“[Oberyn Martell] forked a stallion black as sin with a mane and tail the color of fire. He sat his saddle as if he’d been born there, tall, slim, graceful. A cloak of pale red silk fluttered from his shoulders, and his shirt was armored with overlapping rows of copper disks that glittered like a thousand bright new pennies as he rode. His high gilded helm displayed a copper sun on its brow, and the round shield slung behind him bore the sun-and-spear of House Martell on its polished metal surface.” -A Storm of Swords
Here’s your runner up from our last poll, having lost to The Hound by just 1% of the votes.
Oberyn Martell is mad, bad, and dangerous to know. He’s got a fiery temper, illegitimate Sand Snake daughters scattered throughout Dorne, and a winning smile. He’s a lover, but he’s also a fighter, so don’t get any ideas.
Because he’s Dornish, there probably has to be snake in there somewhere, and certainly a lot of fiery peppers.
What other dishes do you think go with The Red Viper? Extra points for making us laugh, creativity, and justifying your answers…
You MUST use the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper). I have no idea about the rest of the meal, but that is the most delicious fiery pepper out there. Also, if you get any juice or oil in a cut or your eye, it will feel like venom coursing through your body and you will wish for a quick death to end your misery. Seriously, wash your hands thoroughly after handling these. It hurts.
or wear gloves.
I keep thinking for a desert there has to be a very well spiced citrus desert, probably with pomegranate seeds. And honey. Lots of honey. But I think that has more to do with the picture that you just posted then anything else.
Oberyn Martell is first and foremost a well-traveled man, having spent time in Oldtown, the rest of the Seven Kingdoms and across the Narrow Sea, so anything from abroad could conceivably fit. He’s a cavalryman and what we see of him is after a long ride into the “North” so any Dornish food he brought would have to be well-preserved and ready for the road, which means lots of pickling and salting. As for the “Red Viper” legend, anything that would look ‘poisonous’ or too piquant to the uninitiated could fit; ghost peppers, thai bird chiles, maybe a artificially bittered almond dish to suggest cyanide. Maybe something to suggest the spear and shield of Dorne too, or fit thematically with Nymeria or the Thousand Ships (but not too much, he’s not an Orphan).
That having been said, I’d start with an appetizer of cracked olives in brine stuffed with pimento or more appropriately, chiles de arbol. Then a hard, salty cheese like feta or jameed, and some sour hummus (the vinegary medieval kind, in order to survive a journey).
A salad could easily be tabboleh, made with wild mint and parsley (but no tomatoes- sorry Westeros). Figs, dates, and pomegranate seeds could add a bit of fruit on the side.
For a main course, there could be either fresh or preserved meat in keeping with his status as a priviliaged noble but also a constant traveller. A common type of Middle Eastern sausage is loukaniko made with orange peel, fennel, and pork, and sucuk, beef or lamb with cumin and peppers.
Since Martell’s a noble, there’s no reason he might be invited to a hunt on another lord’s estate, so boar, venison, and other game could be used to differentiate this meal from a commoner’s one. For fresh meats, any kind of kebab or souvlaki would be perfect, and presenting a spear of golden, honey-glazed meat on top of a round pita (maybe with some artfully-laid-out pimento slices in a sun pattern, or sprinkled with paprika and cayenee) would reinforce the Martell sigil imagery.
To get the same effect with the dessert, some lemon or orange slices, overlaid with toothpicks speared with dates could work well.
As for beverages, Dornish wine is said to be either sweet or strong, so something like shiraz or port as you’ve used before for his brother’s meals. Mint tea is mentioned once or twice in the books, but it’s not certain if that includes any actual green tea leaves.
Other ideas could be scaling it down to a snack, or possibly using the “Dornish breakfast” of spiced eggs, which sound a bit like huevos rancheros, without the tomato.
Hope this fits well as a full, multi-course meal!
Maybe some shakshouka – eggs poached in a spicy chili and onion sauce?
I had done a bit of research way back in the vote as I voted for our Kick Ass Viper, I’ve since moved and lost the list!
So my idea was that he either have a herbal ‘simple’ tea on the ready, (in case of suspected poisoning), or he routinely injest a herb that was believed to prevent poisoning or snake bites… as I can see the later being a hazzard he is used to.
One who poinsons must know he is a target no?
