Standard disclaimer: New York Times = feh!
…………………………………….
Things that Marilyn Monroe and I have in common:
- We both are blond.
- We both have the boobs.
- We both put chestnuts into our Thanksgiving stuffing.
According to this New York Times article, “A new book … includes a recipe in Marilyn Monroe’s handwriting that suggests that she not only cooked, but cooked confidently and with flair. … Scrawled on stationery with a letterhead from a title insurance company, the recipe describes in some detail how to prepare a stuffing for chicken or turkey. It also bears the unmistakable balance of fussiness and flexibility that is the hallmark of an experienced and confident cook.”
Yeah. I don’t know about that. The recipe, while dutifully written and carefully folded, does not have greasy fingerprints or any kind of splatters on it., which would indicate that it was nearby for reference while the dish was made for the first time. She probably had every intention of making it, but most likely jammed this between the pages of her own cook books and left it there.
The article recreates the dish and then turns to detective work to determine where MM could have picked up such an an unorthodox concoction. Spoiler alert: probably from Joe DiMaggio’s relatives.
“Could Marilyn have picked up this recipe, or at least some cooking tips, from the DiMaggio clan? The pine nuts, the raisins and the Parmesan in the recipe suggest Sicily. And then there’s this: Joltin’ Joe, eager to assimilate into the American mainstream, was known to have one steadfast request when it came to food: No garlic.”
Cripes Suzette 
But what was your respective relationships to the City Title Insurance Company?
A new side of Marilyn after all this time. Cool.
BTW my father-in-law has been anti-garlic all his life for the same reason, but eats it eagerly when he thinks there is no garlic in the food 🙂
No garlic? That takes away half the joy of life! 😀
A new field of study: forensic cookery.
That is what is so terribly amusing about the NYT article. so many assumptions made based on almost nothing.
Hard boiled egg?! I’m sure this shows that I am not a particularly great cook, but I’ve never heard of putting hard boiled egg in stuffing, or ground round for that matter.
“We both have the boobs.”
pix or stfu
Mmm. Let me think.
I think that I’ll … shut up.
I use hard cooked eggs in my dressing as did my Mommie. I don’t know the origin for her use. I do not have the boobs or blond hair, sigh, but Mommie sure did. I got Daddy’s chest.
Suzette, I am ordering a Taylor Pork Roll and can’t wait to make the sandwich you told us about. I have your very detailed instructions that you sent!!!!!!!
Wow, that sounds… like the stupidest article ever written. The New York Times can’t go out of business soon enough. I mean really, it’s not enough that Monroe might have cooked her own goddamn food from time to time (instead of doing it with magic or elves like other celebrities I guess), but she has to be someone who “cooks confidently and with flair.”
As for the DiMaggio thing… yeah, no other ethnic group in America put garlic in its food except Italians.
When you’re in the right sort of mind, the article reads almost like an Onion piece.