cover image Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes

Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes

Roald Dahl. Viking Children's Books, $15.99 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-670-85836-1

Hungry? Perhaps a serving of ""Scrambled Dregs"" or ""Hair Toffee to Make Hair Grow on Bald Men"" will hit the spot. Recipes for these and the additional delicacies mentioned in the late Roald Dahl's (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) work are hereby adapted for the home kitchen, thanks to the author's widow. Dahl, one suspects, would have been tickled: the offerings are heavily weighted on the side of sweets, and the order of presentation defies adult logic. True to the book's title, there are some recipes of questionable kid appeal (the green pea soup from The Witches; or cod, scallions and spices spread on bread and fried, identified as ""Mosquitoes' Toes and Wampfish Roes Most Delicately Fried""). The graphics, meanwhile, are deliciously playful: Blake's inimitable, droll drawings interact cleverly with Baldwin's food photography. For example, cartoony characters clad in pajamas snooze on a silhouetted photo of ``Eatable Marshmallow Pillows.'' Despite the child-oriented tone, a number of recipes require adult participation by virtue of cursory directions or tricky maneuvers (e.g., ensuring that mixtures boil to specific temperatures). All ages. (Oct.)