# Corpse Buffet for a Haunted Hospital Theme



## JamieMT

Greetings, all! 

I found this forum late in the season last year, so wasn't on much, but this year, I have lots of time to pick the forum brains, so to speak (and hopefully add something helpful too...). 


We had our guests vote last year on the theme for this year, and the "Haunted Hospital" theme won by a landslide (against "Killer Carnival" and "Heaven & Hell"). Naturally, we've been planning since November 1st...and I can say that here without everyone thinking I'm kooky, which is cool! 

Anyways, I know I saw some toe-tag invites around here last year that I hope to get some great ideas from, and a toe-tag game...and hubby and I are already working on props. One of our major "props" though is the "Corpse Buffet" that we want to lay out on our dining room table (aka either "Surgery" or "Autopsy Room 1") for dinner that night.

Whatever we end up making, I'm going to lay it out in the shape of a body, and cover it loosely with skin-colored fondant (so it will appear "loose" over the dishes of food). I figure that way I can make things that still taste good without having to worry too much about whether they look *enough* like actual body parts underneath. Naturally I'll have a brain mold and heart mold - there's a recipe online for a heart that "leaks" blood when cut into...when I find it again, I'll post a link here (if it's not here already). 

So what I'm wondering (finally) is if anyone has any finger-food type recipes that could "sort of" resemble body parts, but still be good to eat (and not look *too* gross for our guests)? Say, mini-sandwich sticks for "shin splints", something for a "funny bone"...that sort of thing? We'll probably do spaghetti for the "main dish"/entrails (heck, maybe rib platters for the "ribs"), but I'd like finger-type foods for the respective limbs. 

Any ideas??? 

Thanks! 

Jamie


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## lonerogue2

*Severed Finger Hotdogd*

Hi Jamie,

I forget where i first saw this (may of been here) but this looks absolutely grotesque and would fit your theme perfect: Finger Food

They are hot dogs made to look like infected severed fingers. hope this helps.  good luck


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## dixie

Chicken breast could be cut/carved into almost any shape... my first thought would be a liver (put alot of paprika in a light colored breading?) but that would really only serve one, unless you wanted to cut it into strips while on the body... I love the hot dog fingers, that made me think of tortilla roll ups for bony parts... hmm... I will keep thinking on this one


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## MHooch

Dixie, I thought the same thing...tortilla rollups of could be laid next to each other for the long bones in the legs/arms....and how about these for the fingers?


Creepy Witches' Fingers

Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 Egg
1 tsp Almond extract
2 2/3 C flour
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Almonds, whole blanched
1 Tube red decorator gel

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in flour and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Squeeze in two places to create knuckle shape. Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.

Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. 

Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

I used red food coloring to "paint" the almonds red after placing them on the fingers and before baking.


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## JamieMT

Yes!! Those ideas are perfect...why didn't I think of tortilla rolls for the bones? How easy is that - and I could color a cream cheese filling for "marrow"... that is just absolutely perfect!! 

Thanks for the links to the hot dog fingers, my husband loved them. I always make the cookie fingers, and probably still will, but we have two hands, so I can do both, one on each side. 

I was looking at the "meat head" thread here yesterday, and thought that was a super-cool idea for the head, so I think I'll adopt that as well. 

This is just going to be too much fun...


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## Rev. Noch

How about these little guys? I know they're not body parts, but still disgustingly awesome!

I Make Projects - How To Make Awful Edible Roasted Fleshworms


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## Scatterbrains

Celery stalks for the forearms

loaves of french bread or garlic bread for the legs

Is this an "adult" party or more conservative? I'm thinking you should have a sausage in there

You might want to search the web for jello molds...they make them in lots of different shapes now.
Qwiggle Realistic BODY PARTS Molds from JELL-O Gelatin dessert


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## dixie

Hahaha @ the sausage. 

Man, there are some great ideas in here.... usually the inside of my house is dark, empty and desolate on Halloween night because everyone is out partying in the yard.... now, I'm reading this and wishing I thought I was organized enough to pull all this off for some snacks in the house inbetween trick or treaters.... usually I'm only organized enough to call the Pizza delivery man, haha.

I can't wait to see how this turns out!!!


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## Scatterbrains

dixie said:


> Hahaha @ the sausage.
> 
> Man, there are some great ideas in here.... usually the inside of my house is dark, empty and desolate on Halloween night because everyone is out partying in the yard.... now, I'm reading this and wishing I thought I was organized enough to pull all this off for some snacks in the house inbetween trick or treaters.... usually I'm only organized enough to call the Pizza delivery man, haha.
> 
> I can't wait to see how this turns out!!!


My house is empty too. I tried a grown-up party years ago and it was a dud...so haven't even thought about trying to have another since some people are just too cool to get dressed up.


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## Rikki

Here's a link for a cannibal themed supper. 

You could always do a meathead and if you wanted it to lay down instead of standing up you could just cut the styrofoam wig head so the back is flat. There's a thread in this section somewhere with pictures of a bunch of meatheads.


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## JamieMT

Definitely an adult party, Scatterbrains. No one under 21 allowed. So yeah, I think the sausage is a definite must...though I may surprise my hubby by adding that at the last minute (he'll laugh so hard!).  I think we'll have to have a meat head too - I was looking over that post the other day and telling hubby about it, and he thought that was a great idea. French bread for the thighs, definately! I think I can make a bruchetta "loaf" so there will be red tomato filling between pre-cut slices. Perfect! 

Thanks for all the links - I'll check out those fleshworms and more jello molds. I found the Alton Brown Panna Cotta brain - that is definitely going on our dessert list (I love panna cotta!). I need to find that bleeding heart recipe too...

I'll post pictures both of our "trial run" this summer (just to try it out) and the real deal for our party next fall. 

