What’s Cooking? – Salvador Dali

Spanish artist Salvador Dali, the consummate showman with the dramatic mustache, was a Surrealist artist whose works explored subconscious imagery. His most famous painting, “The Persistence of Memory” depicted melting watches. Dali was also known for his opulent dinner parties thrown with his wife Gala. A Surrealist in the kitchen as well, in 1973 he published, “Les Diners de Gala”, a cookbook filled with his unsettling illustrations and peculiar culinary ideas. Recipes included such delicacies as “Veal Cutlets Stuffed With Snails”, “Frog Pasties”, and “Toffee with Pine Cones”. Guests attending his dinner parties were required to wear outlandish costumes and wild animals often roamed free around the dinner table.

Salvador Dalí’s Avocado Toast

3 avocados
1 lamb brain
9 oz. minced almonds
12 slices of rye bread
3 tbsp. tequila
⅓ cup vinegar
½ cube of beef bouillon
salt and cayenne pepper

Soak the lamb brains in cold water, remove their outer skin, and place back in the water. Meanwhile, boil a pint of water; add vinegar and beef bouillon. Remove the brains from the water, drain to remove excess water, and mix with avocado pulp. Then add minced almonds, salt, cayenne pepper, and tequila. Spread on toasted slices of rye.