Cooking With the Stars Halloween Special — Vincent Price’s Guacamole and Vincent Price’s Savory Stuffed Chicken

 

I keep finding myself taking extended breaks from this blog, though I truly hate doing it. This time I have to admit that a lot has been going on in my life that’s been preventing me from posting like a new job, the holidays, and the process of patching up some of the relationships that I hold dear. What’s more, I simply haven’t been signing up for many blogathons lately. In spite of all of that, this is still my favorite blog to maintain and I want to keep on doing just that, so I’m making sure to provide some original content through the rest of the year starting today! Lately my passion for combining classic film with cooking has taken over, and there’s no better time to whip up something frighteningly delicious than Halloween!

Wasn’t he handsome? And what a voice!

Vincent Price, the spooky star whose dishes I’ll be presenting to you all today, was perhaps the most extraordinary chef that came from classic Hollywood. He hosted his own cooking show in the UK called Cooking Price-Wise in 1971 and wrote four bestselling cookbooks with his wife, Mary. Three of these vast and detailed books have been republished with the help of their daughter Victoria Price within the last three years, and the newest republication of the cookbook that stemmed from his television program, retitled Cooking Price-Wise – The Original Foodie (1971, republished in 2017), was released this month! Today’s recipes are from two different sources. First up we have Vincent’s delectable guacamole, which came from his very first cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965).

Vincent Price’s Guacamole

• 2 avocado pears
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 small green chili, chopped fine
• ⅛ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ clove garlic, minced
• Salt to taste
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• Chopped, seeded and peeled tomato
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Dash of cayenne or Tabasco sauce

1. Peel and seed the avocados, saving the seeds.
2. Mash avocados with a fork in a bowl.
3. Add all other ingredients.
4. Leave the avocado seeds in mixture until ready to serve, and they will prevent discoloration.
5. If you like a very smooth guacamole, remove the seeds and put mixture into blender container and blend on high speed for about 8 seconds before you are ready to serve it.
6. Serve in a small bowl – Mexican if you have one – with crackers or corn chips or raw vegetables.

Here’s how my guacamole turned out! Unfortunately I had no Mexican bowl, but I’ll make sure to acquire one before I make this again!

I knew as soon as I read this recipe that I simply had to serve it at my Halloween party! I was already planning to screen some classic horror films, and I figured that a hefty serving of guacamole would go perfectly with Vincent’s pièce de résistance film, House on Haunted Hill (1959), which was shown on Turner Classic Movies on Halloween night at 11:30pm. I was right! The guests really enjoyed it, though I have to admit that I ended up eating most of it because I loved the outcome so much! I felt like adding both Tabasco and cayenne pepper because I happened to have both on hand, and omitted quite a lot of the onion. I ended up using a little less than half of a medium sized onion, and I don’t know whether onions were much smaller in Vincent’s day or whether he liked his guacamole very oniony!

Also on the menu was Mr. Price’s Savory Stuffed Chicken, a dish that I had been planning to prepare even before I scheduled a Halloween get-together. In fact, I had been dying to try it ever since I saw the always amazing Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers post and review the recipe on her blog. I wouldn’t have ever been able to find this delight if it weren’t for her, so many, many thanks! Interestingly enough, this recipe didn’t come from one of Vincent’s cookbooks, but instead from one of many vinyl records from the 1970s that he narrated with instructions on how to prepare his recipes, along with some helpful dinner party tips that he provided! Luckily the instructions were written on the back, and I’ll provide them for you here!

Vincent Price’s Savory Stuffed Chicken

• 1 roasting chicken or capon
• 10 pitted prunes
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 pinch of cloves
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 1 cube of butter

1. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper, inside and out.
2. Sprinkle the orange slices with the cloves and cinnamon.
3. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the prunes, orange slices, and half of the cube of butter, cut into little chunks.
4. Place the chicken in the roasting pan and rub it with the remainder of the butter, softened.
5. Roast uncovered for 1¾ hours (1 hour and 45 minutes) at 400 degrees, then lower the temperature to 250 degrees for one hour.
6. Baste frequently with the drippings, melted butter, or wine.

My chicken before it went into the oven…

… and after it came out!

The guacamole and the bird side by side! All of that basting made quite a mess of the baking dish!

And last but not least, here’s a hefty helping of both dishes!

To note, the “cube of butter” ingredient is definitely vague, so I would recommend simply using however much butter you need depending on the size of your chicken. I ended up using about half a stick of softened butter on the outside and about three tablespoons on the inside. Your chicken might also need less time to cook, so make sure to check the directions on your bird if there are any! I cooked mine at 350 degrees for 2½ hours, as instructed, and it came out perfectly! I very recently stopped being a vegetarian after ten years, but I still have to say that this was the best roasted chicken that I can ever remember having! The chicken was the biggest hit among my guests, and there wasn’t any left at all by the end of the party. A few of the guests did mention that they didn’t really taste the fruit in the chicken and recommended adding some of it to the outside of the dish as well. I’ll have to try that soon, and I’m already trying to plan out when I can make this dish again! All in all, I have to say that Vincent really helped make my Halloween party a success, and I hope you try these recipes yourself for a delicious (though belated) Halloween celebration!

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