I’ve found that some belived boiling fennel seeds in wine was a good cure. Also St Johns word served in tea with honey was a good cure for ‘poisoning’ as well as helped one have and even mood.
jfeldt
Don’t know why but I keep thinking of a grilled snake spiced with Szechuan pepper. Szechuan pepper is a curious spice that gives a numbing/tingling sensation to the tongue when eaten. Plus, it was up until fairly recently, banned in the US (for ecological and not health reasons, so it’s safe to eat); giving the food a somewhat illicit and exotic flair in keeping with Oberyn’s well travelled nature.
Also: what about stuffed peppers? Perhaps with a mixture of rice, dried tropical fruit (e.g. mango), crispy bacon and chilli? As for how to present it, take a bell pepper, make a hole at the top, stuff the pepper with the mixture, cover the hole with the section you cut off thereby making it a lid with the stem as its handle, and bake.
P.S.: For added detail on the stuffed peppers, the idea is to cut the spiciness of the chilli with the sweetness of the bell pepper and dried fruit whilst the crispy bacon bits would be to add texture to the rice.
Might I suggest an almond snake for dessert? This is a Moroccan pastry in which an almond-filled pastry dough is rolled into a snake shape and baked. A snake is the traditional shape, but people also form the dough into circles or bracelets. Source: Claudia Roden’s “New Middle Eastern Cookbook”.
Just a first idea: I could see every dish being a slight surprise when taking the first bite: Like a chocolate mousse with chillies or a pastry with a surprising filling.
If it were me,I’d do what I could to somehow infuse snake venom into a fiery peppery snake kabob.Although I’ve heard of it being done,I’ve never done it myself.As for side dishes,I would go for a sweet,citrusy salad-a medley of grapefruit,tangelos and navel oranges would be good,with a nice spicy dressing.
In Rajasthan, which has a climate (hot and dry, desert-like) very much like Dorne, they do a green chilli fritter, where the green chillies are dipped in chickpea batter and fried. If you take the post-monsoon chillies, which are small and REALLY hot, you would get the full force and bite of the chilli. And of course, the batter itself contains several spices–ground red chilli, ground cumin, ground coriander powder, etc. Rajasthan also has a tradition of digging pits in the sand,where skewered meat is put for cooking.
Kerala, which has lagoons and a coastline, specializes in fish dishes–the fish is not cooked beforehand, but put raw into the curry, where it simmers. There’s also pork vindaloo from Goa–you could use wild boar instead (mountain Dornish?).
Those are the basic inspirations I’d go with, while preparing a meal for the Red Viper.
May I suggest Mavrodafni for the wine? Heavy and sweet, and very distinctive.
I heard somewhere that sage was thought to be a cure for food poisoning in the middle ages…. just a thought.
Also I have soaked ghost and other hot peppers in vodka, since the oil is alcohol soluble, the peppers become mild and can be used for great flavor. The vodka makes great bloody mary’s and can be drank as a shot… but I don’t recomend doing to many… a hangover is the least of your worries. Someone from Dorne however may just drink it straight from the bottle.
Perhaps a tajine with lots of spices, vegetables and succulent meat of some sort. Meat of a desert bird, or fish from an oasis? That man is hot! Princess Elia was certianly a lucky woman to call him brother! (fanning herself)…
Is that Oded Fehr from the Mummy films? He would be a great choice!
I would think the Viper, being quite adept with poisons would eat quite a few foods that were considered poisonous in the Middle ages. Also, since eating spicy food is the best way to cool down in the heat, I’m sure he’d be packing it on. It’d be interesting to see him serving up a meal to eat across from an enemy. A nice hot curry of some kind perhaps, with plenty of nice rendered tomatoes in the sauce. Maybe a salad with rhubarb, cherries and almonds, all of which are considered poisonous. The leaves of rhubarb contain not only a poison but a corrosive acid. It’d be interesting to see Oberyn passing a salad to a Lannister, smiling as he eats a stem of rhubarb to prove it’s safe, knowing the salad is filled with rhubarb leaves.
Just a thought:
On the subject of drinks, given the hot and dry weather of Dorne, I don’t think alcohol would be an ideal option on its own without another beverage since alcohol does a horrible job at keeping one hydrated.
Question is, what with? Plain old water seems boring. Perhaps some sort of juice? Pomegranate juice? Looks pretty and the wiki lists Dorne as an exporter of pomegranates.
