It was lovely reading all the nice things said about Danny Kaye in this thread. I, too, enjoyed watching his movies on TV when I was a child in the 60s and 70s. I just love him in White Christmas. I also liked him in Up In Arms and The Court Jester.
Here's something about him that might not be too well-known. Apparently, he was an amazing gourmet cook. You will find the following quote on his IMDB Bio page: "If you're not cooking with joy, happiness and love, you're not cooking well."
I learned about his passion for cooking from Ruth Reichl's book "Comfort Me with Apples." In it, she recounts a story about being invited to Mr. Kaye's house for dinner, and she tells how passionate and exacting he was about his preparations. He served, among other things, a sublime Lemon Pasta dish. She didn't get the recipe from him, but she has duplicated it as closely as she could. The recipe is below, along with a couple of my own personal notes following it (I'm a cook and foodie). I have made this dish several times, and it is divine.
Danny Kaye's Lemon Pasta
• 1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 Cup heavy cream
• 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 pound fresh egg fettuccine
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
• freshly grated Parmesan
1. Melt butter in a heavy, deep 12" skillet on medium-low heat. Stir in the cream and lemon juice. Remove skillet from the heat and keep it warm and covered.
2. In another pot, cook the pasta, in liberally-salted water, until "al dente" (about 2-3 minutes). Reserve about 1/2 C of the pasta water, then drain the pasta well, shaking to get most of the water off (do not rinse it).
3. Add the drained pasta to the skillet containing the butter mixture.
4. Add the lemon zest and 2 T of the pasta water, and toss it well (if necessary, add more pasta water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, to thin the sauce).
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Pass the Parmesan at table.
NOTES: I recommend:
-- top quality butter, either grass-fed ("pastured"), or cultured butter, or "European-style" butter;
-- real Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, if at all possible; whatever you do, don't use the kind that comes in a green canister!!!;
-- kosher salt, or sea salt; I don't recommend using regular table salt;
-- fresh egg pasta, but if you can't get that, you can use dry pasta, but do try to choose one with egg in it (regular pasta doesn't usually have egg)
-- I typically do not add the 2 T of pasta water.
From Wikipedia:
In his later years he entertained at home as chef—he had a special stove on his patio – and specialized in Chinese and Italian cooking. The stove Kaye used for his Chinese dishes was fitted with metal rings for the burners to allow the heat to be highly concentrated. Kaye installed a trough with circulating ice water to use the burners. Kaye taught Chinese cooking classes at a San Francisco Chinese restaurant in the 1970s. The theater and demonstration kitchen under the library at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York is named for him.
Kaye referred to his kitchen as "Ying's Thing". While filming The Madwoman of Chaillot in France, he phoned home to ask his family if they would like to eat at "Ying's Thing" that evening; Kaye flew home for dinner. Not all of his efforts in the kitchen went well. After flying to San Francisco for a recipe for sourdough bread, he came home and spent hours preparing loaves. When his daughter asked about the bread, Kaye hit the bread on the kitchen table. His bread was hard enough to chip it. Kaye approached his kitchen work with enthusiasm, making sausages and other foods needed for his cuisine. His work as a chef earned him the "Les Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" culinary award; Kaye was the only non-professional to achieve this honor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye#Cooking
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