What a Year!

2012 was absolutely, unimaginably great.

After the initial shock and delight of the book deal in 2011, there was an enormous amount of work ahead of us. The cookbook was published in late May, after a half year of grueling deadlines and overflowing fridges.

SDCC 2012

In July, Sariann and I went to San Diego Comic Con, where we had drinks with George RR Martin and an R2 unit, and signed books for many of you. It was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to go back!

A Taste of Ice and Fire

We had a wide assortment of book signings, interviews for print and radio, and even a cooking demo in Northampton MA.

The Blog:

The blog had more than 1.8 million hits this year, and welcomed visitors from 187 countries. WOWser. Truly, YOU are all the driving force that made the blog and cookbook possible, so thank you!

The blog was updated with 92 posts, including more than 65 new recipes. However, the top recipes are still the classics. The favorites were overwhelmingly those from The North, including the Old Bear’s Spiced Wine, Honeyed Chicken, and Beef & Bacon Pies.

Mulled Wine NEW Honeyed Chicken Modern Beef and Bacon Pie

Best Search terms:

“What to serve with haggis/Jamie Oliver”
“Where can I buy Dornish Wine?”
“savory and violet mustard”
“What is up with the food in Game of Thrones?”
“Robert Baratheon was the best.”
“Where does pumpkin pie really come from?”
“making the 8”
“history of crusty bread”
“are weirwood trees real?”

The Cookbook:

…has sold almost 20k copies in the US alone, and twice that number has been shipped out to bookstores nationwide. It’s looking at the 4th printing in the coming weeks, and it’s also been/being translated into Spanish, German, and Polish; I’m sure many more editions are yet to come!

Magic Books!

Now, on the first day of the new year, it’s time to look forward:

We’re one year closer to Winds of Winter! Well, sort of. Right? :)

In the coming year, I’ll be exploring more medieval recipes (in part because we’ve cooked through nearly all the dishes mentioned in the books), and taking an in-depth look at some of the more quirky ingredients I’ve encountered while researching. A new camera means I’m even more excited to get back into the kitchen, and the photos in the new year should be epic. I’ll also continue to explore more historical and fictional food on my other blog, Food Through the Pages.

Also on the list is further exploring the world of home-brewing (look for news on that front soon!), and hopefully devising a playable version of Cyvasse. Yup. Exactly that geeky.

I’ve learned an enormous amount about blogging, photography, and cooking in 2012; just imagine what the next year will bring.

Stay hungry my friends. Dinner is coming.

Party Guests blew the frakking Horn of Winter…

We had a little holiday party over the weekend, and as many of you might have been following, my gingerbread rendition of Castle Black was to be a centerpiece. I fell behind in my architectural ambition with all of the other party prep and cooking; it’s currently 3 towers short of the frosting snow phase.

Then, the night of the party, disaster struck. From the kitchen we heard an almighty crash and breaking of glass that seemed to stretch on for an impossibly long time.

Some of the party guests had apparently blown the Horn of Winter, and the shelf holding ALL of my blog dishes came hurtling to the ground. A few things were miraculously unbroken (unbowed, unbent), but about 90% of the dishes were smashed to smithereens in about a 15′ radius. Most of what you’ve seen in the cookbook and on the blog is now gone, save the newer pewter, wood, and metal acquisitions. Most of the dishes were not that expensive, but I had A LOT of them, and had been stockpiling for over a year.

It’s a serious downer. I’m sure in the coming months I will turn to pick up just the right item, only to remember that it’s gone. After the holidays, I’ll start building up a collection again, and look into some much sturdier shelves…

Gingerbread Castle-palooza!

I had this thunderbolt of an idea a few weeks ago.

I am going to make a gingerbread version of Castle Black for our holiday party on the 15th.

The online response to the idea was great, and one reader on FB suggested holding a Westerosi Gingerbread contest. I loved the idea, so I’m extending in invitation to all of you wonderfully creative fans to come up with your own Westerosi cookie castle, and share photos online.

In my opinion, the most well known castles stack up thusly:

Simpler

The Twins
Sept at Quiet Isle

Moderate Difficulty

Riverrun
Pyke
Dragonstone
Castle Black

You’re Nuts

King’s Landing
Winterfell
The Eyrie

And if you’re not up for making a castle by yourself, why not make it a party game? Have all your guests bring an assortment of towers, walls, etc, then glue them together with icing. Bam! You’ve just made Harrenhal!

Be sure to send us the photos of your finished castles!

My Helpful Sous Chef

Behind every great cook, is often a great cat. My kitchen is no exception.

Percival, aka The Bean, was born a gourmand. He’s valiantly tasted nearly every dish that has been made and posted to the blog. His favorites so far seem to be the game meats, the bigger the better. Typical cat.

His top pick seemed to be boar, although I have a hunch that goose will be a hit as well.

You can pretty much guarantee that whenever you see a picture of some tasty, tasty food, Bean is just a few inches to one side or the other. :)

“Horse” Hearts

Applecakes

Sourdough Starter

3-finger Hobb’s Breakfast

the ever helpful sous chef

How can I say no?

Bowl of Brown

Capon with Relish

Breakfast in Tweed

Westerosi Thanksgiving

Out of all the holidays in the year, I think Thanksgiving might be the best suited to a Westerosi interpretation. As I started building this list, more and more dishes sprang to mind. Thanksgiving, in many families, is characterized by cold weather, a groaning table laden with an absurd amount of food, and inter-family drama. Sound at all familiar?

