What is it with Hollywood horror legends and their love of Mexican food? Everyone loved Boris Karloff's guacamole recipe, so let's keep the campy avocado train rolling and move on from Frankenstein's Monster to the immortal Dracula. One of the creepiest actors in movie history, Vincent Price was also a lover of fine wines, food, and entertaining.
In 1965 Price and his wife published a tremendously popular cookbook called "A Treasury of Great Recipes". It included several Mexican recipes, including his version of Guacamole. It's hard to imagine now, but at the time guac was just starting to become popular among white people, possibly because as it is presented here, it is made with mayonnaise.
Vincent Price was a fascinating figure who majored in Art History at Yale, collected Mexican art and loved traveling to Mexico. The Vincent Price Art Museum is located on the East Los Angeles College campus and contains many of the best pieces from his vast art collection. In other words, his impact on Los Angeles goes well beyond guacamole.
Guacamole (avocado spread)
Makes 2 cups
Elaborate canapés have been the ruination of more dinner parties than bad cooks in the kitchen ever have. We're against pre-stuffing our guests, and prefer to serve cocktails with a simple dip and crackers that are crisp but without too strong a taste of their own-- English biscuits or plain matzoth are perfect. A strongly flavored guacamole, which we learned about in Mexico, goes well with our philosophy, our crackers, and above all with our Mexican den where we gather for a pre-dinner drink.
2 avocados
3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
1 green chile, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped (best if peeled and seeded, but it’s not mandatory)
3 TBSP low-fat mayonnaise
1/8th tsp ground coriander
salt to taste
1 TBSP Worcester Sauce (optional)
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
1. Peel and seed: 2 large avocados. Save the seeds. Mash avocados with a fork.
2. Add the other ingredients and mix together.
3. Leave the avocado seeds in mixture until ready to serve, and they will prevent discoloration. If you like a very smooth guacamole, remove the seeds and put mixture into lender container and blend on high speed for about 8 seconds before you are ready to serve it.
PRESENTATION
Serve in a small bowl - Mexican if you have one - with crackers or corn crisps or raw vegetables.
Thanks to Jack Larson for finally tracking this book down for us. Next, we're going to find out if Lon Chaney ever made guacamole so we can really get make this into a series.
