Kafka's Soup is a delicious little book written by so-called literary ventriloquist Mark Crick. Subtitled with a little pomp "A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes," the book is a collection of cooking instructions written in a prose à la famous authors.
"Crick chose his literary ingredients carefully, and marinaded them in irony, adding a sprinkling of bathos and anachronism," notes The Independent. Prose and recipes are exquisitely palatable. Appetizers:
Lamb with Dill Sauce à la Raymond Chandler:"I sipped on my whisky sour, ground out my cigarette on the chopping board, and watched a bug trying to crawl out of the basin. I needed a table at Maxim's, a hundred bucks, and a gorgeous blonde; what I had was a leg of lamb and no clues..."
Tarragon Eggs à la Jane Austen:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that eggs, kept for too long, go off. The eggs of Oakley Farm had only recently been settled in the kitchen at Somercote, but already Mrs B was planning a meal that would introduce them to the neighbourhood with what she hoped would be universal acceptance. Her eggs had been strongly endowed by nature with a turn of being uniformely agreeable and she hoped to see at least a half dozen make fine matches in the coming week..."
Vietnamese Chicken à la Graham Greene:
"A recipe has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses at what point the cooking instructions become necessary, after the butcher has done his work and before care of the dish passes to the seasoning whim of the guests. I choose the moment when, looking into the refrigerator, I noticed the naked white flesh of the chicken..."
Also on the menu gourmand:
Quick Miso Soup à la Franz Kafka, Rich Chocolate Cake à la Irvine Welsh, Tiramisu à la Marcel Proust, Coq au Vin à la Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mushroom Risotto à la John Steinbeck, Boned Stuffed Poussins à la Marquis de Sade, Clafoutis Grandmère à la Virginia Woolf, Fenkata à la Homer, Sole Dieppoise à la Borges, Cheese on Toast à la Harold Pinter, and Onion Tart à la Geoffrey Chaucer.
scans of book artwork by author
