Human Cuisine
Zoluren Fare
Pasta
This is the most vital staple food of Zoluren's Human population. It is usually made just before serving, but can be dried for storage in winter when fresh eggs are harder to obtain.
Boar/Pig Sausages
Widely used in Zoluren, these are normally rather spicy both in heat and savory content, and are served fresh, not dried. These are often served with pasta.
Red Fish Sauce
This is a sauce-heavy spicy fish dish used in many pubs around the Oxwaithe waterfront, and is served on top of pasta. It contains tomatoes, garlic, clam oil, butter, dried hot pepper, sea salt, filet of grek, clams, and anchovies
Meat Sauce
Served most often on top of pasta, but sometimes rice is used instead. Very common in Zoluren peasant homes. Contains ground beef and pork, salt, black pepper, parsley, basil, onion, garlic, and marjoram.
Pebble Soup
This is considered a staple peasant food in many Human communities in Zoluren. Basic leftover pasta is rolled into pebble-shaped pieces and set to dry about 6 anlaen before serving. The pasta, if cooked correctly to just underdone, creates a pleasant texture in the otherwise plain broth. The name seems to have originated during wartime when food was scarce, and it was said that peasants were made to eat pebble and stone to survive. This seems to have been less than true, but rather they lived on plain broth and flat bread, with a small spoon of the pebbled pasta to give it body. Now, however, the pasta is actually the main ingredient to the soup, which also includes onion, carrot, fresh peppers, celery, meat broth, salt and black pepper. Often served with toasted buttered bread on top.
Sausage Pie
Sausage pies are very popular among the working class Humans of Zoluren, as they can be baked the evening before to be tied in cloth and taken to work or the fields for a midday meal. They consist of boar sausage, potato, carrot, garlic, salt, black pepper, and Zoluren White cheese baked in a wheat flour crust.
Angisaen
Translating to ‘snakes’ in Common, this is a thick, cylindrical pasta cut in to long strands and served with long, thin strips of grilled zucchini, carrot, and onion in a chicken broth flavored with citrus, red peppers, and fish oil.
Therengian Fare
River Rice
This staple food known to be shared by both Humans and River Elves in Therengia is a short, somewhat bland grain used in a variety of ways. To enhance its natural nutty flavor, it is often fried gently in butter before boiling or steaming.
Saffron Rice
Venison, pheasant, leucro, and bear are the most common types of meat used in this dish. It consists of the meat, dried apples, dried pine nuts, and rice cooked together in a meat broth flavored with saffron, salt, and thyme. The mixture, though slightly sweet because of the apple, is strong in flavor, to offset the sometimes unpredictable taste discrepancies that come with hunted game. This meal is especially popular in the mid-autumn to early winter when the animals are in prime condition.
Therengian Apple Pie
A mixture of golden apples, lemon, sugar, Therengian white wine and butter makes the filling, and it is topped with a basic crust sprinkled with sugar. Commonly served with coffee.
Apple Dumplings
Dough-wrapped sweetened apples baked in a sauce containing apple juice, nutmeg, cinnamon and cream.
Roasted Ram
Thunder Ram lamb is the preferred meat for this dish. The crown of meat is stuffed with chopped turnips, parsley, onion, garlic, rosemary, salt, and thyme, then rubbed with butter and roasted.
Riverhaven Fish Dinner
Almost certainly related to the Zoluren dish ‘red fish sauce’, Riverhaven fish dinner is sauce-heavy fish and rice dish. It contains Therengian wine, onion, garlic, clam juice, butter, cream, sea salt, fillet of whatever fresh fish is available, steamed mussels still in the shell, and tender scallops.
Haggis
A variety of savory pudding somewhat similar to the 'alydaith feast' of the Shadow Clan Humans, haggis is made from the minced heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep, mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, salt, and stock. The mixture is then stuffed into a sheep's stomach and boiled. It is served in slices, and is less a normally consumed food item than a food-based proxy for cultural braggadocio between Therengian men, especially after a few pints of ale.
