2025 Oscar Party - Recipes

And the Best Oscar Entree goes to...YOU! Come and accept your award-winning chow and pass it around to your party guests so everyone has a taste of Oscar. Sit back and watch the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movie trailers below, paired with my Best Oscar Entrée, which is a feast for your eyes.

And click on any Best Oscar Entree nominee names to be directed to the original blog post for all the award-winning recipe prose and cinematic culinary imagery.

The first Best Oscar Entree nominee is deliciously gruesome. The movie stars actress Demi Moore, who has never exposed so much of herself, and I don't mean just her acting chops. This body-horror flick is gross to the max and not for the faint-of-heart or, in my recipe's case, palate. Check out the trailer below.

1. "The Substance" Pork Carnitas - are made from a pork shoulder, which I skin, then slice and dice the flesh, then drench in Mexican Cola. Kind of appalling, but oh so tasty.

The second Best Oscar Entree is a brickhouse of a recipe. A Holocaust survivor architect, played by always captivating Adrien Brody, rebuilds his life with a move to Philadelphia and is given a second chance by renovating a library in neighboring Bucks County.

2. "The Brutalist" Hoagie - I was introduced to the Hoagie Sandwich by my wife, Linda, who was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A Hoagie is a towering multi-level sandwich of cheese, deli meats, lettuce, onion, and tomato with an oil and vinegar dressing. 

The third Best Oscar Entree pairs with a 1970's Brazilian political drama of a family's search for answers when their father is "disappeared" during a military dictatorship.

3. "

I'm Still Here" Ribeye Steak & Potatoes

 - Brazil is renowned for its cattle industry, and my Ribeye Steak & Potatoes answers the question "Where's the Beef?"

The fourth Best Oscar Entree featuring my cheap$kate Pasta recipe is as controversial as the selection process of a new Pope in this pulpy Papal feature.

4. "Conclave" Pasta alla Carbonara with Bacon Bits - will set Italian chef tongues wagging. Loaded with Papal intrigue after the Pope dies, finding a successor stirs up controversy, like my Italian recipe made with Bacon Bits, instead of guanciale, a rich, fatty cured pork jowl or cheek.

The fifth Best Oscar Entree is emblematic of NYC, and pizza is the right price for struggling artists, like Mr. Tambourine Man, making musical poetry in the Big Apple.

5. "A Complete Unknown" Anchovy Pizza - Down and out in NYC, the bio-film introduces a struggling Bob Dylan, couch-surfing and surviving on scraps, while ascending from coffehouse folk singer to electrified troubadour and voice of his generation. 

The sixth Best Oscar Entree  will have you clicking your shoe heels together and chanting, "There's no recipe like Homemade Chili and a Cinnamon Roll." A musical reimagining of the Wizard of Oz featuring the good and bad witches. You can call it a prequel before Dorothy leaves Kansas for Oz.

6. "Wicked" Chili with Beans - Kansas is known for Chili with Beans served with a Cinnamon Roll. Well, I have the Homemade Chili recipe covered; you'll have to come up with the Cinnamon Roll!

The seventh Best Oscar Entree could be served in the cafeteria of an oppressive reformatory school, like the one depicted below.

7. "Nickel Boys" Black-eyed Peas with Ham - Based on the 2019 novel by Colson Whitehead, the film takes place in a Jim Crow-era Florida reform school. Nickel Academy is outed for its cruelty to the main character, a studious African-American high school student.

The eighth Best Oscar Entree, Cajun Nachos, combines French Cajun Red Beans and Crawfish, with Mexican tortilla chips and cheese. This recipe co-production will be hard to beat in this Oscar race.

8. "Emelia Perez" Cajun Nachos - A dark and twisted Mexican musical, made by a French Director, is both praised and panned. Boorish tweets on X by one of the leads may sink the chances of bringing home more awards.

The ninth Best Oscar Entree recipe is hot and steamy like Anora, a stripper on the make with the son of a Russian oligarch.

9. "Anora" Rachel Sandwich - The sandwich is made with Russian Dressing. Winner of the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year, this randy romance will have you eating out of their hands, feasting on my sexy pastrami Rachel Sandwich with Coleslaw, that is.

