The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook: Barbara, Frank & Friends

by Barbara Sinatra (Editor), Frank Sinatra (Editor)

Cookbook with celebrity recipies

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction

260 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Barbara Sinatra was an American model and showgirl who was married to Frank Sinatra from 1976 until his death in 1998. The Sinatras founded the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

Reviews

[Sallee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book at a boy scout garage sale and it looked pretty interesting with all the pictures of the contributors. I read it and was pleasantly surprised at how many recipes that sounded delicious. I will add this to my collection and will be enjoying Italian cooking in the near future.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I think? Not much. Barbara Marx had pursued Frank Sinatra in his latter years. She had been something of a professional slut for her life and had latched on to a much older Harpo Marx who divorced her when he found out she was cheating on him and since Frank was a friend of Harpo's that she had gotten to know, she set her cap for the lonely singer and actor because his name and money were greater than Harpo's.

She used Frank to enjoy the luxurious life and to gain fame for herself. She used his money to start a center for children (Frank was always generous with people and a humanitarian) that she put HER name on. This cookbook was a fundraiser for the center. She made sure that though it was a Sinatra Celebrity cookbook to grab all the credit for herself as author and has her stupid face plastered everywhere within. She made herself out to be a great cook though Frank had said for years that she was a horrible cook and that HE did all the cooking just as his dad had done when he was a child (His mom was a very early feminist activist). She made him out to be just a "taster".

There are some good recipes here but most of what the celebrities offered were just standard cookbook recipes (often with the same titles) that I have seen in basic cookbooks. Others are serious clunkers. Frank's own marinara sauce recipe for pasta was described as coming from the finest ingredients yet it uses canned tomatoes. I saw Frank on the Dinah Shore show cooking and and eating the sauce with pasta that they made and it is not made like this at all.

The best part of the book is seeing the photos of Frank. I notice she did not include Frank's favorite recipes they made at home as she advertised she would be doing and there are no recipes from his daughters Nancy and Tina nor son Frank, Jr, probably because they hate her guts and dropped her as soon as he died. Who can blame them?

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own this great cookbook, I got it from my father who got it from Mr Sinatra as a Christmas present when my father worked for him.