Craft a spooktacular spread inspired by iconic creepy films and characters, with over 50 deadly delicious food, dessert, and drink recipes.
Gather round the haunted table, where every day is Halloween! If you delight in ghoulish frights and movies like
The Nightmare Before Christmas,
Beetlejuice, and
The Evil Dead; then get your goth on with over 50 recipes from Beetle House, the
Halloween-inspired restaurant with locations in New York and Los Angeles that honors the legendary director Tim Burton and all his amazing films and creative characters.
The Nightmare Before Dinner includes
sauces and
dips for the recently deceased, eerie
appetizers, sinister
sides, cauldron companions like
soups and
salads, macabre
mains, devilish
desserts, and dark
drinks and creepy
cocktails. Indulge in a monstrous menu featuring:
- Beetle Pie, inspired by Beetlejuice a brilliant-green homemade pistachio pudding with a crunchy chocolate crust that evokes the corpse-fed grass and rich soil of a graveyard, and seedy and sweet blackberry jam that mimics the texture of blood and bugs
- Edward Burger Hands, inspired by Edward Scissorhands a juicy burger with a Sriracha cream sauce, stuffed with smoked bacon, fried egg, pepper jack cheese, and avocado; with a pair of scissors shoved through it to keep it closed
- Silence of the Lamb Chops, inspired by Silence of the Lambs a tasty lamb dish with a buttery mushroom and apple sauce, made gory with splashes of raspberry glaze
- Cheshire Mac and Cheese, inspired by Alice in Wonderland a sweet-and-spicy take on one of Americas beloved comfort foods, served in a teacup
- The Fleet Street Martini, inspired by Sweeney Todd a bright-red martini featuring Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey; pair with equally gory Love It Pot Pie
The Nightmare Before Dinner features food alternatives and substitutions for vegan and vegetarian diets for every recipe. The cookbook also includes full-color photography that creates a deliciously dark atmosphere and a bonus chapter on how to host goth-themed parties, so you can live the Halloween lifestyle every day of the year.
Also available by Zach Neil:
Death for Dinner Cookbook: 60 Gorey-Good, Plant-Based Drinks, Meals, and Munchies Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films INTRODUCTION: THIS IS HALLOWEEN
MUST-HAVE TOOLS AND IN GREDIENTS
VEGANIZE IT! WICKED PLANT-BASED SWAPS
S A U C E S & D I P S
FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD FLAVORS
LOVE IT SAUCE
EDWARD SAUCE
SWEET LIME CREAM SAUCE
DEAD SAUCE
VERUCA SAUCE
HOLLOW SAUCE
BEETLE JAM
SOUL SAUCE
CHESHIRE SAUCE
VEGAN CHESHIRE SAUCE
SWEENEY SAUCE
A P P E T I Z E R S
SCARY SNACKS
BRAINS & CHIPS
THE DEETZ SHRIMP COCKT AIL
GRAVEYARD NOODLES
DIABLOS ARENAS CROSTINI
HALLOWPEŃO HONEY CHEDDAR CORNBREAD
CHARLIE CORN BUCKET
BEETLE BACON BREAD
S O U P S & S A L A D S
CAULDRON-WORTHY CUISINE
SRIRACHA-ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH DEATH SOUP
FALL SALAD
GIANT PEACH SALAD
BARBAROUS BBQ BEEF RAMEN
THE BUTCHERS STEW
M A I N S
MACABRE ENTREES
CHESHIRE MAC & CHEESE
EDWARD BURGER HANDS
SWEENEY BEEF
SWEENEY MUSHROOM
THE WILLY BURGER
FROGS BREATH & NIGHTSHADE RISOTTO
SILENCE OF THE LAMB CHOPS
BIG FISH
LOVE IT POT PIE
SHRIMPY HOLLOW
VICTOR VAN PORK
VICTOR VAN MUSHROOM
EVIL DEAD SHRIMP
D E S S E R T S
ALL TREATS, NO TRICKS
WILLYS MANGO PANNA COTTA
BLOODBATH COBBLER
BEETLE PIE
RED VELVET MIDNIGHT ESPRESSO CAKE
BLOOD ORANGE CHEESECAKE
BOOZY, BUBBLY MANGO SORBET
D R I N K S
CREEPY COCKTAILS
THE BEETLES JUICE
THE GOLDEN TICKET
EDWARDS LEMONADE
THE FLEET STREET MARTINI
BIG FISH BOWL
THIS IS HALLOWEEN
ALICES CUP OF TEA
CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE MARTINI
THE NINE
WE COME IN PEACE
SPARKYS MINTY MARGARITA
BIO-EXORCISM
THE COCO SKELLINGTON
T H E M E D P A R T I E S
PUT THE FUN BACK IN FUNERAL
WILLYS CANDY BAR
A BEETLE HALLO WEEN PARTY
EDWARDS FORMAL DINNER PARTY
A NIGHTMARE CHRISTMAS PARTY
INDEX
ABOUT BEETLE HOUSE
BEETLE HOUSE RECIPE CREDITS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zach Neil is an American entrepreneur, artist, and chef. He has been featured multiple times on the Food Network and has gained additional notoriety through his popular chains of themed restaurants, which have been featured on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Good Day New York, MSNBC, and ABC World News Tonight, among others. Zach combined his artistic pursuits with his culinary skills to create the eclectic, Halloween-themed Beetle House restaurants, which have broken media records in the restaurant space. His first cookbook, The Nightmare Before Dinner: Recipes to Die For, features all of the Beetle House recipes, plus a selection of brand new, never-before-seen dishes with seasonally inspired flavors and a dash of Gothic insanity. In addition to his restaurant franchises, Neil is considered an authority on pop-up bars and restaurants with his own television programming and lifestyle brands in the works. You can find Zach on Instagram @therealzachneil and learn more about the Beetle House restaurants at beetlehousela.com.
