I am so excited to announce the 2019 KitchAnnette Red Carpet Menu! The Oscar® nominations were just announced Tuesday morning and I was determined to get this menu created before the week ended! I have to thank so many friends and family who went into “food movie mode” and provided me with suggestions and ideas that were instrumental in creating this year’s menu.
It was another year where I had a good idea of which movies would be nominated, so I was already thinking of dishes and direction.
To refresh you on the whole Red Carpet Menu history, I’ve been doing this every year since David Letterman hosted the Oscars in 1995. I didn’t think it would go further than that one year but it has become my signature event. The dishes are created featuring each of the Best Picture nominations. The criteria for the menu is to create dishes that reflect the movie they are representing and be named for said movie. There must be at least one appetizer, main course, side dish, salad, and dessert. Finally the meal must work as a stand-alone without the movies. And I’m strict about these rules! Ha! My cookbook, Red Carpet Menus: Delicious Dishes Inspired by 20 Years of Oscar® Best Picture Nominations, features the first 20 years of recipes, Oscar memories, and more! You might want to buy it to celebrate! This year I decided on a southern style cuisine.
So without further ado, here is the 2019 Red Carpet Menu!!!!
Appetizers:
VICE is such a good movie. It covers the life and influence of Dick Cheney. I admit, I was never a fan of his and this movie brought up national issues that drove me nuts at the time. But this movie is fascinating. It’s no surprise that Christian Bale won a Golden Globe earlier this month for his performance. My dish, and I admit it’s a stretch, is ceVIChE! Or… ceviche! Yeah, I know… it’s a stretch. The obvious to most people would have been to just do “RICE” but it had no relation to the movie. If you’ve seen it, you’ll note that Dick does a lot of fishing. There is one scene where, as he’s trying to convince someone to do what he wants, the filmmakers wonderfully kept cutting in scenes of a fishing pole being baited, cast, and then pulling because a fish was caught. Get it, get it??? Wow – that was fabulous. So a fish dish seemed more fitting.
Black Panther is soooooo good. Lush and vast, I want to live in Wakanda! The story was not what I expected, being used to and enjoying the generally similar plots of super hero movies. It’s just a gorgeous and rich movie. I saw it in the theater and then at home and it defintely loses something on the small screen, which is too bad because I loved it! What I didn’t love was creating this dish. It wasn’t obvious what to make and how to relate it back to the movie. Finally I focused on the heart-shaped herb which is used to make the elixir that holds the secret to the powers of The Black Panther. My friend Barbara DeBisschop, who always has the best ideas, was noting how the title contains “black pan” – cast iron skillet! Perfect! So the dish is Black Pantherb! Savory skillet herbed biscuit bites. I know… it’s another stretch. But those little bites are going to be delicious!
Main Course:
BLACKkKLANSMAN is an incredible movie based on a true story. I’d heard the story well before I saw the film. I knew it would make it to the awards season! But what to cook if it did… then it did! Well, leave it to Barbara! Her initial thought for the dish was perfection and then I only had to figure out what to call it. BLACKkKLUXMAN says it perfectly – blackened chicken. My initial thought was “BlackkKLUCKSman” – ya know… chickens cluck. I was telling my friend Joe Becwar about it and her said “ohhhh that is great – Klux like the KKK – great play on the title” but honestly, I didn’t even think of it! Go Joe!! I’m so excited to make this dish.
Side Dishes:
Green Book is stellar. I adore this movie. It’s the third movie based on a true story in this category! That’s pretty amazing. This is the movie that informed this year’s cuisine. The performances are incredible, the story couldn’t be more timely, and… well it starts in my hometown of The Bronx! When non-New Yorker actors get the Bronx (or any native New Yorker) accent and cadence down well, I have to bow to the genius! And ya know… it’s Viggo and he’s… well… EXCELLENT in everything he does. Love love love him! The dish is Green Bake. Tony’s wife sends him off with sandwiches and I thought she’d also have sent a casserole if he’d been going to an official destination instead of driving all over the South. So it’s going to be a collard greens casserole. Mmmmmmm.