The final Best Oscar Entree is based on the movie Dune: Part Two. This sci-fi literary classic adaptation is a hero's journey on a desert planet full of sandstorms and fury.

10. "Dune: Part Two" Flying Burrito - Joshua Tree, a local desert, inspired my own tall tale that ends with the sighting of a Flying Burrito! 

Do try any of my Oscar Party Entrees - you're sure to get a Standing O. So have your acceptance speech ready because the golden statuette for Best Entree at an Oscar Party belongs to you, the host with the most.

I'll leave you with a video I made a while ago when the Academy of Motion Pictures had an exhibit with a podium on which a real Oscar stood. All you had to do was stand in line and take a picture with it -- well, you can be sure I showed up for that! Just check out the video below:

May the Best Entree win!!

2024 Oscar Party - Recipes

And the Best Oscar Entree goes to...YOU! Come and accept your award-winning chow and pass it around to your party guests so everyone has a taste of Oscar. Sit back and watch the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movie trailers below, paired with my Best Oscar Entrees, which are a feast for your eyes.

And click on any Best Oscar Entree nominee names to be directed to the original blog post for all the award-winning recipe prose and cinematic culinary imagery.

The first Best Oscar Entree nominee is a New York City Broadway dressing room favorite nosh. Check out the trailer for "Maestro."

1. "Maestro" Bagel Spread with Cream Cheese & Salmon - The biopic flick of New York Philharmonic and Broadway musical conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein is loaded (with high drama) like my latest Bagel Spread recipe. 

The second Best Oscar Entree is a sprinkles-filled dessert and a topping so fresh like the movie "Barbie."

2. "Barbie" Cupcakes with Pink Strawberry Frosting - From plastic to fresh fruity Technicolor sets and costumes, Barbie is a bustier of a blockbuster musical with a feminist spin. My cupcakes with homemade pink frosting reflect the color scheme of the movie.

The third Best Oscar Entree sees previous Oscar winner Martin Scorsese helming a tragic historical story on the Great Plains.  

3. "Killers of the Flower Moon" Frybread - My late wife, Amy, and I vacationed on a few Indian reservations one summer. The sights were majestic, and the natives enlightened us to their culture and food. A local Indian was generous enough to show us his version of American Indian-style Frybread.

The fourth Best Oscar Entrée took the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year. I have a favorite French entree I know you will devour.

4. "Anatomy of a Fall" Cassoulet - A murder mystery at a chilly mountain chalet in France calls for a toasty, warm dish of baked beans with sausage and chicken. Check out the movie in the comfort of your warm living room with a steaming plate of Cassoulet.

The fifth Best Oscar Entree stars Jeffery Wright, who is always worth watching. 

5. "American Fiction" Soul Food - This pitch-black satire on "Black" books takes elite academia to task. There is nothing elite about a visit to Chef Marilyn's Soul Food Express in my neighborhood. It's all good. 

The sixth Best Oscar Entree is the bomb!

6. "Oppenheimer" Tuna Melt - My sandwich recipe fuses Cheese and Tuna Salad into one powerful atom-splitting core of molten goodness. I think my wide-screen recipe video would make the film director Christopher Nolan quite pleased as an accompaniment to his IMAX operatic bio of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

The seventh Best Oscar Entree takes place in a New England boarding school and stars scene-chewing Paul Giamatti. 

7. "The Holdover" Hoagie - I had my first Hoagie Sandwich when I visited my wife's family on the East Coast. Like the movie, it has a crusty Professor of bread with a volatile Student filling of Italian deli meats.

The eighth Best Oscar Entree time-shifts between childhood in Korea and adulthood in New York City.

8. "Past Lives" Pizza - The bittersweet story is about unrequited love, so you will want something soothing and satisfying to dine on.  I always grab a toasty $1.50 Pizza Slice or two when visiting the Big Apple. Linda and I saw this film while staying in NYC, and we happened to hang out at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, exactly where some scenes in the film were filmed.

The ninth Best Oscar Entree is my kind of flick. A twisted tale based on a novel that is a riff on the classic Frankenstein story.

9. "Poor Things" Fried Baloney Sandwich - I was fed this sandwich as a child, and like the movie's main character, played by Emma Stone, we follow her from adolescence to enlightenment. With eccentric visuals and characters in extremis (Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo). This recipe and movie are not for the faint of palate.