I’d think that someone who pends time in the deserts would appreciate some simple delicacies, like iced melon, or extra spicy spice cake.
I make a morocconesian (not quite moroccan, not quite tunisian) chicken dish with caramelized onion, olives and preserved lemon. The spice is an equal mixture of freshly ground coriander, caraway seed, salt, and dried hot peppers (I don’t know the type of pepper, I use something a local deli helpfully labels as ‘tunisian peppers’ but have also used cayenne to good effect) (the caraway seed is a bitch to grind, it helps to toast the spices first, but I’ve been told that caraway like cumin becomes bitter bad news if over roasted, and since it all gets fried for a few minutes with the caramelized onion before the broth is added, be sure to toast lightly). Pheasant might be a more interesting way to go, there’s an unexpected delicate strength to it that would be appropriate and (I think) hold up to the spices, plus it just sounds more exotic and ye olde times. Perhaps, specifically, a francolin, like in the Cotan still life. Obviously there should also be cardoons. I’ve never cooked a cardoon, myself, so I haven’t a recipe suggestion, unless it’s that crypto-Jewish one pot meal…adafino? Adafina. That might be the way to go, actually, meals cooked overnight over fire in secret buried pits seem like just the thing for the Red Viper.
And you need real bitter almond ices for desert – so you can’t get bitter almond in this country. I guess you’re going to have to take a field trip to Italy. What a shame.
I don’t suppose you have a narwhale horn to drink your sherry from?
My mother’s native French North Africa makes a terrific spicy mutton sausage called “merguez”.
Staying with French North Africa:
*brown rice prepared tabouli-style.
*brown rice mixed with one can of tuna (drained), capers, olives, chopped cooled roasted red bell peppers, and maybe some mint (serve with vinaigrette on the side; it can be dry)
*Pissaladiere: free-form caramelized onion tart accented with anchovies (my great-aunt says to lay out the anchovies in a trellis pattern, but I find this makes for way too much anchovy for my American palate. Aim for one anchovy fillet per slice. You may substitute a smear of olive tapenade if you really must, but do try the anchovy. I have turned people into anchovy converts with this dish.)
*free-form ratatouille tart; pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s called a “coca”.
*For dessert, cornes de gazelle (“antelope horns”), almond paste cookies.
*There’s also a not-too-sweet Easter bread called a “mouna”, but I’m meh on it.
To drink, hot mint tea. (My mother says it helps cool you down.) Also anisette, an anise-flavored liquer, ideally served with nibbles like salted pan-fried chickpeas, pine nuts, olives, etc.
Dorne puts me in mind of Spain so an assortment of tapas like dishes wouldn’t be out of place in my mind. Bowls of sugared or salted almonds, a cured spicy sausage like chorizo. A few people mentioned tomatoes, maybe a spicy Gazpacho? Something like Turrón as part of the desert?
Dorne trades with the free cities do dishes representing one of more of them could be incorporated.I remember hearing/reading that beets are popular in Volantis so maybe a side of beets with a citrus glaze made with Dornish lemons?
Oberyn’s always been oe of my absolute favorites, and I humbly submit this image for dessert consideration:
http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-snake-recipe-photo-420-FF0699FRUITA03.jpg
What a great strawberry snake! I instantly started wondering what things like HBO’s version of the dire wolf or dragons eggs would look like as a strawberry or perhaps Kiwi dessert.
Thank you! Now I feel the urge to make GoT fruit tarts for each house….
If I understand correctly Dorne is known for their citrus fruit, so maybe a simple but delicious dessert like “blood orange filets, macerated for 24 hours in orange juice, sugar and lemon zest” could word. It’s amazing what the maceration does to the taste of the oranges.
And I like the tapas idea – a man with that many daughters probably likes… variety… But maybe add some Moroccan / Arabic flavors and go the mezze route
Sooo, how about a wonderful tabouleh with bulgur, tomato, parsley and mint, olive oil, lemon juice and – just because it’s The Red Viper – some hot chillies!
In general cold dishes are probably preferred in the hot climate of Dorne – especially if you are riding. The heat should come from the spices! And freshness is possibly always a nice bonus – so how about a salad of watermelon and feta?
