Cooking Price-Wise (1971)

 

"Even More Entertaining Than You Might Expect"

And that's a lot down to some excellent extras on this, the BFI's Blu-ray release of Vincent Price's cookery show, broadcast on ITV in the early 1970s, often on a weekday at around 4pm just before children's programming kicked in. 

Shot at a rate of about one a day, the format was simple: Vincent Price, in a mock-1970s studio fitted kitchen, takes the viewer through recipes that at the time would have seemed immensely exotic. One wonders how many husbands came home looking forward to fish and chips or shepherd's pie only to be presented with Moroccan lamb and a cucumber crocodile. One also wonders what the reaction might have been.

There are six episodes here, each with a central theme  - lamb, cheese, bacon, and so on, with the first reserved for the potato. Try watching it and not feeling the urge to repeat Mr Price's pronunciation of that particular vegetable. We also get a brief history of some of the ingredients used, along with rather charming line drawings, and the recipes get summed up at the end so have pen and paper ready.

Extras include commentary tracks on three episodes (potatoes, bacon and cheese) from three different pairs of commentators. Vic Pratt and William Fowler - The 'Bodies Beneath' Boys - on potatoes, Lisa Kerrigan and Josephine Botting on bacon and Jenny Hammerton and Peter Fuller on cheese. It's an excellent idea as everyone comes at the subject matter from different angles. Pratt and Fowler discuss the ins and outs of this kind of TV broadcasting of the period, and I do hope Jenny and Peter succeed in their search for the saucepans used on the show.

Jenny Hammerton returns for two featurettes - Monster Munch (24 minutes) in which she takes you through some of Vincent Price's recipes, and Kitchenfinder General (21 minutes) in which she talks to Vic Pratt about Price and his love of food. Price's culinary predilections are also discussed by his daughter Victoria Price in Until We Eat Again (18 minutes).

Finally, the BFI once again offers up a cornucopia of curios from its film vaults with a batch of interesting short subjects, not all of them complete (or at least the comedy How to Cook a Cabbage does come to a rather abrupt end). These include a selection of films made by the Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Food, Tea Making Tips from 1941 and a culinary train journey on the Centenary Express from 1980. 

To some this release may seem a little odd while others (and especially fans of Vincent Price and the Flipside series in general) will completely understand why it's been brought out. All I'll say in summary is that it's a release that's packed with stuff, such that if you have any interest in the subject matter this is a must buy.

COOKING PRICE-WISE is out from the BFI in their Flipside series on Monday 25th November 2024