A Westerosi All Hallows

Because our lives are have been centered around Westerosi cuisine for over a year, it seems only natural that we infuse a bit of that flavor onto our holidays. And now, with the autumn harvest coming in, leaves turning to fire on the hillsides, and Halloween approaching, how could we resist a few suggestions for your own festive gatherings?

Just wait for our Thanksgiving and Christmas posts! ;)

Mundane

Spiced Squash – Pumpkin Soup*

Grape Pie – 17th C. Pumpkin Pie – Baked Apples*

Spooky

Tea Eggs (deviled) – Blood Pies – Tears of Lys

Chilling

Sugar Skulls – Fondant Hearts – Weirwood Cake

Spiced Locusts – Mock Dormice – Rats on a Stick

To Drink

Wassail – Mulled Wine

NB: The * indicates recipes that are in the cookbook. I’ve included them on the list so those of you with the book can consider making those dishes, too! The dishes in italics are forthcoming.

Violatium

“I’d give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.” -Ophelia, Hamlet

Violatium

Thoughts:

So get this: The Ancient Romans actually made this beverage where they immersed violet blossoms in wine. Naturally, I had to try it.

The finished product is quirky. As the mixture ages, the color leaches out of the violets, leaving them looking sort of like wispy ghost-flowers.

The flavor, when all is said and done, is… quirky. It was described by our tasters as a combination of vegetal, green, and like a cheap rose with floral overtones. A smidge of wildflower honey compliments the hint of violets quite nicely. Really, though, the big appeal is in the appearance and uniqueness.

Were I to try it again (which I probably will), I’d pick off the green parts, and mix in the honey from the beginning.

Why it should be in the Next Book:

Doesn’t it just sound like something from a GRRM book? I mean, come on.

Violatium.

It’s got all the inherent threat of sinister syllables, and the exotic flair of being made with flowers. It’s a recipe from Ancient Rome, a culture fabulously known for their decadent fare. I imagine it being served across the Narrow Sea, where they have other exotic fare such as persimmon wine and honeyed locusts.

Get the recipe on the brew blog, Game of Brews.

A Flight of Sorrows

For those of you biding your time until the next season of Game of Thrones, I’ve got a great snack to help keep your appetite whetted. It’s a collection of essays revolving around A Song of Ice and Fire, and the topics range from adultery, to prophecy, to power, and many things in between.

And I’m honored to have been asked to write the afterword!

Since Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows is coming out a month from today, I can let you in on a little secret: the book’s complete lineup, which includes many friendly faces from the Ice and Fire community.

A Flight of Sorrows

Foreword – Phil Bicking, editor-in-chief of WinterIsComing.net

Introduction – Marc N. Kleinhenz, editor
All along the Watchtower

“Under the Bleeding Star” – Stefan Sasse, essayist at Tower of the Hand and co-host of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour
On the role of prophecy in songs of ice and fire

“Daggers in the Dark” – Miles Schneiderman, essayist at Tower of the Hand
The ultimate fates of protagonists, from A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons

“The Prince That Illyrio Promised” – Alexander Smith, co-founder of Tower of the Hand
Exploring the identity of – and the aim of the conspiracy around – Aegon Targaryen

“A Game of Beds” – Amin Javadi, co-host of A Podcast of Ice and Fire
Marital infidelity, adultery, and fandom theories in A Song of Ice and Fire

“Every Case Is Different, Every Case Is Alike” – John Jasmin, co-founder of Tower of the Hand
Investigating murder investigations in Westeros

“You Win or You Sit the Bench” – Douglas Cohen, author and former editor of Realms of Fantasy magazine
Power ranking – NFL style – the top contenders in the game of thrones

“The Narratives of Winter” – Marc N. Kleinhenz, editor
Discerning the structure of Martin’s saga and teasing out its final act

“The Telltale Knight” – Mimi Hoshut, co-host of A Podcast of Ice and Fire
The narrative parallels and foreshadowing of the Tales of Dunk and Egg

Afterword – Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, co-author of InnattheCrossroads.com and A Feast of Ice and Fire
Just Desserts

Appendix I: What’s a Game of Thrones without the Tower of the Hand?
Appendix II: The Creaking Door of House Manwoody

As you can see, it’s a packed house, and we’re excited to squeeze you into the nerdfest, as well.