The list below includes dishes from the blog and cookbook. Personally, I’d eat the heck out of this meal, but how about you? Are you going to smuggle a couple of dishes into your mainstream family’s spread, or are you taking over the holiday completely with Westerosi fare?

Let me know if there’s a Westerosi dish you think I should include in this list, or other Thanksgiving-friendly fictional dishes and let’s get to scheming!

Game Foods

Stuffed Peppers – Hummus & Pita

Stuffed Grapeleaves* – Finger Fish* – Spicy Wings

To Start

Bread & Salt – Leek Soup – Pemmican

The Spread

White Beans & Bacon* – Cod Cakes

Buttered Beets* – Spiced Squash – Skillet Cranberries

Black Beer Bread – Oatbread – Wheat Sheaf Breadsticks

Honeyed Chicken/Turkey, for a large crowd or Quails drowned in Butter*, for a smaller gathering

Oat Stuffing (forthcoming) – Carrot Lime Relish

Desserts

17th C. Pumpkin Pie – Fig Tarts – Brandy-Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Quince – Cider Cake

Honeyfingers* – Baked Apples*

Drinks

Mulled Wine – Wassail – Wildling Cider

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.

Concord Grape Jam

Thoughts:

Concord grapes are such a fundamental element of my autumns that I simply cannot get enough of them. Perhaps because it is one of those increasingly few foods that is still seasonal, and briefly so, at that. I tend to compulsively buy boxes of them whenever I come across them in the store, because I never know if those might be the last of the season.

This is one of the easiest things to make with Concord grapes, and possibly one of the most delicious. It’s essentially the same grape pie filling I’ve used in other recipes, but reduced down to a thicker, jammier consistency. I’ve dispatched it with great effect on crumpets, biscuits, cheesy crackers, and definitely straight from a spoon. It also freezes well, so you can enjoy it during the rest of the year, too.

Continue reading →

Literature Adds to Reality

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” – C.S. Lewis

Root Soup

“He found Dolorous Edd at the fire, complaining about how difficult it was for him to sleep when people insisted on blowing horns in the woods. Jon gave him something new to complain about. Together they woke Hake, who received the Lord Commander’s orders with a stream of curses, but got up all the same and soon had a dozen brothers cutting roots for a soup.”

Root Soup

Thoughts:

This is a basic soup, meant for sustenance rather than to showcase one’s culinary prowess.

When constructing this recipe, I carefully took several things into consideration. First, that most of these roots would have to be foraged. The Brothers of the Night’s Watch are north of the Wall, which dramatically changes their supplies. They don’t have access to a pantry, and could only cook what they found or had brought with them.

I considered the roots to be foraged, a task I would have loved to experience firsthand, although I foraged mine from a variety of grocery stores instead of a forest. Salt pork is an easy enough thing to travel with, as is a bit of grain, such as barley. I happened to have cracked barley, and used that, figuring it would approximate the condition of barley after traveling in a saddlebag for a long while.

The fun of a recipe like this is that you get to construct it much the same way that the Brothers would. The ingredients list is flexible, so you needn’t stress about finding obscure roots in order to make a perfect copy of my version. Forage among your local markets, in your pantry, or if you’re lucky enough, your own backyard. Or your neighbor’s: I won’t judge.

My finished soup was certainly not a new favorite that I would serve to guests, or even necessarily make again (barring a zompocalypse). It was mild, but flavorful, and very filling, especially when paired with a hunk of bread and a bit of cheese. I liked the adventure of seeing what new combination of roots came up with each spoonful

But it’s all about the experience and mindset. Sipping the mild broth from the comfort of your couch is a vastly different experience than coming inside from the icy winter wind to a steaming bowl of broth and carbs. Make some arctic wind noices. Sit in front of your AC unit. Or wait until winter proper (it’s coming, you know…), and try the soup after shoveling the drive or helping with snow fort construction. I promise that it will dramatically change the way you experience this meal!

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17th C. Historical Pumpkin Pie

17th C. Pumpkin Pie

Thoughts:

This historical pumpkin pie is a different creature than the pies we’re used to around holiday tables.

The filling seizes up enough for the pie to be cut into slices, but stays soft and creamier than modern pumpkin pies. For one batch of mine, I used the puree from making pumpkin juice, which has apple cider in it, and really amped up the pumpkin flavor. I also like the inclusion of the ground almonds, because they add a bit of texture throughout the filling. Perhaps the most notable difference is that this old version doesn’t contain any spices. This allows the earthy pumpkin flavors to really come into their own, but it might not fill that autumnal craving for the modern standard.

Still, I really enjoyed it, and would consider crashing Thanksgiving with a little of this medieval fare.

Continue reading →

A fictional Halloween

Since we’re about a month out from Halloween, I thought I’d make it a little easier to incorporate some wonderful fictional dishes into your holiday fare. Additional suggestions are more than welcome!

Snacks

Meatrolls – Pumpkin Pasties – Mushroom Straws

Desserts

Snow White’s Apples – Coraline Button Cookies

Marzipan Dragonflies – Spice Cake – Apple Custard Pie

Yam Candies – Concord Grape Crumble

Drinks

Pumpkin Juice – Butter Beer

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