This is the fourth version of A Star Is Born and it was really good. I thought the editing towards the end really rushed things along which was a marked difference from how the movie built to that point but I still very much enjoyed it. Lady Gaga was really fabulous and I thought she never looked better! Brunette is for her! Bradley not only acted so well, and sang great, but directed it! Bravo. The dish is The Star Is Corn, which is a spicy bourbon corn dish. Since Jack was always drinking, I thought I had to honor him and get that corn quasi-liquored up!
Salad:
Roma is a quiet film. It’s not only up for Best Picture, but it’s also up for Best Foreign Film. I think it will win there but not for Best Picture. It is beautifully shot in black and white and captures a year in the life of a housekeeper in the Mexico City neighborhood of Colonia Roma. My initial thought when I saw it was nominated was Roma tomatoes – or as they are more commonly known, plum tomatoes! A salad! Romas will feature the tomatoes but include some other elements to harken back to the movie and be topped with a creamy buttermilk dressing. Yes!
Desserts:
Awesome. Bohemian Rhapsody was so highly anticipated, which usually bodes poorly for a film. How can it live up to the hype? Well this film did. It’s been a long time since I’d been in a movie theater where the crowd reacted and applauded as if it was a live show. Rami Malek is magnificent. His only competition for the Oscar will be Christian Bale. And seriously… the music of Queen? The story of the band is great! I love them. I’m making Bohemian Raspberry which will be a trifle with layers of chocolate, cream, cake, and raspberries. A layer for each layered member of the band. There’s a quote I can’t quite remember where someone says each member of the band was quite different from the others. But when they came together, it was magic. And that will be this trifle – 4 delicious flavors on their own but when they are layered, it’s going to taste like magic!
The Favourite is another movie based on a true story. That makes the 5th out of 8 movies! I guess reality really is better than fiction! Ha! I was having so much fun with this movie until the last scene and then… what??? So unsatisfying but still worth watching. All the ladies were incredible. And in my thoughts, the unsung character was all the gorgeous cake featured throughout the movie. Perfect! I did a little research and found out about something called “queens cakes”, which were very small… smaller than fairy cakes… and flavored with orange blossom water. My version of that is The Favourange! Although I will use oranges as the flavoring and make them a bit more rich and decadent.
And there’s the 2019 KitchAnnette Red Carpet Menu!! Not only am I now thrilled to get to the recipe creation, but I’m psyched about how the posters came out!
All the films are worth a watch. For my pick, I’m torn between Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody for Best Picture! What I do know is it’s going to be the BEST MENU!!!
Annette
I love your menus and posters every year…so creative.
But sorry this year these are too much of a stretch for me. Ceviche for Vice?? Why not just do a fish dish and entitle it Dick goes fishing, or hook line.
The one that particularly bother me dish you did for Black Klansman,,,blackened chicken???? Do you realize how racially insensitive that is considering how many African Americans were lynched and how white supremacy terrorists are again on the rise.
Sorry, appreciate the effort but this year I’m tossing these out and doing my own themed menu or just a Oscar menu.
Look forward to your menus next year.
Hi! Thanks for your kind words and your thoughts on this year’s menu. I truly appreciate your comments.
Every dish is created to follow 3 sets of criteria – it must be a play-on-words on the title, refer back to the movie in some way, and fit the chosen cuisine, which this year is southern-style.
Regarding BlackkKlansman as BlackkKluxsman, it mocks the KKK, who were such “chickens” – cowards – that they wore sheets on their head to promote their racism. As the movie depicts, their hate extends to many groups like Jewish people, Catholics, and Italians (my people) as well as African-Americans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan). I am very aware of the history and travesties perpetuated then and now. I reference this in my video that will be premiering next week for all the dishes.
As for Vice, it was tough, as one-word titles often are. And this is a blatant STRETCH! I own it! Hahaha! And it’s totally the fishing reference… and that scene with the juxtaposed catching a fish and him making a deal towards the end. His choices in power were also pretty “raw” – ceviche-ish – so I went with it. I know, it could have been Rice or Ice or VICE-yssoise but it didn’t fit the other criteria.
I WELCOME your participation in the craziness to create the menu! Reach out the second you hear those nominations (here, on FB, the site https://kitchannette.com, Twiiter, or Instagram). This menu is created through the suggestions and approval of fans, friends, and family. It’s always a challenge and never perfect, but it’s fun. Please share your menu with me! I can’t wait to see it!