Special Occasion Foods
Elven Blood Pudding
This dish, almost exclusively served at non-Clan noble weddings, was originally developed in the Human-Elven War as a custom to protect the couple from their enemies. Of course, real Elven blood has not been used since then, and instead today pork blood is used. Despite protests from Elven leaders on several occasions, the name has remained the same. It's created with pig liver, oatmeal, pig blood, onion, lard, salt, and allspice stuffed into beef casings, and served steamed.
Chocolate Coins
Created from melted chocolate laced with butter and rum, then shaped and wrapped in bronze paper, these tasty treats are frequently present at all sorts of Human parties. In the past, though, they were exclusively found as a part of Human merchant or adventurer weddings in non-Clan settlements. They were used as part of a gambling event held by the groom's family the night before the ceremony, and then passed out to children after the ceremony was completed.
The Peasant's Feast
This dish is almost always served at non-Clan Human weddings, but is also a staple food for many other celebrations. Originally hailing from Therengia, two main versions of this dish exist, one made with the more traditional rice and a more sweet glaze-like sauce containing honey and complementary spices, and the other with pasta and a spicier sauce containing black and red pepper. Both variations use pork or beef broth to cook the starch, to which is then added potato, onion, peppers, and garlic, and served topped with the sauce of choice.
Ram Clan
Ram Clan cuisine is particularly reliant upon sour flavors, with most dishes involving pickled vegetables or fruits, sour cream, or straight vinegar. Root vegetables are prominent, as is cabbage. The majority of meals are soupy in consistency, and served in bowls.
Ram Clan Cold Soup
Soups are a staple of Ram Clan traditional cooking, and one of the most famous of them is their cold soup. Using a base of liquid created from fermented rye grains, it contains one 'neutral vegetable' (usually potato, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, or cucumber), one 'spicy vegetable' (usually green onion, celery, the leaves of young beets or sorrel, or an herb like dill, parsley, or tarragon), a meat (usually mutton, goat, or beef), mustard, black pepper, horseradish, boiled eggs, and sour cream. Cold soup is usually served in warm months, as a refreshing alternative to salads.
Ram Clan Hot Pot
The name for a particular type of hot soup distinctive to Ram Clan, hot pot consists of a watery broth containing cabbage, poultry, carrot, basil, parsley root, onion, celery, dill, garlic, pepper, bay leaf, and pickled apples.
Ram Clan Buckwheat Noodle Soup
One of Ram Clan's simplest dishes. This hot soup consists of thick buckwheat noodles served in a wild mushroom-based broth flavored with onion.
Ram Clan Porridge
Generally a dinner dish, this is a millet-based porridge served with stewed meats and root vegetables on top, and garnished with pickled cabbage, pickled apples, or cranberries.
Ram Clan Meatballs
Made from pork and cooked in a thick gravy with onions and sour cream, these meatballs are usually served over mashed root vegetables.
Wolf Clan
Wolf Clan cuisine is very meat and fish heavy, with any dishes not containing some sort of animal flesh instead having a main cheese or buttermilk component. Fats figure prominently, including both butter and lard, and some variety of bread is served with almost every dish. Spice use is minimal, with fruits, marrow-bearing bones, or fats serving as the primary means of adding flavor to many recipes.
Wolf Clan Breakfast Stew
Made from boiled lamb bones, beans, peas, carrots, and turnips, this traditional Wolf Clan breakfast food is served with thick, crusty bread that gets dipped into it.
Wolf Clan Amonfa
A breakfast or lunch dish consisting of cottage cheese made from goat milk, mixed with plums and various berries. It is served with buttered flatbread, which is used for scooping up the mixture.
Wolf Clan Char-fish
Renown fisherman as well as hunters, fish-based meals are common for Wolf Clan. Most famous of them is Wolf Clan char-fish, which consists of a mild fish grilled whole while stuffed with dill, lemon, potato, and butter. The skin is left to char, which gives the flesh a smoky flavor that complements the bright notes of the stuffing.
