“Why did you wrap your arm in prosciutto?”

This, from a friend to whom I’d texted a shot of this grazing board, pre-assembly.

I was about to shove it in the fridge (which I took to calling “the morgue” for the next few days) and took one more shot of it lying there on the parchment paper, before allowing it to set up for a spell.

I got a real kick out of that message, especially since I’d traced my hand and arm as a template before starting. That it embodied my bird-like wrist delighted me. I was Chef Moreau, a cook-slash-mad scientist. An artist. And definitely a weirdo, but one with many kindred souls around to enjoy the ghastly humor inherent.

Sadly, my boyfriend is not one of them.

“Did you see the picture I sent?” I asked.

“Yes, but I deleted it.”

“Why?!”

“Why did you wrap your arm in prosciutto?” This was an actual text from a friend to whom I sent this pic. I did trace it to use as a model, as instructed in the recipe. Use a bigger person if you have more people coming. Or, make two! (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

“I didn’t want you to ruin prosciutto for me.”

Lori Castellon laughs when I tell her this.

“It does have that realistic look,” she says. “You did a great job!”

It’s a phone call, so she can’t see me beaming, but I am.

Grim reaper galette is a spooky stunner for your Halloween table

I’ve been a devout follower of Castellon’s Instagram account, @GhoulatHeart, for some time.

In fact, a couple of years ago, my rendition of her “Grim Reaper Galette” appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, and it, too, was a moment of pride. Baking is not my strong suit. But the minute I saw it, fruity and buttery and Goth and gorgeous, I knew I had to take a stab at it. Pun very much intended.

“Yay!” she says, remembering the exchange, looking up the story. “That’s what I want. I peddle in inspiration. That’s why I put it out on social media. Most of the recipes live on my website, and the social media is what drives them there. It’s also how I got the cookbook opportunity.”

Ghoul at Heart’s Lori Castellon. (Courtesy Michael Farmer)

And that, dear readers, is why we’re here.

When I saw “Scare-cuterie” on her feed, I had to have it. I had to write about it.

While the Ghoulish Grazing portion of this kitchen Necronomicon is filled to the brim with gory takes like the Amputated Arm, “Scare-cuterie” is also loaded down with dishes both adorable and astoundingly beautiful. Incredibly, Castellon does everything herself — recipes, tablescapes, all the photography.

There’s a balance of recipes in Lori Castellon’s “Scare-cuterie” cookbook. Some, like this cheese and cracker Countdown Board, would be great for children’s parties. (Courtesy Lori Castellon/GhoulAtHeart.com)

For Halloween enthusiasts like myself, it’s a collection for the coffee table, one that the author herself might have purchased back in the day had there been anything like it.

“Halloween is playful,” says Castellon, 56. “We all have memories of the holiday from when we were kids. It was so much fun to be out late at night, going door-to-door in costumes, getting candy.”

When her sons, now 18 and 20, were small, her creative side manifested in Castellon’s Kitchen.

Monster Truffles: A real ‘looker’ for your Halloween dessert table

“It was a mommy blog,” she says. “I cooked all the time, and it was mostly about raising kids and recipes and things like that, but a big part of it was Halloween,” which she’d always loved.

Motherhood, she laughs, “allowed me to live vicariously through their childhoods. I always had these big, fun things planned to do with them.”

As the boys grew, however, she found herself blogging less and leaning harder into Halloween, which had always hit big with fans.

And Ghoul at Heart (ghoulatheart.com) was born.

Dark and elegant, the gorgeous Gothic New Year’s Eve board could work for just about any occasion. (Courtesy Lori Castellon/GhoulAtHeart.com)

A steady stream of Castellon’s killer photography showcases recipes from the clever Corn on the Carcass (a craftily plated corn-rib rib cage garnished with cotija, crema and cilantro) to the adorable Pasta Screamavera (featuring squid ink fusilli and mozzarella Ghostface heads) to the book’s Cylopsian cover model, the All-Seeing Antipasto, helped cultivate a following of 130,000 strong.

“It’s a fun, welcoming community that’s 80-90% women,” she tells me. “I try to keep it very fun and light. And easy,” she stresses. “Things are hard enough. Everyone needs easy.”

A few recipes, she says, require extra effort, but the amputated arm proved far easier than it looked. Even when you don’t have all the ingredients.

I couldn’t find the larger prosciutto and cheese log to form the arm, so I improvised, lashing together a bundle of rolled “fingers” to create the same look. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Case in point: I couldn’t find the larger prosciutto-wrapped cheese roll on the list, and so I got creative, taking several of the smaller rollups, layering chopped, roasted red pepper in between, and lashing them together with the meat, which so beautifully illustrates the look of the muscle and fat that lies beneath our skin.

Because that’s literally what it is.

Lest you forget, this disturbing plate is, at its heart, delicious, crafted of garlicky goat cheese and prosciutto and mozzarella, with roasted red peppers. You could easily add other flavors to the mix. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

“It’s creepy,” says Castellon. So much so that the original recipe on her Castellon’s Kitchen site gets dinged all the time as inappropriate imagery.

She laughs.

“It’s okay. It’s not for everybody,” she notes. “But, it is kind of funny. The people who like the horror, the gory part of Halloween, they have no problem with it, and I like to do a little bit of everything.”

In our house, so do we. In fact, I handed Castellon’s book off to my daughter when it first arrived, and asked her to flag recipes she thought would be fun to make.

Lori Castellon wrote and photographed everything in this gorgeous book, which is definitely one for your seasonal coffee table. Note the number of recipes my daughter flagged with interest. If you’re a Halloweenie like we are, you will, too. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

She flagged nearly every single one.

Castellon is delighted, but not surprised.

“The season awakens the child in all of us,” she says.

And sometimes, the axe murderer.

Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.

Digital creator Lori Castellon has a Ph.D. in petrifying plating, but anyone can wing it and win with recipes this fun. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Amputated Arm “Scare-cuterie”

Recipe courtesy Lori Castellon/@ghoul.at.heart

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

5 ounces herbed goat cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup chopped and drained roasted red peppers

1 large prosciutto-wrapped cheese roll

5 pieces prosciutto-wrapped string cheese

2 packages sliced prosciutto

Crackers or baguette slices to serve

Directions

Create a template on a piece of parchment paper by tracing your hand and arm with a pencil. Flip the template over to avoid graphite touching the food.
Mix cream cheese and goat cheese together. Using a small cookie scoop, transfer about half the cheese mixture to the palm area of the template and use a spatula to gently smooth it to form the bottom layer of the palm.
Add the roasted red bell pepper to the center of the cheese layer. Top with another layer of cheese and smooth with a spatula.
Add the large prosciutto-wrapped cheese roll and the 5 wrapped string cheese for the arm and fingers. Fill in any areas with the remaining cheese mixture, smoothing the transition between the palm and arm/fingers.
Add slices of prosciutto to cover the arm, palm and fingers, trimming where needed.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight to firm up. Carefully transfer the arm to a serving platter or cutting board and discard the template. Serve with assorted crackers or baguette slices.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/10/29/halloween-charcuterie-scarecuterie-cookbook/