(Note: the two appendices are previously published material – one at Corona’s Coming Attractions, the other at Tower of the Hand itself – that interviews the respective braintrusts behind TOTH and A Podcast of Ice and Fire. It’s collected here to heighten the reader’s enjoyment of these two wacky-but-popular ASOIAF staples.)

A Flight of Sorrows goes on sale on October 13th, exclusively at Amazon, for $5.99.

Mutton Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

“Such food Bran had never seen; course after course after course, so much that he could not manage more than a bite or two of each dish. There were great joints of aurochs roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves…” -A Clash of Kings

Lamb Chops sauced with Honey and Cloves

Thoughts:

I sort of winged this particular dish. Having such great results with the mead marinade that I used for the Robert Baratheon meal, I decided to try a similar approach with this dish.

Sometimes a dish doesn’t quite live up to my expectations.

The results, while tasty, were not as mind-boggling as the former instance. The sauce was nice, but lacked a really strong honey-clove flavor. A variation on this sauce, perhaps with some butter and white wine instead of the mead, could be lovely, and is something I’ll probably try: I hate being defeated by a meal.

Honestly, I think that literally pouring some good honey and ground cloves over a nice cut of lamb will give you as rewarding a dish as any more complicated version. Keep the pinch of cinnamon, though: it helps bring out the bite of the clove.

Any suggestions?

Continue reading →

Roast Swans

No, sadly, we did not get to cook a whole roast swan, although if we had, it might look something like this:

It’s not for want of trying. The truth is that we’re not somewhere we could hunt our own, and they’re just too blasted expensive to order. We’ve searched online and found two options:

Order swan for $900. (Small print: it comes live, still flapping, and very, very annoyed.)
Order frozen, dressed swan for $1500. Yowch.

Clearly, neither of these was a route we could take. Yes, we could substitute goose. But until a benevolent Scrooge delivers one to our door, it’s going to have to wait. Instead, I’ve opted to do a more scholarly post on the roasting and eating of swans from the Middle Ages.

Swans have a long and quirky history in the UK. Back to at least the 12th century, the majority of mute swans on the River Thames have been the property of the crown. The Vintners’ and Dyers’ Livery Companies were also granted ownership of some of the mute swans in the 15th century.

The “Act of Swans”, passed in 1482, formalized the crown’s ownership and the method of marking the swans. The marking is known as the “Swan Upping”, and happens every year. Presumably this began as a way for the royal Swan Master (yes, that’s an official position) to pick out likely cygnets for the royal table, and to divvy out ownership of the year’s new swans. Today, it’s an opportunity to do a headcount of the swans, weigh them, and check their health.

The ownership of the swans used to be denoted by marks on their bills; unmarked swans belonged to the crown. All other swans were catalogued in one of several books of swan marks. The Vintners’ swans had nicks on both sides of the beak, while the Dyers’ had a nick on just one side:

As someone who loves old and absurd traditions, attending this one’s a must for me someday.

Despite the ban on killing and eating royal swans in London, there are a number of historical recipes pertaining to the birds. I’ve included a couple of them for curiosity’s sake.

Be warned: these give a full account of what we ought to do with that live swan once it arrives in the mail, and it’s not altogether pretty! Although from a later period, the account from colonial America is staggering in it’s scope. How many relatives could they have fed at such a groaning table?

GRRM doesn’t seem quite so mad in his descriptions of feasts, now, does he?

Recipes and accounts in Historical Cookbooks:

France, ca. 1380 – from Le Viandier de Taillevent

Subtlety of a swan reclothed in its skin including its plumage. Take the swan, inflate it between the shoulders, slit it along the belly, and remove the skin (including the neck cut close to the shoulders). Leave the feet attached to the body. Put it on the spit, bard it, and glaze it. When it is cooked, reclothe it in its skin, with the neck very upright on the plate. Eat it with Yellow Pepper [Sauce].

