The Recipe Project Will Make You Hungry For Music

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Every once in a while you come across a project and think, I can’t believe no one has done this before. That’s how I felt when I heard about The Recipe Project, a cookbook that takes recipes from established chefs like David Chang, Tom Colicchio and Mario Batali and sets them to music. Yes, you read that correctly. This is not music about food, or food inspired by music. The lyrics of the songs in The Recipe Project are the actual, complete cooking instructions for a dish.  You can learn how to make octopus salad with black-eyed peas (courtesy of Cleveland chef Michael Symon) by listening to a heavy metal song. Or you can try Chris Cosentino’s recipe for calves brains and eggs set to a Beastie Boys send up.

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The novelty songs are catchy and fun, and they’re great company when you’re slaving away in the kitchen. But because the lyrics are things like, “1/4th cup extra virgin olive oil,”  you probably won’t play them unless you’re cooking. There may be one exception, though: the calves brains and eggs recipe almost sounds like a real Beastie Boys song. The hip-hop group who once rapped, “I’m intercontinental when I eat French toast” could theoretically write a song that tells you to “fold brains and eggs together with a spoon.”

Our video team was so taken with The Recipe Project that they talked to One Ring Zero, the Brooklyn band who wrote and performed all the songs. Then they tried some of the recipes, like John Besh’s shrimp remoulade and Mario Batali’s spaghetti with sweet 100 tomatoes.  You can watch their video above.

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