Zero is the kind of album that you hear on NPR and wish you
had just stopped the car and written down the name. The idea, though, appeals
to anybody who just likes to eat...as does the recipe for gooey, salty, sweet
peanut butter "brunettes" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz—a reminder to us
all that any good thought about cooking must end with dessert.
— Lynn Andriani