Assorted tapas, mezze and antipasti:
– roasted, salted almonds
– olives (filled with almonds)
– hot chorizo, slowly cooked in red wine
– fattoush (pita bread salad)
– stuffed grape leaves
– cooked fava beans with garlic in olive oil
– grilled marinated bell peppers
– bresaola
– lamb meatballs in redwine sauce
– pimientos de padrón with sea salt (mostly mild green peppers, with one or two devilish hot ones hidden in between)
– large, marinated caper berries
The Red Viper is one of my favorite character. I think he is a gourment and his ideal menu is very rich and colorful. I think an ideal meal for this kind of a men is realy delicious. I think the ideal appetiser is a stuffed red pepper. There are lot of types of pepper but a i think the ideal kind of pepper is middle sized little bit hot type. The filling would be smashed feta cheese mixed with a little bit garlic and olive oil may be a bit of basil or oregano and blackpepper freshly grounded of course. I think this curse is delicius raw, but we can put it into the owen spread with olive oil. I found a picture of the course i think it looks very good. http://www.google.hu/imgres?um=1&hl=hu&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:hu:official&biw=1280&bih=656&tbm=isch&tbnid=QsXamMDXTKIVKM:&imgrefurl=http://greekshop.hu/product/49&docid=GpDKcbGhLaJN4M&imgurl=http://greekshop.hu/views/_public/upload/pictures/product/87.jpg&w=650&h=454&ei=9cujT8_tMYmM4gSqqY2ICQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=190&vpy=312&dur=843&hovh=188&hovw=269&tx=173&ty=72&sig=114396640749034962137&page=1&tbnh=155&tbnw=208&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:79
I think the main course should be a very delicious well spiced meat dish. In my mind the dornish cuisine is a mixture of the mediterrain and north african cuisine. I like the pork meat but I think the dornis people don’t realy eat grasy dishes, so the poultry or the beef or the goat/sheep would be suitable. I think a marinaded meat roasted on charcoal embers would be very delicius. The marinade should contain lemonjuice, garlic, hotpepper, cayene, thyme or other spices to taste. The honey in the marinade gives a special taste to the meat. I think for this kind of main course would be suitable a fresh salad, with fresh vegetables and seasoned dressing, but i think a potato precooked with rosemary, garlic and bay leaves and after deepfried in oil is a very delicius too.
The dessert is a little bit difficult because i think it would be great if we can mix the colours of the hause martell, and the taste of the fruits with the tradtional hungarian “dobos cake”. The “dobos cake” is a five-layer sponge cake, layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with thin caramel. It looks like this. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QY2CsvhfROY/Sgqcj_VNIEI/AAAAAAAAARg/CuDmRfHqjBw/s400/P1130475.JPG
I think 2 or 3 layers of choholate buttercream is interchangeable with redfruit based buttercream. I think to draw the sigil of the house Martell on the top of the cake with the caramell and the buttercreames not so difficult.
Sorry for my poor english, I hope you will understand everything.
So funnily enough, on a related note when I pictured Oberyn Martell in my head I imagined him less…white.
For the food, obviously something spicy (lamb seems fitting), but I also imagine a very sweet dessert, to balance out the spiciness. And for drink, sour Dornish red.
This might make a good drink for a feast and has a Dornish feel. I grew up on the Mexican border and came to love Agua Fresca. Here is one for Mango Agua Dresca (Agua Fresca means Fresh Water in Spanish)
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup chilled mint tea
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 mint sprigs, for garnish
In a blender, combine mango with tea and cold water and blend until smooth. Pour through a strainer into ice-filled glasses. Stir in lime juice and honey. Garnish with lime wedges and mint sprigs, and serve.
A poisonous snake would be a nice touch. I get the feeling that Dorne is like the American Southwest in native foods, especially with the peppers. With that, I would suggest an American snake, like a rattler. Remember that the pepper seeds are the most hot. I would like to see coiled rattlesnake garnished with ultra thin ghost pepper slices served with a ghost pepper or habenero sauce. For a side, a dish of roasted potatoes, tomatoes, hot or bell peppers and zucchini tossed with butter or oil. A very strong wine, possibly corn or squash based to cut the heat, or possibly xocolotl, an Aztec drink from cocoa beans, water, honey and hot peppers. I’m staying with American foods as I can’t get the image of Dorne having Southwest American foods from my mind. Other places in the books mention New World foods, such as pumpkin and corn, so they had to come from somewhere.