Message: | Thank you, Heather. Salvador Dali didn't really write a cookbook. What he DID do, however, was get his favorite chefs (mostly from Maxim's in Paris) to contribute recipes of his favorite dishes. The cookbook is really entitled Le Diners de Gala (Gala was his wife at the time, I think) and was published in 1973. There is also a companion book called the Wines of Gala. Used copies of the book start at $100 and can go up to $500.
What I did was choose ten courses from throughout the book that I thought would follow the classic French, Haute Cuisine plan of 10 courses and updated the recipes (only slightly and only sometimes) to the modern kitchen. The pairing of the courses and the wines were by trial and error -- my poor boyfriend had to live through endless experiments.
We started eating the first course around 2:00 in the afternoon and finished the last course around 10:00. As an avid cookbook collector, I started preparing meals based on these historical books and/or figures. I've done Dim Sum Chinese New Years, Birthday Celebrations of the Hindu God Ganesha with Indian Food, Roman Feasts, and Medieval Banquets. I'm thinking that the next one should be about Talouse Lautrec. But the Dali Dinner was the biggest and most elaborate I've ever attempted, hence the website.
Merci! |