Chas Addams Half-Baked Cookbook: Culinary Cartoons for the Humorously Famished

by Charles Addams, Allen Weiss (Foreword)

Food and eating were a couple of Charles Addams's favorite subjects. Hungry cannibals, witches gathering around a cauldron, or a king over his blackbird pie often populated his celebrated cartoons. And, of course, Morticia of the "Addams Family" was an avid cook, adding a touch of eye of newt or popping over to the neighbors for a cup of cyanide. So it should come as no wonder that in the 1960s Charles Addams was dabbling with a "cookbook" idea. Addams discovered and compiled some bizarre recipes from antiquated and out-of-the-way sources. These recipes have very Addams-like names, such as "Mushrooms Fester" or "Hearts Stuffed," and serve as a perfect complement to his drawings. Chas Addams? Half-Baked Cookbook is a collection of his work on the world of food and eating, featuring many Addams drawings that have never been seen before, as well as some of his all-time classics.

Genres: Humor, Comics, Graphic Novels, Cookbooks, Cartoon, Food, Art

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

The macabre humor and Gothic settings characterized many cartoons, first apparent in the New Yorker, of known American cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams.

Chas Addams best created "The Addams Family" comic characters, adapted for a variety of media. His signature style involved single panels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far from his best, but this was his last book and only published after his death. The recipes are mildly funny, not entirely serious. In the final credits you see they are adapted from actual recipes from others. A bit twisted of course. I thought the most “normal “ was Reindeer Curry from a cookbook originally published in Alaska. Good luck finding the ingredients for that Christmas dinner. Another recipe—fried locusts. I’ve seen those in candy stores but not stuffed and sautéed. Here they are said to be “not unlike fried shrimp.”

The cartoons are the stars here, but not all of them for me. About half were typically Addams hysterical and about half left me scratching my head. I may be slipping. Addams still seems fascinated by automats where you used to put a dime in the slot and retrieve a —sandwich—from the glass window. A number of the cartoons have blackbird pie as the subject and more than a few have Addams family characters or witches with cauldrons bubbling with the unknown.

Good but not his best.

[Eden · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020 bk 380. While reading the other Addams book, I found a complete list of Addams and discovered several holes in my collection. What must I do but order the Half-Baked Cookbook. About 1/4th of the cartoons were new, but the collection was nicely put together. I'm not sure where he found most of the recipes, but the one for Influenza Punch is what my neighbor makes a batch of every flu season. He says it is to be taken when sick and in bed, my neighbor drinks a small glass every night as a preventative. Loved the first recipe, Mushrooms Fester. I did make those and ended up eating them all up as supper one night. This was his last book as he died before its completion and others did the final pulling together. I'm glad I purchased it. It took so long to read and then write the review because I felt I had to try a few of the recipes first!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, quick little read.

I like quick reads. Make me feel like I accomplished something!

There's a few recipes thrown in here, along with some rather creepy cartoons about food - children losing their appetites on too many toadstools, the store being out of eye of newt, the two headed pig roast, that sort of thing.

I actually didn't get all the jokes. I find Chas Addams' work a little hard to figure out visually sometimes. So there's a few in here that I honestly was clueless about.

I sure would like an occasion to use the squirrel recipe. And the oyster macaroni and cheese sounded really intriguing.

It's almost Halloween! It's time to go the candy store and ask for dark chocolate with bitter almonds!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, beautiful. Funny, dark-humored cartoons, and strange, authentic recipes from late 19th/early 20th century. Of all Addams' drawings, I love his smudgy charcoal work the most. He manages to be fresh, precise and gloomy all at once. Bonus: spot the wonderful old Addams Family house (inspired by Syracuse University's Hall of Languages) tucked up among the trees here and there.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Addams' culinary-themed cartoons on their own would have earned three stars, but I'm not sure what the collaboration is meant to be. A cookbook for reindeer and squirrels? A cookbook of about 8 recipes and 100 drawings? Just a joke and an excuse to reprint Addams' cartoons? My guess is the later, and I don't find it convincing enough to like the concoction Weiss put together.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of food-inspired one-panel comics from the artist who inspired the classic TV show “The Addams Family.” (Who knew?)

My favorite comic is one that that’s unwittingly prophetic. A man stands before a sign in a restaurant window that reads:

Soybean sandwiches: today’s flavors
Pastrami
Roast beef
Ham & Swiss
Bologna
Corned beef

Little was Addams to know the huge range of soy-based meat alternatives that would be available to us in the new millennium---in fact, I’ve eaten soy-based versions of four of the five sandwiches listed!

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little collection of Addams's food related work, interspersed with mostly creepy vintage recipes.

[Sara Dallmayr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Downloaded and read this one for the first time the other day, though I've been a fan of Addams' work for years. I enjoyed it very much - I like the layout and flow, interspersed with recipes from the early 20th century. My favorite - a recipe for actual stuffed hearts on Valentine's Day. Bless you, Chas. You will forever be stuffed in my own heart.

[Jemmie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great cook book, recipes are lazily transcribed, and there aren't very many. The artwork is lovely to look at, but you'd be better off reading something with more of narrative. It tries to be a good comic book & a good cook book, but it is neither in the end.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended primarily for those who, like me, want to complete their Addams collection.
Or want a recipe for stuffed (bullock) hearts for Valentine's day.
Be sure and read Chas Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis

[Fritters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute idea, good comics, weirdly executed. Read it for the comics.

[Symmonz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I expected. Meh.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there a greater joy than figuring out the joke in an Addams cartoon?

[Kathryn Burger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply LOVED it!
But then ..... who doesn't love the work of Charles Addams

[Roger L. Boyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty neat collection, but it could have done without the long winded 7 page introduction.

[Fumijo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully deranged.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only a few cartoons, although the recipes despite being unappetizing are apparently real.

[Chris Miskimins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to read

The book is fun but short and several of the comics are hard to read since they are blurry or have the dialog on the next page. Overall disappointing.

[Eve Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Food, glorious food! Cold jelly and custard!"


In my love for Chas and food, this is a necessity.


Not the fairest nor the funniest of them all, but something to keep me sane inbetween meals.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small book filled with cartoons from Charles Adams that are all about food and other culinary delights. Included are some wonderfully creepy and macabre recipes from various cookbooks from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

A light, quick read.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny collection of his food themed illustrations with a handful of bizarre but real recipes

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not nearly as funny as Charles Addams's. other books.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Chas Addams!