England, 1430 – from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books

Swan rosted. Kutte a Swan in the rove of the mouthe toward the brayne enlonge, and lete him blede, and kepe the blode for chawdewyn; or elles knytte a knot on his nek, And so late his nekke breke; then skald him. Drawe him and rost him even as thou doest goce in all poyntes, and serue him forth with chawd-wyne.

America, 1653 – from The Accomplisht Cook

“A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day, and how to set the Meat in Order.: Oysters. 1. A collar of brawn. 2. Stewed Broth of Mutton marrow bones. 3. A grand Sallet. 4. A pottage of caponets. 5. A breast of veal in stoffado. 6. A boil’d partridge. 7. A chine of beef, or surloin roast. 8. Minced pies. 9. A Jegote of mutton with anchove sauce. 10. A made dish of sweet-bread. 11. A swan roast. 12. A pasty of venison. 13. A kid with a pudding in his belly. 14. A steak pie. 15. A hanch of venison roasted. 16. A turkey roast and stuck with cloves. 17. A made dish of chickens in puff paste. 18. Two bran geese roasted, one larded. 19. Two large capons, one larded. 20. A Custard.

“The second course for the same Mess. Oranges and Lemons. 1. A Young lamb or kid. 2. Two couple of rabbits, two larded. 3. A pig souc’t with tongues. 4. Three ducks, one larded. 5. Three pheasants, 1 larded. 6. A Swan Pye. 7. Three brace of partridge, three larded. 8. Made dish in puff paste. 9. Bolonia sausages, and anChoves, mushrooms, and Cavieate, and pickled oysters in a dish. 10. Six teels, three larded. 11. A Gammon of Westphalia Bacon. 12. Ten plovers, five larded. 13. A quince Pye, or warden pye. 14. Six woodcocks, 3 larded. 15. A standing Tart in puff-paste, preserved fruits, Pippins &c. 16. A dish of Larks. 17. Six dried neats tongues. 18. Sturgeon. 19. Powdered Geese. Jellies.”

So there you have it. Hopefully some day, either with goose or proper swan, I can make up a bird stuffed with mushrooms and oysters, or, my personal favorite, slivers of swan poached in a sauce of saffron and peaches. NOM!

Duck with Cherries & Lemon

“The lamb was as good as any he had ever eaten, and the duck was even better, cooked with cherries and lemons and not near as greasy as most. The innkeep brought buttered pease as well, and oaten bread still hot from her oven.” -The Hedge Knight

Duck with Cherries and Lemon

Thoughts:

This was a special request from twitter commenter @theodinspire, who wondered if we’d tackled this recipe yet. It turned out that we hadn’t, but that description is so wonderful that it immediately went to the top of my list.

As you can see from the photo, the color of the finished dish is very striking. That vibrant red comes from the cherry juice and wine, which soak into the skin of the duck as it gets basted. The result is a tart, crisp skin and soft duck on the inside. The citrus and cherry pair well, but not at all in that cherry-ade slushie sort of way. Rather, it’s a kind of savory tartness, with just a bit of a kick from the ginger.

While I’m not sure about pease as a pairing, I think that our oatbread would be just wonderful next to this duck, the candied orange peel complimenting the lemon, while still being rustic enough for a country inn. Pretty decadent fare for a hedge knight!

Continue reading →

Off to War!

Pennsic War, that is.

That’s right, you hungry readers. We’re off again to that crazed medieval reenactment known as Pennsic. With 12,000 other people.

We’ll be camping in period tents, sampling amazing homebrews, taking classes in historical cookery, and making new friends. Although we’re practiced at making these dishes in the comfort of our own kitchen, we’d really love to learn from the best of you some of the top techniques for camp cooking.

