Dick Tracy
This past weekend was my oldest friend’s birthday. Coincidentally, he’s also the person who helped me start this blog. So I figured what better way to celebrate him than to attempt (for the fourth or fifth time) a menu perfectly matched to his favorite movie: Warren Beatty’s 1990 adaptation of Dick Tracy.
Even if you don’t like comic books, this movie is well worth a watch. Dick Tracy is a visually stunning noir that more than deserves a menu packed full of primary colors and hard lighting. Set in a stylized, thirties-era world where the bad guys physically manifest their worst personality traits, Warren Beatty stars as hard-boiled hero Dick Tracy– a detective committed to saving a city overrun by gangsters (while desperately trying to avoid parental responsibility AND juggling two dames. Men, amiright?).
In addition to the comic book set design and a soundtrack by Stephen Sondheim, the cast of characters in Dick Tracy are themselves fascinating to watch. Underneath layers and layers of grotesque silicon and paint, actors Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, William Forsyth are almost perfect replicas of comic book criminals Big Boy Caprice, Mumbles, and Flattop. Opposite them, tough-guy sleuth Tracy, his (horribly treated) girlfriend Tess Trueheart, and The Kid (played by Beatty, Glenne Headly, and Charlie Korsmo respectively) shine as a wise-cracking familial trio. Plus, random small parts for huge actors like Mandy Patinkin, Kathy Bates, Catherine O’Hara, Dick Van Dyke, and James Caan– why are they there? I have no idea, but I love it.
And then you have Madonna as Breathless Mahoney— Madonna, at the height of her singing fame lookin’ platinum and seductive AF and delivering lines like “I sweat a lot better in the dark”. What a silly fun time.
But enough about the movie, on to the food. Because I have a vision. A big boss must have a vision. And in my Dick Tracy vision I saw a giant bowl of vibrant chili ala Mike’s Diner. The smell alone will have you askin’, “when do we eat?”.
The Movie
The Menu
Not so fast coppa! You can't eat a Dick Tracy meal without a cocktail in your hand-- here's one that packs a wollop. And I didn't even have to make the name up! In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, vigourously shake the first four ingredients for a couple of minutes-- you want to break up as much of the apricot jamminess as you can. Pour into an ice filled glass and top off with ginger beer and a lemon twist and BLAM POW POW you've got quite a cocktail. Mike's Diner is Dick Tracy's favorite place to eat, and from the looks of it supplies a chili far superior than the gunk that comes out of a can in Tracy's office. So, I've made a three bean, three pepper, chunky steak chili to celebrate our favorite trio of Mike's patrons and served it up with some cheesy Ritz club crackers for dunking. Note, this makes about 6 servings, but it freezes so well I wouldn't bother halving the recipe. Besides, if you're anything like The Kid you won't need to worry about leftovers anyway. Begin by assembling your base ingredients-- these are what will flavor your chili! Next, cut your chuck steak into 1/2 inch cubes. Dredge in a bit of flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside. Hit a medium pot with a healthy glug of canola oil and bring to medium high heat. Add meat to the pot and sear on all sides about 2 mins. You'll want the meat to form a bit of a crust! Remove from the pot and set aside on a plate-- juices will collect, but don't worry we won't waste them. Now, add your base ingredients to the pot and a bit more canola oil. Caramelize for about 3 mins before adding the tomato paste. Stir and cook for a minute more. That done, it's time to add most of the remaining ingredients (in the above list, that's the chili powder allllll the way down to the beans (I like this Whole Foods version!). At this point you can also re-add your meat and all of the accumulated juices to the pot. Stir, and reduce heat to low-- allow to simmer for 2 hours and your meat will be very tender. On to the crackers! 20 minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 400. Grate your cheddar if you haven't already, and get your spices together. Place Ritz crackers on a sil pat or parchment paper lightly sprayed with canola oil. Cover with cheese, and sprinkle with pinches of your seasonings. Bake for about 4 mins, keeping a close eye on the crackers so they don't burn. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before dipping into chili. Speaking of which... time to EAT. After your 2 hour slow cook, serve up your chili in bowls topped with your preferred garnishes-- I love sour cream, more red and yellow bell pepper + sliced jalapeno for another trio element, and (what the hell) more cheddar cheese. Chili freezes VERY well-- so don't worry if you end up with extra. Best diner dessert? An ice cream sundae! Here I've smothered what would otherwise be a faceless vanilla ice cream in a dark and sexy champagne blueberry syrup; then I topped it all off with candied walnuts, despite them being "bad for the brain". Just look at the pretty colors! For the blueberry syrup-- a super simple base of ingredients is ALMOST all that's needed for a smooth and succulant ice cream topper. Add the sugar, blueberries, champagne, and lemon to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil-- boil for 1 min and reduce heat to low, stirring briefly. Whisk cornstarch into water rapidly to create a smooth slurry. Add to the sauce pan and stir. Your sauce will thicken pretty immediately. Add your vanilla to the pan, and remove from heat-- at this point the syrup should just barely slide off the back of a spoon. Allow the sauce to cool completely, covered, while you move on to the nuts! The nuts are crazy easy-- preheat your oven to 400, and in a non-stick skillet, melt sugar with a tbsp of water. Place walnuts on a sil pat lined cookie sheet and pour your melted sugar over your nuts. Toss to cover fully. Bake for roughly 5 mins, checking every so often to make sure they do not burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool before going anywhere near your ice cream! When ready to chow down, scoop vanilla ice cream into your chosen receptacle (I chose a champagne coup in honor of Madonna) and top with blueberry syrup and nuts. If you are more ambitious than I am and decide to make your own vanilla ice cream, I have a good base recipe in this Ferris Bueller's Day Off post.
Tommy Gun Fizz
Ingredients
Instructions
Trio Chili w/ Cheesy Ritz
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Bad Guy Sundae
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Epilogue
So, turns out Warren Beatty loves Dick Tracy so much that he would do almost anything to prevent the rights from reverting to the original comic strip owners Tribune Media Services— even make a super weird half-hour television special in which film critic Leonard Maltin recites a bunch of facts about Dick Tracy and Beatty– awkwardly in character as Tracy– corrects him.
You can watch that 2009 debacle below. But hey, hopefully this means we’ll never have to deal with a poorly executed Beatty-less reboot!!!
For more menus, check out my movie directory here!