Wolf Clan Forager's Venison
Wrapped in sheets of lard and slow-cooked until tender and juicy, the deer meat is paired with a reduction of raspberries, elderberries, cherries, walnuts, and hazelnuts.
Wolf Clan Dyrisi Roast
A festive meal for those of Wolf Clan, dyrisi roast is the name for the meat dish prepared at celebrations such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, and commemorations of important Clan events. It consists of a red meat roast (usually beef, but whatever local animal is available can be used) rubbed with a combination of cumin, black peppercorns, and allspice and cooked atop a bed of grains such as barley and spelt that have been flavored with onion, mushroom, and minced organ meats.
Shadow Clan
Safe food is scarce in the Dark Hand, so much of Shadow Clan's traditional foods reflect a very utilitarian approach to cuisine, with the remainder having ritual significance to the band of dedicated fighters.
Shadow Clan Wall Bread
A staple of those on patrol nearest the wall that separates the Dark Hand from southern Ilithi proper, this is more glorified hardtack or granola than bread as seen in most parts of the Five Provinces. Created from a baked mixture of eggs, grains, lard, and bits of dried meat and fruits, the resultant 'bread' is both long lasting in harsh conditions and packed with the energy and nutrients needed for the long battles faced by Shadow Clan members.
Shadow Clan Jerky Stew
Another field food, jerky stew is created by bringing whatever available safely potable liquid you can find to a boil, then tossing in handfuls of dried meats, vegetables, grains, fruits, and a hunk of lard. The result is often surprisingly tasty, hearty, and, most importantly to the members of Shadow Clan who rely upon it to survive, not poisonous.
Shadow Clan Handbane
A ritual food eaten by Shadow Clan members before going out to battle for the first time, handbane is a mixture of native Dark Hand plants ground together with a diluted toxin found in poisonous toads, and cooked inside of an Adan'f skull. Only small amounts are ingested due to its toxic nature, but Shadow Clan members see the resulting hallucinations and flu-like symptoms as a rite of passage for any would-be warrior.
Shadow Clan Alydaith Feast
Another ritual food, the alydaith feast is served annually and its consumption is the Shadow Clan way of honoring the deaths of all Clan members who walked the Starry Road within the last year. It consists of the minced meaty organs of Dark Hand beasts mixed with a pungent herb they call 'alydaith', stuffed into a sausage casing, and boiled in blessed water.
Shadow Clan Kweld-milk
The last of the well-known ritual foods of Shadow Clan, kweld-milk (or death-milk in Common) is the sap of a particular Dark Hand plant brought to a boil, then left to cool into a taffy-like substance. It's consumed by placing a piece under the tongue and allowing it to melt slowly over time. As it dissolves, the kweld-milk turns into a sweet, milk-like substance that is thought by the Clan to impart increased awareness, longer periods of remaining alert, and a resistance to the corruption inherent in the Dark Hand.
Dragon Clan
The flavors of Dragon Clan cuisine are intense and varied, with their sweets being remarkably sweet, and a high emphasis on herbs and spices in their savory dishes. Reflecting the nomadic nature and the experiential and inclusionary philosophies of the Clan, a great deal of exotic ingredients found in other cultures' foods are present within Dragon Clan dishes, though they all take on a uniqueness as used by the Clan to create a set of flavors all of their own.
Dragon Clan Abulecui
A baked breakfast food made from stale egg bread soaked in hhyssk'et berry juice-infused custard and studded with caramel and brandy-soaked dried fruits. Its name means 'heart song' in Common, and is said to come from the comment made by its originator in the Clan when asked about his inspiration for the dish.
Dragon Clan Stuffed Yeehar
A feasting meal, stuffed yeehar is prepared by taking an entire gutted and cleaned yeehar carcass and stuffing it with pears, dates, cheeses, leeks, shallots, pork, beef, pheasant, bread, and a mind-boggling array of herbs and spices, then slow roasting all it in a gigantic pit-fire.