If you’ll be there, too (and I know some of you will be!), come and say hello! We’ll be lodged in the back of the N-13 block, right next to Drachenwald. We’ll have a banner with the Inn logo, provided I can finish sewing it in time, and perhaps a couple of Westerosi banners, provided it’s not raining. :)

Be sure to also come to our book signing, at Poison Pen Press on Tuesday between 1-5.

I’ll be posting new recipes as we are gone (Breakfast in Braavos!), but if I can manage it, I’ll also do a post from the site. With so many quirky spice merchants, medieval mustards, and beehive ovens, I’m sure there will be plenty to tell you about.

Stay hungry!

-Chelsea

Relish of Carrots, Raisins, and bits of Lime & Orange, to be served over Capon

““How far have we come?” the dwarf asked him as they stuffed themselves with cold capon and a relish made of carrots, raisins, and bits of lime and orange.” -A Dance with Dragons

Modern Relish

Our Thoughts:

Capon is just subtly different enough from chicken to give this meal a slightly foreign feel. Because of the higher fat content, capon is generally richer and a bit more decadent than your average hen.

I poked around for several months for a suitable historical recipe, but came up short. It seems this is one of those recipes that, like Athena, sprang fully formed from GRRM’s head. And since the modern version was so surprisingly yummy, I’ve left it at that.

The modern relish has a nice crunchy texture, The citrus is the first taste to hit your tongue, followed by the fast tang of the vinegar, then finishes with the carrots and raisins. The carrots stay crunchy, vying for texture with the tender raisins. When paired with a bite of the capon, the combination is excellent, entirely gobbleable.

It’s equally delicious served hot from the oven, or as cold leftovers, as described in the book.

Continue reading →

San Diego Comic Con!!

We’re off for the West Coast today, where we will be mingling, eating, and signing books for the next several days at San Diego Comic Con.

If you are also planning to be there, come and say hello! Bring a book to sign! Ask us questions!

We’ll be at the Random House booth, #1515 on

Thursday, 2:30

Saturday, 12:30

We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Get to know your bloggers

To paraphrase one of our Twitter followers, it would be wrong for our primary blog to dominate our other pursuits. We’ve loved stepping into the kitchens of Westeros, but it has opened up our own kitchens to the foods of other places, times, and fictional works. As we continue to update this blog with Westerosi cuisine, and shepherd it through the transition into something new, we also wanted to share our other work with you.

If you have any questions for us, or suggestions, we’d love to hear them!

Chelsea, aka “Needs Mead”

Chelsea researches and translates historical recipes with the special kind of geeky enthusiasm unique to former classics majors, (which she is) and bronies, (which she is not). In addition to being a food and history geek, Chelsea is an artist. Among her current projects are a hand-drawn map of Westeros, an icon of Baelor the Blessed, and a playable game of Cyvasse. While working on IatC, Chelsea discovered she especially enjoys channeling her artistic skills into staging and photographing food.

In addition to maintaining the various online facets of IatC, Chelsea also has her own food blog, Food Through the Pages, in which she explores both historical cookery and food-from-fiction. She welcomes emails from all bacon enthusiasts, fictional foodies, aspiring food stylists, hobbits, and authors eager to see their fictional food realized!

Sariann, aka “Chopped Ginger”

Sariann continues to explore historical recipes, and dishes that are too tasty to not make. Her blog, Chopped Ginger, includes recipes for cocktails, savory courses, and the best dual Clotted Cream/Scone recipe that ever was. She is fascinated by the the history behind food; where it comes from, why it was made, and why we still eat it, or in some cases, why we don’t. In the near term, she will be transcribing and cooking through a hand written Victorian cookbook from Dorset, sharing images of the beautiful calligraphy and of course the finished dishes themselves.

Always on the lookout for unique local or family recipes, Sariann loves digging into the story behind the dishes. Want to know the history behind your grandma’s secret recipe? Sariann would love to find out for you! Contact her through ChoppedGinger with any cultural culinary inquiries, and she’ll get to work. What better way to learn about the past than through something we all love – food!

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