This page contains four personal recipes from the kitchen of Basil Rathbone and three of Ouida Rathbone's recipes:

Yorkshire Pudding Vichyssoise Soup Indian Lamb Curry English Mutton Chops Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake Orange Marmalade Salmon Mousse	The Cock and Bull is a bit of old England transferred to Hollywood. It has long been the favorite restaurant of Basil Rathbone and other famous members of the English acting colony. Photo by Charles Rhodes, January 1938
Basil and Ouida Rathbone, 1943	Roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding

Given Basil Rathbone's British heritage, it's no surprise that one of his favorite dishes was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, a hearty, traditional English dinner. Below is Basil Rathbone's recipe for Yorkshire Pudding, taken from a little booklet called Hollywood Recipes: Food Secrets of the Movie Stars (by Delight Evans, Editor of Screenland Magazine, and published by the American Stove Company in 1938).

Yorkshire Pudding   Ingredients: 2 cups flour ¼ teaspoon salt 2 eggs 2 cups milk 1 ½ tablespoons hot fat Directions: Sift flour and salt together. Make a hollow in the center and add unbeaten eggs and a little of the milk. Gradually mix in the flour and the salt mixture from all sides, adding the milk by degrees. When about half the milk has been used and all the flour is mixed in, beat well with a wooden spoon until very light and smooth. Gradually stir in remainder of milk. Pour into a shallow baking pan containing hot bubbling fat and bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve with roast beef gravy. Yield: 6 servings

"Here's how Hollywood eats for Health and Beauty" writes the editor in the introduction. Some of the other Hollywood stars and their favorite recipes included in the booklet are:

Joan Blondell -- Chicken Chop Suey Olivia DeHavilland -- Angel Cake Gail Patrick--Avocados with Crab Meat Gene Raymond -- Cheese Pudding Pat O'Brien -- Spinach Ring Anita Louise -- Kidney Saute Madeira	Gale Sondergaard -- Danish Apple Cake Dorothy Lamour -- Deviled Oysters on Half Shell Errol Flynn -- Irish Beef Pasties Claudette Colbert -- Crepes Suzette Bette Davis -- Scallops in Bacon
Basil Rathbone dines at a party in 1944.	Basil Rathbone shares a meal with Louis Brems, director of public celebrations, Boston, 1938

Another favorite Rathbone recipe comes from the book Famous Stars Favorite Foods (Hollywood, Ca.: Fannie Sniff, editor and publisher, 1938) p. 189.

Vichyssoise Soup   Ingredients: 4 cups diced potatoes 4 cups sliced onions 6-7 cups water ½ cup sour cream 1 tablespoon chopped chives French Vichy water Directions: Boil potatoes and onions together. Put through a sieve. When cool, add sour cream until mixture is of good consistency. Fill full of chopped chives. Put mixture in ice box or refrigerator. Two hours before serving, thin out with French Vichy water and put back in ice box or refrigerator to be thoroughly chilled. This soup should be served in large bowls surrounded by cracked ice. (Note: Soup should be ice cold when served; otherwise flavor is impaired.)

Two hundred eighty personal recipes from Hollywood stars are contained in the book Famous Stars Favorite Foods, including:

Basil Rathbone and Angela Lansbury take a lunch break during filming of The Court Jester	Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone

Another of Basil's favorite dishes was Indian Lamb Curry. The following recipe is from the book Cooking with the Stars: A Collection of Recipes Tested in the Kitchens of Hollywood, edited and compiled by Jane Sherrod Singer (South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1970), p. 166.

Indian LAMB Curry   Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter 4 onions, chopped 1 small clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons curry 1 tablespoon paprika Salt to taste Juice of ¼ of a lemon 3 green apples, peeled and sliced 2 ½ pounds boneless lamb cut into 2 inch pieces 1 ½ pounds tomatoes, sliced Directions: Melt butter in a Dutch oven and sauté onions and garlic until golden.  Add the curry, paprika, salt and lemon juice, and cook about 15 minutes. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and rub curry into the lamb.  Add to Dutch oven with apples.  Cook for ½ an hour. Add the tomatoes. Cover and cook slowly for an hour or until the flavors are blended and meat is tender. Serve over rice, which, if desired, may be colored with Saffron.  Condiments such as chutney, peanuts, raisins, grated egg, coconut are excellent, but not essential. Serves 6 to 8.

Basil Rathbone, Charles Boyer, Director Richard Boleslawski, Marlene Dietrich and Joseph Schildkraut enjoy dinner in the desert.

Rathbone at the Hollywood Canteen in 1943

The September 1936 issue of Movie Classic includes recipes from the members of The Garden of Allah cast and crew. They were on location in Yuma, Arizona. Sitting around the table one evening, a discussion of favorite dishes came up—and it was suggested that each evening the chef honor a member of the dinner group by serving his or her preferred recipe. This resulted in much concentration upon the part of the parties involved—to be sure their country would not suffer by comparison—and dinner from five different nations.

• Marlene Dietrich sponsored Germany with German Pancakes.
• Basil upheld England with these English Mutton Chops.
• France was represented by Charles Boyer with Cotelettes.
• Joseph Schildkraut did his bit for Austria. This country has a delicious cinnamon bread called Buchta that is just right for breakfast.
• Director Richard Boleslawski remembered his favorite Polish recipe, Polish Pound Cake.