We actually start on the inside of our house in September, and don't even decorate the yard until two weeks before Halloween. Our party is the weekend before Halloween every year (I think this is our 6th year), so the adults can come and have a good time, and then they can bring their kids around on Halloween night (we don't allow kids in the house for many reasons, but we sit out in the yard for trick-or-treaters). We're childless by choice, so the party is for us, and Halloween night we enjoy seeing all the kids come by in constume (and chatting with their parents). 

Thanks again for all the great ideas...anything else people think of is certainly welcome!


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## naberhoodhaunts

Yes we are childless by choice too. I had to eat the little suckers they got on my nerves...ha ha ha. do miss the tax deduction tho.


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## freudstein

This thread made me think of something I saw on here, which was a great idea, and would fit right in with your plan. 

A doll's body was hollowed out, a dish of some sort was inserted, and this was used as a dip tray! Wonderful! I'm going to try and find the thread for you


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## Wedding Skulls

I would say BBQ ribs for the ribcage for sure!

I think vodka jelly moulds would make a cool liver, something chocolately - chocolate eclairs perhaps - for the intestines, or spagetti baskets?

Cauliflowers for the lungs, with a bowl of red pesto dipping sauce between them (the heart) maybe? 

Can't wait to see a picture when you've finished. It sounds amazing!


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## Scatterbrains

freudstein said:


> This thread made me think of something I saw on here, which was a great idea, and would fit right in with your plan.
> 
> A doll's body was hollowed out, a dish of some sort was inserted, and this was used as a dip tray! Wonderful! I'm going to try and find the thread for you


last week I was walking through the thrift store and saw a "styling" Barbie...if you can find something like that, you can ust off the top of her head and stick a bowl of ranch dressing in their for dipping...plus you can ghoul up her face and hair


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## JamieMT

Excellent ideas - thanks once again! I think the doll will work better on the snack table though...this particular "corpse" will take up the whole of our long dining room table. No alcohol in the food, unfortunately - we do have one alcoholic who attends, so for his sake, we leave all the food "sober", as well as the drinks clearly divided (non-alcoholic upstairs, bar downstairs). We will have jello shots (in actual syringes) this year, but they'll be downstairs on the bar. 

So many ideas, so little room - I think I need to do a sketch and start making some decisions...


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## Rev. Noch

I guess I'm really lucky. I believe that I have the best chip and dip bowls known to man:


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## JamieMT

My husband would *love* those, Rev. Great pics!


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## tallula_g

I make Canibal Canape:
Get a pair of baby sized pants, put a coffee can in the waist area to prop it up into sitting position, put two summer sausages sticking out for legs and put a bowl of spread or dip on top of coffee can, serve with cheese and a wicked looking knife for cutting up the legs.

You def. need Penn & Tellers bleeding heart jello and maybe a jello brain.


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## Muffy

JamieMT sounds like a great idea for a party theme! Below is the link to my website, on the ENTER page scroll down to see the new food listings. Once you enter into the site the 1st page had several food pages you can visit. When you get time take a peek & you may find something there you can use!

Muffy


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## LV Scott T

You can make a great serving head with a full-head latex mask, an empty paint can, a can of great stuff, a little latex paint, an empty 3-liter soda bottle, and some scrap foam rubber.


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## ArtsyChiqua

At our 2008 party, the buffet was set up as a body "Victor" and we ate right off of him. I made a papier mache serving tray first and this was 6' long by 3' wide and only 6" tall at the feet. I'll find a picture and post it here in a minute but this is what was on the buffet:
Ribs... nice and dark red
meat loaf lungs
an icky pasta salad with a raspberry vinaigrette for color
Italian Sausage and two baked onions... (have plenty so you can replenish as needed!)
sub sandwiches for arms
pomegranate for the spleen
Italian bread scooped out with a spinach dip inside the loaf for thighs
the scooped bread chunks for the shins
Lil' Smokies sausages for toes (again, have plenty to replenish!)
nearly burnt hot dogs for fingers
breads and cheese slices scattered as needed for fillers (hip area, shoulders, etc.)

I was going to make a head out of the brain mold and deviled eggs and so on but we found a severed head prop at a garage sale and it was VERY effective.

The heart mold idea was also nixed as we replaced it with a beating heart that looked very real also. Again, very effective!

Oooh.... don't use forks! When the guests complain tell them that no morgue has forks in their utensil drawers!! Also.... no ordinary plates either. We scoured all the resale shops for old pie and cake tins.... much more effective with the overall theme of the morgue. 

We also built an embalming station for the drinks, too. The urine container was Mai Tai's and the blood was Vodka and Cranberry. Delicious!!


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## ArtsyChiqua

Here's that picture of Victor, the edible corpse.

Most of all, have fun.....


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## jekyllandhyde

Hey Artsy! Glad to see you showcasing Victor here. You are truly twisted!!


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## HeatherEve1234

*My Meat & Cheese Tray*

I used a skeleton for my meat & cheese tray last year and it was a hit - put down a layer of lettuce, then the 3' skeleton, stuffed his ribs with summer sausage and laid out the cheese around him. I used spear-like fondue forks for serving utensils, it somehow added to the canabalistic feel. Picture attached (I think...not having great luck with this)


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## Spartan005

I came across this video on youtube a few days ago: 






the whole thing is pretty cool but if you skip to just about 4 minutes in, they show some pretty cool and completely disgusting ideas for a dinner table


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## Samhain.Voodoo

Halloween Recipes

this woman is my hero. Her recipes are fabulous every year.

Hope this helps


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## HeatherEve1234

*Japanese Banquet of Cannabalism*

This doesn't say how they do it, but I'm sure you can track it down somewhere - apparently a Japanese restaurant regularly serves cannibal - style banqets:

Japanese Banquet of Cannibalism


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