Watch Vincent Price and Johnny Carson Cook Fish in a Dishwasher on The Tonight Show

To anyone who knows a bit about Vincent Price, the fact that he appeared during a cooking segment on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson should come as no surprise. Though widely known for his roles in horror films like 1953’s House of Wax, the prolific actor was also a gourmet cook—he released his own cookbooks and even hosted his own cooking show in the early 1970s.

But even to those well aware of Price’s epicurean expertise, the dishes he prepared for Johnny Carson—or, more specifically, the manner in which he prepared the dishes—may still be pretty surprising. In the episode, which aired on November 21, 1975, Price and Carson ready a mouthwatering meal: trout with lemon, parsley, scallions, olive oil, and white wine; zucchini with dill and olive oil; cucumbers drizzled in French dressing; and pears doused in red wine and cinnamon sugar.

Everything gets wrapped tightly in aluminum foil, and Price reveals that they’ll be forgoing the oven and cooking it all in the dishwasher, instead. As long as you skip the soap and the rinse cycle, he explains, the dishwasher should steam your dinner to perfection. He then pulls out an already-cooked version of the meal from the dishwasher and serves it up to Carson and fellow guest Eydie Gormé. “That is the greatest fish I have ever tasted in my whole life,” Gormé declares.

Price’s endorsement on national television may have caused an upswing in the popularity of dishwasher cooking at the time, and the unorthodox method has never completely died out. These days, you can find directions online for everything from lasagna to lobster. As Boing Boing points out, using the dishwasher can even help lock in odors so your whole house doesn’t smell like fish or something similarly pungent.

You can watch the segment below.

[h/t Boing Boing]