Harry Houdini's Favorite Meal Was A Traditional Hungarian Dinner

Elvis Presley was known to love peanut butter, bacon, and banana sandwiches, while Marilyn Monroe enjoyed eating tacos. Aubrey Hepburn often dined on a simple spaghetti al Pomodoro at home, and Frank Sinatra was a fan of stuffed artichoke. It's always interesting to learn about what foods fueled famous people throughout history. Fuel was important for the most famous escape artist of all time, Harry Houdini. He spent much of his life training to be able to escape from handcuffs, swallow needles, and seemingly disappear into the wall. Naturally, good food is needed to support such intense training.

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1874, it's a no-brainer that Houdini loved the food from his own country. At his wedding anniversary celebration with his wife Bess, some of his favorite foods were served: Hungarian chicken, spätzel, and for dessert, custard bread pudding with Bing cherries. 

Hungarian chicken paprikash is the full name of this dish, and it consists of braised chicken with a creamy paprika sauce, often served with egg noodles, dumplings, and sometimes rice. Spätzel is a short egg noodle with a thick and chewy texture, often served alongside goulash, a hearty beef stew that Houdini was also said to enjoy. In Hungary, a custard bread pudding, commonly known as mákos guba, is traditionally made with a crescent-shaped pastry called kifli, cooked with poppy seeds, and topped with jam — it seems what Houdini enjoyed may have been a slightly different variation.  

Other favorite food items of Harry Houdini can be traced through two different cookbooks he offered recipes to. Houdini and 99 other famous men of his era were asked to submit a favorite recipe for the very macho tome, "The Stag Cook Book: A Man's Cook Book for Men." Here, the escape artist shared his favorite combination of deviled eggs with a scalloped mushroom dish. In his recipe, the egg yolks are mixed with melted butter, cayenne, vinegar, and mustard. The smooth yolk mixture is placed back into the white halves, and then served on top of a bed of lettuce, topped with salt, pepper, vinegar, and a surprising touch of sugar.  

In another cookbook published in 1916, "Celebrated Actor-Folks' Cookeries: A Collection of The Favorite Foods of Famous Players," Houdini shares a sweet recipe and mentions that he has somewhat of a sweet tooth. As previously mentioned, Houdini was a fan of the Hungarian custard bread pudding with cherries, and he shares his own recipe for this. Bread and butter pudding is a traditional British recipe, made with stale bread, thick vanilla custard, and often served with vanilla ice cream. Houdini's recipe calls for white bread, and a simple custard made from milk, sugar, and eggs, with vanilla and nutmeg for flavor.