Remember bringing in donuts, cherry pie, and “damn fine” coffee to watch Twin Peaks on Sunday nights? Chef Thibaud Villanova, who calls himself the “Gastronogeek,” has amped up his game with three new cookbooks, all with a pop culture tie-in. This time his themes cut across the entirety of pop culture, and others explore dark and stormy realms from your favorite movies and TV series. Gastronogeek: The Book of Potions, a book of drinks and desserts like shakes and malts, was released last week and is available now here, and you can pre-order Gastronogeek Gothic Recipes now here, full of food fare from supernatural fantasy and horror, arriving in bookstores in two weeks. But first I’ve sampled recipes from Gastronogeek: Cult TV Series, available now here at Amazon.
For this wide swathe of fandom, Chef Villanova, author of one of my favorite cookbooks, Assassin’s Creed Culinary Codex (reviewed here), took inspiration from scenes in Firefly, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Supernatural, Stranger Things, Sherlock, Charmed, and more–including that Double R Diner cherry pie Agent Cooper loved in Twin Peaks.
Where do we begin? I tried recipes inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.
Foodies know from his Assassin’s Creed and anime cookbooks that Villanova takes efforts to create foods focused on the culture behind the series and he plates the food to resemble its appearance in the show. He offers up lots of traditional cuisine with his own modifications, often pulling in ingredients from specialty stores. These three new cookbooks have a mix of foods with ingredients available in any grocery store, plus some you may need to search for. He also features foods that can be prepared from around $10 to $50, so there’s something for new chefs and diehard foodies.
The first I made was Mulder’s Sweet Potato Pie, a sweet potato pie/tart with short crust, inspired by Fox Mulder in The X-Files. Here is Agent Mulder with the inspiration dessert in the series:
The recipe was a win on two fronts: almost indistinguishable from pumpkin, the lightly-seasoned sweet potato baked into a firm custard, perfect for a tart. And the short crust, pressed down to 3mm, was so tasy that if you added some sugar it would have been a great cookie recipe.
The crust and filling paired perfectly. It didn’t need the whipped cream, but that was juust icing on the cake… or, err, cream on the pie.
But with two sticks of butter (one for the crust, one for the filling), this pie was rich, so it also would be great for a party where smaller slices would work just fine.
Next I made the quirky Doublemeat Veggie Burger, inspired by the diner Buffy worked in in late-season episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That’s Buffy above on the job in the show.
I love a good vegetarian burger. But this is a great veggie burger. It tastes so good and has such a meat-like consistency and char that it could easily swap for any beef or chicken patty for any purpose in future meal planning.
Key to its success is the selection of root vegetables, diced beets, carrots, and potatoes. Add onion, a little olive oil, and egg, coriander/cilantro and a small amount of bread crumbs, and WOW.
You just can’t predict the flavor. Two burgers were filling, but also wouldn’t leave you feeling stuffed. The flavor reminded me a bit of the Thanksgiving burger at Wahlburgers.
I’ve no doubt I’ll make both the Buffy the Vampire Slayer-inspired Doublemeat Burger and The X-Files-inspired Mulder Sweet Potato Pie again.
Here is a look inside Gastronogeek: Cult TV Series:
So where do you want to begin? Here are the recipes featured in GastronoGeek: Cult TV Series:
Here are the recipes featured in The Book of Potions:
And here are the recipes featured in Gothic Recipes:
Gastronogeek: Cult TV Series is available now here at Amazon. Gastronogeek: The Book of Potions was released last week and is available now here. And you can pre-order Gastronogeek Gothic Recipes now here, slated to be released November 26, 2024.
For fans of anime, don’t forget about Chef Villanova’s Gastronogeek Anime Cookbook (discussed here) and The Unofficial Ghibli Cookbook (discussed here). And don’t miss one of my favorite reviewed cookbooks, Assassin Creed’s Culinary Codex (discussed here).
