Dear romantic movie lovers… welcome back! If you enjoyed reading the first two episodes of our new cine-culinary series, I hope you’re eager to know the title of the third movie. And that you’re curious to find out which recipe I’ve decided to replicate from those featured in the film. Oh yes! I know you’ve already caught me from the title! 🤭 It’s the Georgia Peach Cake, a traditional cake from the United States, better known as Peach Cobbler (or also as Peach Pie).

Have you already seen the first two releases of our recipe review series? Here’s a very brief recap.

BRIEF RECAP on the reasons for this cine-culinary series:

As I mentioned in previous episodes (here and here), for some years now, I have been a fan (more or less 😄) of TV movies in the romance genre (lovingly called romantic-cheesy).

It’s true that these are B-grade movies with low budgets, and that often, I’d say always, have banal plots. But I know from precise experience that sometimes they can be a pleasant moment of escape, and that they can be watched with pleasure by those who love good feelings, and by those who can appreciate the colors and smiles that these films generously offer. And if the artistic value of the work leaves something to be desired… well, never mind! These films have their value, it’s hidden in the details and needs to be found, but it’s there. 😉

I always like to point out that these are fiction with simple plots that, in my personal experience, can have their usefulness in the management of elderly people with Alzheimer’s. For those who have already read the two previous articles of this series, repeating this information may seem redundant, but I really care about spreading it, because assisting these patients is not easy and any useful advice can be important, even if only for one caregiver: the slow rhythms of these films, the simple but well-lit settings, the colors, the close-ups of smiling faces, can instill serenity and draw a few smiles, to those who live in a here and now made of pure sensations. And every smile of theirs is a relief for those who assist them. If you have had similar experiences, write to me, tell me about them!

In this somewhat peculiar (and enjoyable because lightening the mood is needed, always) journey, I’m accompanied by Lucius Etruscus, an expert in this genre of film (as well as other cinematic and literary genres), supporting me with the column Love, Drink, Cook in his blog Il Zinefilo.

I’m really curious to know the Etruscan-thought about today’s film! Who knows if he will offer us some imaginative, surprising connections like last week! If you missed the hilarious comparison between the blue tea that appears in the film Love in Four Hands and the mythical Romulan beer… well, it’s an unmissable gem that only Lucius could uncover, and you have to read it!

TODAY’S FILM: The Recipe of Love (Love’s Sweet Recipe)

As per tradition (by the third film, it can be considered a tradition!) I start by saying a few words about the Italian title, since the translations of titles always leave us some interesting detail to nitpick. This time the translation is almost literal; they just omitted sweet (meaning the adjective dolce). But it’s an important omission! It’s true that La dolce ricetta dell’amore is just a shade of meaning, but that sweet is its importance. At least for me, who after careful viewing of the film decided to choose, in fact, a dessert as the representative recipe. 😃

THE PLOT:

Courtney Preston worked in a restaurant in New York, but had to return to her hometown in Idaho to manage the small family restaurant that is not doing very well. Her intent is to get the restaurant back on track and then return to New York. One day Jake Turner unexpectedly shows up at her door. Jake, who had secretly been in love with her when they were teenagers, had worked in that same restaurant under her father’s employ (but she never knew this), only to leave and become a baseball star, so much so that he was always on the front pages of newspapers (and she knows nothing about this either), but eventually quit baseball due to an injury. Now, unexpectedly creating some dismay in Courtney because she doesn’t remember him at all (completely forgetful!), he proposes himself as a pastry chef for the restaurant. From baseball star to pastry chef, yes, this is the new career Jake wants to pursue because his passion for pastry is stronger than his passion for baseball. She is not convinced. He gives her some desserts to taste. Then a culinary event titled Only in Idaho becomes pivotal, where Courtney decides to participate to relaunch the restaurant, so she can finally return to her life in New York. Naturally, Jake will help her and… who can guess how it will end?

MY (as always semi-serious) IMPRESSIONS OF THIS FILM:

Watching the film, I had a sea of déjà-vus.

I mean: there are so many recurring topics in this movie, narrated following the exact same pattern, that it wouldn’t surprise me to discover the hand of the same screenwriter in all the cheesy romances on the market! But our Lucius will surely enlighten us on this detail!

In today’s The Recipe of Love, the recurring topics are:

▫ The previous life in New York.

All chefs or aspiring ones must pass through there, it’s mandatory.

▫ The return to the province.

Everyone is originally from the province, no one is a native of New York!

▫ Reasons for returning to the province: a work failure or a family problem.

Always and only sad reasons.

▫ A test to undergo to improve: a contest, a competition, a critic’s judgment, things like that.

To improve, you need a spur, you do.

▫ The lost memory of past events, often from school days.

And if, like Courtney, you’ve forgotten everything, you still have to delve into it.

▫ A relative, often a parent, living or deceased, who shows the right way.

It’s there, honor to parents who strive for their children. But in these films, they are always overly sweet, let’s say it. And I must confess that in this film Courtney’s mother is amiably annoying.

▫ A notebook or a diary or other writings left, or inspired, by a parent, usually the deceased one.