Here is Basil's recipe for English Mutton Chops:

ENGLISH MUTTON CHOPS   Ingredients: 1 thick chop for each serving 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons lemon juice ¼ clove garlic ¼ teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon dry mustard Large fresh mushroom for each chop 1 tablespoon Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce 1 cup hot water Salt and pepper to taste Flour Directions: Cut slit in each chop large enough to insert mushroom. Make a sauce of oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, and sugar. Brush each chop in sauce and then dip in flour. Fry in half butter and half lard until well browned. Season while browning. add water and Worcestershire sauce, then reduce heat to simmering point, cover with lid, and cook until tender. Slightly thicken sauce with a little flour and water before serving.

OUIDA'S RECIPES

Basil, Cynthia and Ouida, 1940s

Ouida Rathbone entertaining

The article "Hollywood's Design for Wartime Living," which appeared in the October 1944 issue of Screenland magazine, includes two of Ouida's recipes. One is a Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake. You may be wondering why anyone would want to make a cake without eggs, milk and butter. It was probably necessary because such foods were rationed during World War II.

"We have an eggless, milkless, butterless cake that is a wartime specialty. For this, we've discovered that you can eliminate ration points for shortening by using meat drippings. Of course we save waste fats* for Uncle Sam, but he doesn't want them until they're useless for food."

* Waste fats were used to make bombs.

EGGLESS, MILKLESS, BUTTERLESS CAKE   Ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar 1¼ cups water 1 cup seeded raisins 2 oz citron, cut fine ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups flour 5 teaspoons baking powder 1/3 cup shortening Directions: Boil sugar, water, fruit, shortening, salt and spices together in saucepan 3 minutes. When cool, add flour and baking powder which have been sifted together; mix well. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven (350 degrees) 45 minutes.

The secret of good shortening from meat drippings lies in straining the drippings through cloth, keeping sausage fat separate from the rest. Cool at room temperature, cover tightly, and store in refrigerator. More shortening can be secured by trimming excess fat from uncooked beef, lamb and pork. Chop this fine or grind through food-chopper, render slowly over a simmer burner or in a double boiler, strain through cloth, cool and store.

Basil helps Ouida in the kitchen.

Lime, Lemon and Orange Marmalade

Basil enjoying a glass of milk and a cheese sandwich

Because butter was rationed, marmalade was a popular substitute to spread on biscuits. Screenland printed Ouida Rathbone's recipe for Orange Marmalade, but Ouida also talked about lime and lemon marmalade.

"If you've never tried lime marmalade," said Ouida, "you've missed something wonderful. Our cook makes it with the same recipe she used for orange marmalade and it is a heavenly green color. My favorite is lemon, made the same way."

ORANGE MARMALADE   Ingredients: 12 thin skinned oranges 3 lemons 3 quarts water Sugar Directions: Wash and peel oranges. Cut peel in paper-thin slices; pulp in chunks; slice lemons. (All may be run through a food chopper.) Add water, simmer 5 minutes. Let stand overnight. Then cook until peel is tender. Measure. Add from 2/3 to 1 cup sugar to each cup of fruit and juice, depending on sourness of fruit. Boil rapidly to the jellying point. Pour into jars and seal at once.

The article explains that sandwiches are substituted for the platters of cold meat that used to be served. Wilted cucumber, watercress, toasted marmalade, cinnamon and cheese are Rathbone favorites. Ouida's cinnamon toast comes in dainty cut-out shapes of bread lightly spread with butter, just enough to hold the brown sugar and cinnamon, and served hot.

Cucumbers are sliced paper-thin, salted and left to wilt overnight in water; drained and placed between very thin slices of bread lightly buttered and cut out in heart shapes.

Ouida's watercress sandwiches are made with very fine slices of bread, spread with cream cheese and chopped watercress, then rolled and kept wrapped in a damp cloth until ready to serve. Use a slice of bread the length of your loaf, roll it and slice into small rounds like miniature jelly cakes.

Only Ouida can make the tea for these delightful occasions.

"To make good tea," she explains, "you must have two teapots, well heated. When your kettle is 'just on the boil,' pour the water into one pot in which you have placed one spoonful of tea for each cup, plus one for the pot. Allow the tea to steep for a brief time, according to how strong you like it. Then pour off the strained liquid into the other heated pot, ready to serve."

Such are the hostesses of Hollywood these days. They make every government restriction a challenge to their ingenuity.

The following is Ouida Rathbone's recipe for Salmon Mousse, published in The New York Post, May 17, 1964.

Mrs. Rathbone's Salmon Mousse   Ingredients: 2 lbs. fresh salmon 2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin ½ cup cold fish stock 1 cup boiling fish stock ¼ cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon lemon juice ½ pt. whipping cream Directions: Simmer salmon until tender in enough water just to cover, with a slice of lemon, a stalk of celery, a handful of parsley sprigs and half an onion. Drain salmon, and strain broth. Chill 1/4 cup and soak gelatin in it for 3 minutes, then dissolve it in the boiling broth. Cool, then stir in mayonnaise and, when mixture begins to thicken, beat to a froth. add the finely minced salmon, Worcestershire and lemon juice. Finally, fold in stiffly beaten cream and pour into a moistened mold. Chill from 6 to 21 hours, then remove from mold and serve with cucumber sauce. Cucumber sauce: Peel and grate 1 cucumber. Stir pulp into 1 cup mayonnaise. Add 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon minced chives. Chill. For 6 or 8.

Ouida sets the table for guests.

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