The revelation of an elaborate stuffing recipe in the icon’s own hand has led to speculation that perhaps Marilyn was, in fact, a domestic goddess.
The stuffing recipe, which appears in Fragments (the compendium of MM ephemera) is an elaborate one: a multi-step mix of sourdough bread, nuts, meats and herbs that, say writers Matt and Ted Lee, required no fewer than 15 vessels to reproduce. They also deemed the stuffing — which they theorize may be rooted in Marilyn’s marriage to the Italian Joe DiMaggio — scrumptious and say it “bears the unmistakable balance of fussiness and flexibility that is the hallmark of an experienced and confident cook.”
Could be — although we don’t know that the star actually made the elaborate dish. Said People, “She was a good cook. It was hard for her to go out so she cooked.” She is known to have owned well-thumbed copies of both Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking — both sold for astronomical prices at auction — plus Le Creuset cookware, yet other anecdotes from the star’s life tell another story. Says the Bombshell Manual of Style,
Marilyn Monroe told Cosmopolitan that when making homemade noodles for a dinner party, the cookbook failed to mention how long they took to dry. “The guests arrived; I gave them a drink; I said, ‘You have to wait for dinner until the noodles dry. Then we’ll eat.’ I had to give them another drink. In desperation, I went and got my little portable hairdryer and turned it on. It blew the noodles off the counter, and I had to gather them up and try again.”
So, take that for what it’s worth — at the very least, she had ambitions! Of course, homemade noodles are an undertaking even for an experienced cook. She’s also said to have enjoyed good food, a favorite cocktail nibble being little tomatoes stuffed with cream cheese and caviar.
From a late shopping list, we know her diet was wholesome and that she cooked for herself — if simply. Clearly, she liked to eat proper meals. Even her weight-loss plan was not insubstantial. Again, via Loren Stover’s paeon to the bombshell: