Carla Laemmle's Pork in Shrimp Sauce

Her niece Antonia Carlotta joined me for this celebration of the Laemmle family.

Carla Laemmle was the niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle. She lived in a bungalow on the lot and appeared in several Universal Pictures including The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Dracula (1931). She lived to be 104 years old.

Recipe

This recipe is from the cookbook"It Came From the Kitchen: Monstrously Delicious Celebrity Recipes from Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Assorted Aliens and Beyond!" by Geoff Isaac and Gordon Reid. If you love classic horror and sci-fi, you will love this book. It is filled with quotes from filmmakers, select filmographies and plenty of fun anecdotes. I found a used copy of this book on ebay.

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. fresh pork, cubed

1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 to 2 tablespoons of brandy or rum

1 to 2 tablespoons of water

Flour

Ginger root, sliced

Shrimp sauce

*I learned that you can't technically buy shrimp sauce, but rather it is something that you have to make. Oddly enough, it doesn't have shrimp in it either!

Here's the recipe for Shrimp sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons white sugar

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons melted butter

¾ teaspoon paprika

⅜ teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all of these ingredients to make the sauce.

Directions

Angie knows a LOT more about cooking than I do and she said this recipe has the instructions a bit backward. She said it was much better to fry the pork and drain out the fat first. Then you combine the soy sauce, brandy/rum and water. Then add the pork and flour, which will thicken the sauce. Make the shrimp sauce and combine it with the other ingredients. Add the ginger root and steam uncovered on the stovetop. You can pour this over rice and serve.

Special Guest

Antonia Carlotta is a film historian and the niece of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle. She can be seen in the documentary Carl Laemmle (2019) and hosts the popular Youtube channel Universally Me.

Angie Schneider is a board member and curator of the Hollywood Heritage Museum and collects memorabilia on Mary Pickford and Theda Bara. She blogs at “Tinsel and Stars" and is currently writing a cookbook on the recipes of Pickfair.

Video

Final Result

This turned out well and I think Carla would approve!

There are plenty of Universal classics that you can find on DVD.

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