BATMAN

We profile “The Bookworm Turns” (4/20/66) and “While Gotham City Burns” (4/21/66) a little more completely in TV Dinners (the book).

In this two-parter, Commissioner Gordon is murdered (not really) and the suspect, it seems, is Bookworm (played by Roddy McDowell). Batman and Robin are called in to solve the mystery, but before you know it they become trapped in the “biggest cookbook anyone ever saw!” It’s title is “The Delight of Cooking.” Robin shouts, “Holy Tome!” as Batman shoos the crowd away, explaining, “the recipes in this book could be explosive!”

As the oversize opus opens, the boys enter to find a kitchen with copper pots on the wall and something simmering on the stove:

Batman: “Smells like soup.”
Robin: “Damn good soup!”

And the disembodied voice of the Bookworm agrees, declaring, “Right you are…bat soup! And in you go!”

As the book cover abruptly slams shut, Boy Wonder wonders aloud.

Robin: “Holy Stewpot!”
Bookworm: “Its a curious old recipe I discovered in an alchemist’s cookbook…Vienna, dated 1534… ‘How to steam a bat.’”

Bookworm employs his radio-controlled double boiler (“double for Dynamic Duo”) to cook their goose.

What becomes of our heroes? Well, you either have to read the book or watch for these two episodes to show up on your TV set. When they do you can cook up the concoction below and serve it to your guests. You’re better off telling ’em what it is, when you’re well into desert.

Oh, and try as we might, we couldn’t locate the recipe Bookworm found in that alchemist’s cookbook dated 1534. This fruitbat soup will have to substitute.

Bat Soup

3 fruit bats, well washed but don’t skin or eviscerate them

Water

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 T. fresh ginger, thinly sliced

Kosher or coarse sea salt to taste

3 to 5 scallions, chopped

Soy sauce and/or coconut cream

1. Kill the bats. Sorry, you're on your own here. How you do it is up to you.

2. Put 'em in a large soup stock pot. Add water to cover.

3. Add onion, ginger and salt. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 40 - 45 minutes.

4. Strain broth through cheescloth into a second stock pot.

5. When the bats are cooled down enough to handle, skin ’em and remove the meat from the bones.

6. Return the meat to the broth. You may also include the intestines or other organs (liver, etc.).

7. Reheat the soup.

8. Serve the soup with a sprinkling of the chopped scallions and season with soy sauce and/or coconut cream.

You should get four full servings out of this. Chances are all you’ll get is a couple small tastes and a lot of leftovers. Believe it or not, though it may not be your cup o’ tea, bat soup is a delicacy in certain parts of the world.

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