Cookbook offers recipes to die for

Now you can fantasize what it would have been like if Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Liberace cooked for you. Or even ... chef Karen Carpenter?

Some recipes of dead Vegas icons feature prominently in "Dead Celebrity Cookbook" by showbiz maven Frank DeCaro.

Sinatra had his own recipe for barbecued lamb. DeCaro says he loves Sinatra's spaghetti sauce.

"I kept hearing stories that - if you were really in good with Frank - he would invite you over for Sunday Gravy, like any good Italian would," DeCaro says.

Sinatra's sauce was simple.

"It seems very no-nonsense, and basic, and kind of perfect - which is like listening to a Frank Sinatra record."

Deano's recipe was easy too: "Burgers and Bourbon."

"It's basically: Get a good quality of meat; don't handle it too much; put it in a cast iron pan with a little salt and pepper; fry it up; don't overcook it; then serve it with bourbon," DeCaro says.

"Someone said, 'It's not much of a recipe.' I said, 'Are you kidding? It's a recipe for life!' Don't handle it too much, don't overcook it, and make sure there's bourbon on the side! That's a wonderful prescription for life."

Liberace spread his recipes all over the place, including his own cookbooks. For "Dead Celebrity Cookbook," DeCaro reprinted the entertainer's tongue-in-cheek nosh: "Liberace's Sticky Buns."

"That just makes me laugh, like, 'Boy, were you in on the joke.' "

Liberace actually inspired DeCaro - who refers to himself as "The Grim Reaper Gourmet" - to write his cookbook.

"My mantra was: If Lady Gaga knows who Liberace is, you can too," says DeCaro, a New Yorker who loves Vegas. "When I read that the Liberace Museum was closing, I was heartbroken."

But the most striking recipe in DeCaro's book may be "Karen Carpenter's Chewy Pie." It's low-cal: 16 saltine crushed crackers, a cup of sugar, ½ teaspoon baking powder, three egg whites, ¾ teaspoon vanilla, ½ pint whipping cream, ¾ cup chopped nuts, and chocolate shavings.

That little dish "Serves 8." (Carpenter died at 32 of heart failure after crash-dieting for years.)

"People say, 'How can you include that in the book?' " DeCaro says. "But I didn't tell her not to eat. It's not my fault. I loved her! If somebody says, 'I don't like the Carpenters,' just don't be friends with them."

DeCaro (at frankdecaro.com) wrote the cookbook after collecting celebrity recipes for 30 years from stars' families, magazines and even 1970s microwave oven pamphlets.

"I had this huge collection. And you really have to do something with your collection, otherwise you're a deranged person, and the 'Hoarders' people come and take it away from you."

Other Vegas dishes in "Dead Celebrity Cookbook" include Redd Foxx's spaghetti and Buddy Hackett's Chinese chili.

By the way, DeCaro has a few Oscar picks because he is a showbiz commentator (his radio show is on Sirius 109) who has reviewed movies on "The Daily Show."

He sees two Academy locks: Daniel Day-Lewis ("Each eyebrow should get an Oscar") and Anne Hathaway.

"She cut her hair on screen. If you have long hair and you get it cut on screen? Give that woman an Oscar!"

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.