Dragon Clan Tomato Stew
While it does contain tomatoes that are stewed, 'tomato stew' is a often considered a deceptive name to those outside of Dragon Clan when first encountering this dish. Served atop flat egg noodles, chunks of venison braised in red wine are then smothered in garlic-rubbed stewed tomatoes and served with a topping of fresh, soft cheese.
Dragon Clan Blistered Fennel Salad
Roasted over high heat until their surface is slightly charred, fennel blubs are then dressed with vinegar and sugar, and served warm accompanied with goat-cheese and pears.
Dragon Clan Dinnumen
A pastry made of thin sheets of dough brushed with butter and honey, then layered with chopped dates, apricots, taffelberries, walnuts, and phofe flower nectar and twisted into their namesake crooked forms. Dinnumen are served with honeyed rice milk as a summer snack.
Harvest Clan
The agrarian and pacifist nature of Harvest Clan has lead them to having a largely vegetarian lifestyle. Dairy products and eggs are consumed readily, and a wide variety of beans, pulses, and grains are heavily represented in their cuisine.
Harvest Clan Wheat Salad
Usually served cold, cracked green wheat is mixed with chopped parsley, diced tomatoes, garlic, mint, and raw onion, then seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. The salad is traditionally served atop lettuce leaves and eaten as a roll.
Harvest Clan Bean Fry
Ground fava beans are mixed with rice flour and savory spices then formed into a patty and fried. This patty is served many ways, but one of the most popular is stuffed into bread along with a serving of wheat salad, sliced cucumbers, grilled zucchini, and a tangy yogurt sauce.
Harvest Clan Jackfruit Stew
Young unripe jackfruit is stewed for hours with sugar, coconut milk, garlic, shallots, bay leaves, and teak leaves. The stew is served with steamed rice and boiled eggs.
Harvest Clan Hot Stone Bowl
Served in an extremely hot stone or iron bowl that lends the dish its name, a base of steamed rice is topped with a variety of sauteed and pickled greens, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and bean shoots. Eggs are then cracked into the bowl, and their whites allowed to cook from the heat of the bowl itself before serving. Runny yolks are preferred, as they add a velvety texture to the dish.
Harvest Clan Quark-stuffed Potatoes
Quark is made by warming soured milk until the desired amount of curdling is met, and then straining it. This creates a fresh, creamy cheese that the Humans of Harvest Clan like to mix with spinach and chopped pine nuts then stuff into baked potatoes. The stuffed potatoes are then baked again until the stuffing is bubbling and the top is browned.
Shark Clan
Shark Clan cuisine is, perhaps unsurprisingly, heavy in seafood and other elements easily found in the ocean. However, due to their tradition of raiding other ships and settlements, more land-based ingredients do factor in more than one might otherwise expect. The Clan's cooks are known to have a particular affinity for incorporating purloined citrus fruits, tomatoes, coconut, rice, and onions, as well as the melon wine commonly found around Reshalia.
Shark Clan Sailor's Stew
A thick, briney stew made from a mixture of edible seaweeds, mashed rice, coconut milk, and pieces of whatever fish and shellfish was caught most recently.
Shark Clan Lemon-scented Grouper
Wrapped in seaweed, grouper fillets are topped with lemon slices and steamed to give them a delicate citrus flavor. The fillets are then unwrapped and the seaweed discarded. It is served upon a bed of rice and sauteed onions.
Shark Clan Bloody Chum
Though it thankfully is not a literal name, pieces of fish along with squid and octopus are stewed with tomatoes, onions, and a small amount of blood orange, giving this stew a look resembling its namesake. It is frequently served with hunks of brown bread.
Shark Clan Coconut Jellyfish
Another dish with a thankfully fanciful name, coconut jellyfish is a confection made from reducing coconut milk and gelatin to create a stable gummy texture. Citrus fruit juices are added when available, but squid ink is also sometimes used as a flavoring.
Shark Clan Drunken Fish
Quite a bit more literal than some of Shark Clan's other recipe names, this dish consists of mild white fish marinated in melon wine, then poached and served with rum-glazed oranges and coconut rice.