In May my blog will be 15 years old. Fifteen years of eating and drinking like my Hollywood idols. CRIKEY! I know exactly what movie star dish I am going to cook to celebrate, but you’ll have to wait until then to find out! Here’s a clue…
In honour of the blog’s birthday I decided to start recording my favourite 100 dishes as I’m often asked about what I love the most. These will mostly be things that I have made many, many times, things I get a craving for on a regular basis, or things that made me laugh so much when I made them that they have to go in.
For example this might make it…
as might this…
and this…
…and one that I’m dying to make again…
It would probably be easy to have a top 100 just featuring Vincent Price recipes, but I will try and let other movie star chefs get a look in. For now, in at
is my favourite spinster Saturday breakfast, Vincent Price’s Buckingham Eggs. This is a dish that reminds me of being single for the first 7 years of this blog. It was something I often made myself when I needed pampering with food at the weekend.
I made this recently as a kind of reward after an intensive writing course with the Arvon Foundation. I looked forward to it all week. This is something special, but it is salty, salty, salty so do have gallons of iced water on hand to drink.
I made half the amount of the anchovy/butter/mustard mix and it made me one breakfast as per Vincent’s recipe, with a nice second portion amount left over which I popped in the fridge in an eggcup.
A couple of days later I pleased myself immensely by INVENTING SOMETHING. I call this Soft Boiled Eggs With Buckingham Dippers. What do you think of that?! A thin spread of the anchovy mix on toast dunked in a runny egg yolk. It was DIVINE.
Another take on Vinnie’s Buckingham Eggs can be found chez my chum Taryn’s blog Retro Food for Modern Times. She made a Buckingham Eggs Jaffle!
I once had Vincent’s Buckingham Eggs at HARROD’S! This was made JUST FOR US at a very special event Peter Fuller and I set up for the launch of the 50th Anniversary edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes. That truly was a breakfast to remember.
So all of that adds up to this recipe being the second movie star recipe selected for my top 100!
Vincent Price’s Buckingham Eggs
1. Trim crusts from 6 slices bread. Toast lightly.
2. Cream together: 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons anchovy paste, and 1 teaspoon English mustard.
3. Spread toast with anchovy mixture and keep warm.
4. Beat 8 eggs with: 3 tablespoons cream, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Add: 1 tablespoon finely minced onion (optional).
5. In a skillet over low heat melt: 2 & 1/2 tablespoons butter.
6. Pour in the beaten eggs. When eggs begin to thicken, stir with wooden spoon.
7. Remove from skillet while still moist and underdone.
8. Mound up on anchovy toast. Sprinkle each with: 1 tablespoon grated cheddar cheese. Dot with melted butter. Sprinkle with a few drops Worcestershire sauce, if desired.
PRESENTATION
Place under hot broiler until cheese melts and serve at once.
The food looks so gorgeous! And tasty
Well, except William Holden’s homage to the blob from outer space.
🙂
Haha – the William Holden dish was bonkers VT but from memory I think some of my guests really enjoyed it! Served with MAYONNAISE!
Oh…my…gosh.
Well, if some people like it, that’s great!
Haha – crazy people!
Happy almost 15th birthday ! I will retweet your 1st Mosoho Radio show on the day itself . I think I’ve been reading it now for at least 5 and have definitely lost count of the things I’ve cooked from it . No prizes for guessing which have been my favourites ! .. I recognise most of these and am not mad enough about anchovies for this but thanks for reminding me of the Gene Tierney Tuna Salad, must try that and here’s to the next 15 years !!
Ahhhhh Mark! Thanks for this lovely comment. I always love hearing that you have made one of the movie star dishes. Do try the Gene Tierney Tuna Salad. I think there should be a name for elaborate but pleasing things we make just for “me, myself and I”. I’m putting the Vincent Price Chicken in a Pineapple dish in this category too.
I think the dishes should be called ‘MeMi’ dishes for ‘Me’.. ‘Myself’ .. ‘I’ !!
Mark, you are a GENIUS!
Long ago my Dad was one of a small crew painting Vincent Price’s home. Mr. Price made them lunch and ate lunch with them! No pretension or snobbery at all. A completely kind and gentlemanly man, Vincent Price.
Awww, thanks for stopping by with this lovely story. Everything I have heard about Vincent has been super lovely. How I wish he’d made me lunch sometime xx