The final Best Oscar Entree is a WWII anti-septic chilling story that takes place in a Nazi family's villa next to the concentration camp of Auschwitz.

10. "Zone of Interest" - There is really no recipe that can accompany this tragic tale. 

Do try any of my Oscar Party Entrees - you're sure to get a Standing O. So have your acceptance speech ready because the golden statuette for Best Entree at an Oscar Party belongs to you, the host with the most.

I'll leave you with a video I made a while ago when the Academy of Motion Pictures had an exhibit with a podium on which a real Oscar stood. All you had to do was stand in line and take a picture with it -- well, you can be sure I showed up for that! Just check out the video below:

May the Best Entree win!!

2023 Oscar Party - Recipes

And the Best Oscar Entree goes to...YOU! Come and accept your award-winning chow and pass it around to your party guests so everyone has a taste of Oscar. Sit back and watch the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movie trailers below, paired with my Best Oscar Entrees, which are a feast for your eyes.

And click on any Best Oscar Entree nominee names to be directed to the original blog post for all the award-winning recipe prose and cinematic culinary imagery.

The first Best Oscar Entree nominee is a deep-fried food favorite of "The King."  Check out the trailer for "Elvis."

1. "Elvis" Chicken Fried Steak - This biopic follows Elvis's career from bottom to top and down again. There's a whole lotta frying going on for the Elvis Chicken Fried Steak recipe nominee provided by Banquet Frozen Foods. The ground beef (not chicken) patty is a steak in disguise.

The second Best Oscar Entree is a big salute to our naval air jockeys, starring Tom Cruise, reprising his blockbuster film role from Top Gun. 

2. "Top Gun Maverick" Turkey Carnitas - Come fly with me on a deep dive into luscious Turkey Carnitas. Typical Carnitas are made with fatty pork; well, that won't fly if you have to squeeze into an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. This recipe is a lighter version made with Turkey, and it's battle-tested in my kitchen.

The third Best Oscar Entrée is a Jewish deli classic sandwich called the Rachel. The Fableman's is Steven Spielberg's autobiographical take on his formative filmmaking years. 

3. "The Fabelman's" Rachel Sandwich - Michelle Williams plays Steven Spielberg's mother, and it's said she stole the show.  My Rachel is made with pastrami, Russian dressing, coleslaw, and Swiss cheese on rye bread and is a powerhouse of a sandwich.

The fourth Best Oscar Entree actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson spar in this tragicomedy set on a remote island off Ireland. 

4. "The Banshees of Inisherin" Corned Beef and Cabbage - Opposites do attract and my Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe has the yin and yang dance of a dangerously delicious friendship.

The fifth Best Oscar Entree stars Cate Blanchett in a deranged role as a world-renowned Berlin Philharmonic symphony composer-conductor, which would not be out of place if it happened at the Hollywood Bowl.

5. "Tár" Dude Dog - Is a bombastic wiener conducted by Pinks Hot Dogs of Los Angeles. 

The sixth Best Oscar Entree is the bomb! Your tastebuds will experience a minefield of explosive flavors of this German street food. 

6. "All Quiet on the Western Front" Currywurst - Like WW! trench warfare portrayed in the movie based on the anti-war novel of the same name, pork is put through the meat grinder to form sausages that are then sliced and drenched in bloody red curry-flavored ketchup. It tastes better than it looks.

The final Best Oscar Entree is a sandwich embodying the multiverse served on an Everything Bagel, a key movie plot point. 

7. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" Bagel Sandwich - Michelle Yeoh fights her way through time and space to save the planet. My Bagel with Tomato, Onion, and Cream Cheese is a slice of heaven on Earth.

Do try any of my Oscar Party Entrees - You're sure to get a Standing O. So have your acceptance speech ready because the golden statuette for Best Entree at an Oscar Party belongs to you, the host with the most.

I'll leave you with a video I made a while ago when the Academy of Motion Pictures had an exhibit with a podium on which a real Oscar stood. All you had to do was stand in line and take a picture with it -- well, you can be sure I showed up for that! Just check out the video below:

May the Best Entree win!!