Always written and decorated in an adolescent way.

▫ Some absurd details, for me amusing, but still absurd.

For example, in this film: Jake confessing that during baseball games (in his previous life as a professional athlete), while pitching… he only had icing for éclairs on his mind. Come on!!! No, I don’t believe it!!

After the mom’s recipes written on sheets (in the film The Taste of Love), and after the mom’s recipe notebook, written between flowers and borders (in the film Love in Four Hands), in today’s film, the inspiration comes from Courtney’s dad’s diary. A diary called ‘The Manual of Love,’ which is more than a diary, a collection of maxims, phrases numbered from 1 to 10, elevated to the dignity of real, fundamental life rules.

Every time Courtney reads a rule, in strict progressive order, she has an insight into the decision to make at that moment. And she always makes the right decision. Therefore, she decides to use this magical diary as her guiding spirit in choosing the menu to present at the contest.

Ah oh… boh.

Competition that she will obviously win. After which she will decide to stay in the delightful provincial town in Idaho to be a restaurateur, giving up New York.

While the pastry chef, an ex-athlete but not ex-lover, gives up a career as a baseball team coach to open his pastry shop next to her restaurant.

And in the end, she surrenders – ahhhh l’amour! – sealing it all with an order of peach cakes. 😃

But also with one of the most fake and posed hugs and kisses among all those I have encountered in the romantic-cheesy films I’ve seen in my pseudo-career as a pseudo-expert of romantic-cheesy films!

Oops, sorry… I fear I’ve spoiled the ending for you!! 😁

SOME BRIEF CONSIDERATIONS ON THE FILM:

With this The Recipe of Love I don’t have the same sentimental connection that I had with the previous film, also because even though it’s similar – there are the same walks in nature in search of ingredients, the same attempts at creating recipes in the home kitchen, the same trial tasting with friends – everything unfolds in a less engaging way. Overall, this film is weaker.

Perhaps also due to the protagonists, both not great. She as a cook and restaurateur convinces very little, although the actress seems to have some more acting skills compared to the actor playing him, not particularly expressive. And then, with that leather jacket and the 50s hairdo that makes him seem like the poor imitation of a rockabilly singer, he’s not very convincing neither as a baseball star nor as a pastry chef.

Lucius defines this film as “tottering and insufficient in every respect.” Eh yes, I agree. If only for that “Osso Bucco,” which they even show us in close-up and that gives me the very idea of insufficient. 😂 Even though I found out – by consulting the Cambridge Dictionary – that it’s not an error (Oh really?? Yeah!), but still makes you laugh and/or cry!

However, come on, not everything is entirely insufficient, some interesting input emerges in the purely culinary parts. Both in the initial part, when the dishes served in the restaurant are shown, but especially then, in the part dedicated to the contest, between recipe preparation and event execution. I liked the plating of the recipes, all well framed while being prepared and served.

It can be said that the culinary aspect was well managed photographically, and this, in my eyes, earned the film a point.

Not to mention the Georgia Peach Cake, the recipe I replicated, which in my house was the discovery of the year, and for which I absolutely have to thank this film! 🤩

THE RECIPE I CHOSE: Georgia Peach Cake (Peach Cobbler)

The Georgia Peach Cake is a recipe that passes like a meteor among the other many recipes mentioned in the film and well shown in their plating. Only to shine again, for a moment, at the end, when it is allusively mentioned by the protagonist shortly before the happy ending.

But it represents an important moment in the narrative: when Courtney sets aside her attitude of superiority and impatience towards Jake (a saintly man, really) and realizes that… if he can make a Georgia Peach Cake that good, deep down maybe there is a good side to him.

While he plays the card of the typical local recipe, using the Georgia Peach Cake just to impress and win her over through her stomach, trying to sweeten her (considerable) antipathy (ahhhh l’amour, l’amour!!).

Anyway, romantic-cheesy details aside, I was very intrigued watching the sequence where the cake is baked. Initially, I mistook it for a clafoutis (or rather a flaugnarde), but then listening to the conversation carefully, that “something typical of Georgia” made my ears perk up. Damn, is it really a traditional American recipe?

Yes, it is. The obligatory online research made me discover that the Georgia Peach Cake is indeed a traditional American dessert born during the time of the West conquest.

I discovered in this interesting article the story of the pioneering cultivation of peaches and how the Peach Cobbler was born, a story I didn’t know and found fascinating. How I wish I could try baking this cake in an original dutch oven!

I found other versions of this dessert too, but I decided to try the recipe from this article because it’s a simple recipe that closely resembles grandmothers’ recipes. And then it also mentions an even simpler version, probably the pioneers’ original version (which I won’t fail to try!).

Since the film doesn’t reveal the recipe used on set, I felt free to customize (just a little) the quantities of some ingredients. And it turned out delicious. 😊

So delicious that I made it three times in one week, and then I made it for an evening with friends, and I distributed the recipe before even writing it down! It deserves to be spread because it’s delicious!

I’ve mentioned it’s delicious, right?

😃