Hi! Welcome to my blog! You can call me Cloud, Void, or Fox. I’m someone who absolutely loves food, and going a little insane about it too.
- kin, therian, otherkin, fickin, systems, alters are all welcome here. Request for fun that’s fine too!
- if you’d like to make a request, please give me some details! From what I’m theming it around, to the source (if applicable), type of food, any restrictions- all of it is helpful!
- responses will vary in time and length. If I’m unfamiliar with a source, it’s gonna be a bit harder for me.
- be polite, and courteous to others. I don’t want to see any hate here.
Heyo! I adore the food recommendations you make and I want to ask you if you could maybe make some for a winged wyvern like this one in the picture below? Think huge, feathery and just really nimble. They're one of my more present kintypes :)
Of course, not forcing. Please and thank you! :D
Hi! Thank you for the compliment! This was certainly an interesting request. Without a ton of details, it was really fun to try and figure out some directions to go with this. The long, feathered, nimble frame of the wyvern in question made me think of more of a swift, hit and run kind of creature. A terror of the skies certainly, but maybe not necessarily the apex predator.
If I had to make a comparison- this wyvern strikes me more like a cheetah. A predator, and certainly a fast and maneuverable one, but not at the top of its respective food chain. So it was with that in mind that I started looking for inspiration. The first thing that struck me was the tail- it reminded me of creatures like a lyre tailed nightjar, or a resplendent quetzal. This ended up making the list a bit more omnivorous- as the quetzal, besides eating insects and small prey, mostly eats fruit.
Another consideration came in the fact that wyverns lack additional legs. Depending on your interpretation of the body plan, this can lead to more awkward movement on land, be it a very top heavy waddle or a more snake like movement. Either way- the legs don’t seem to be in a great position for usage in hunts- hence the hit and run thoughts, or perhaps more of a scavenger approach. While scooping something off a mountainside is certainly possible, another direction I could take is in birds like sea skimmers. So that added another dimension to the types of protein I had in mind.
With all this in mind- I hope you enjoy what I picked out!
To start off with, I wanted to tackle the more scavenger approach. Sometimes you end up craving certain textures or experiences- so I’m opening this section with bones.
Bone marrow is a rich treat hidden within a tougher shell- cracking the bones apart to reach it can be very satisfying, but bone shards and quantity can leave something to be desired. Yet, it can be a delicacy- and you’ll find there are places like butchers where you can buy large, already cut and prepared bones for roasting. If you want a more accessible rich, nutty; buttery smooth and spreadable substance- and possibly more applicable, roast garlic is a lot easier to make.
If it’s the idea of texture, of cracking and crunching something- I thought biscotti, while a more sweet option, could fit the bill. The flavor and additions are entirely customizable too.
For a more substantial option, my mind first went to pulled pork for the experience- and this brings a couple options for method. A slow cooker bbq recipe is available here- but you may find this oven roasted pulled pork a little more accessible.
Additionally, these Saint Louis style oven baked ribs might also be a rather fulfilling experience.
If we take a couple steps back, broaden our options a bit- breadsticks are always fun, and can be shaped however you desire. While a store bought pizza dough can be used for a quick time saver, this recipe here is from scratch if you want to spend the time making it yourself.
Our next option is eggs, a rather popular thing for many omnivores and scavengers to steal. This first recipe, čimbur, is an interesting Bosnian dish involving poached eggs and ground meat. The second is a take on it’s North African cousin shakshuka, in these shakshuka stuffed peppers. I felt it would add some interesting variety.
Our second stop is the sea. There’s some interesting options in fish, crustaceans, and even squid when it approached the surface at night for both scavengers and sea skimming creatures. To keep on theme with the richer options so far, lobster is also juicy and buttery when prepared right. This broiled lobster tail recipe may serve you well.
Our next option is cod, another common fish popular with sea skimmers and humans alike. This Cod Piccata is a quick and easy option that can be made in the pan.
Another popular fish is salmon, these salmon tacos catering to a more omnivorous diet with the inclusion of a delicious mango corn salsa to balance the spicy fish with just the right amount of sweetness.
If soup is more your speed, this Caldo de Mariscos certainly offers a variety of seafood with fish, shrimp, crab and crawfish within the traditional creamy tomato broth.
If a lighter option is more your speed, this calamari, avocado and grapefruit bruschetta is an interesting appetizer, where the inclusion of garlic can offer interesting pairings with the roast garlic recipe above.
Finally, this Italian stuffed calamari recipe caught my eye as an interesting way to use squid beyond simple fried rings. (Though you’re also free to give those a try!)
Next we take on our solidly more terrestrial options. I found myself leaning heavily towards goat and sheep as a prime target for meat, though I couldn’t help but think these southwestern style barbecued quail looked too good not to include.
While this birria chili goat stew is certainly a delicious take on mountain goats, I thought it would be interesting to include a recipe from the mountainous region of Valtellina Italy as well. While lacking meat itself, pizzoccheri alla valtellinese combines local cheeses and ingredients into a rich flat buckwheat pasta dish.
If goat is too gamey, then the options of braised spicy lamb meatballs, or Shepard’s Pie may be more your speed. Both are great options, and can be stored and used for meals later.
Calling back to the resplendent quetzal, I thought some recipes focusing a bit more on fruit would be a good way to diversify this recipe list. While their primary food source is actually avocados, I broadened that idea just a bit further. But while we’re here… this avocado salad with tomato, cucumber, fresh herbs and lime looked like a bright and fresh option, while this cheesy baked avocado made it in simply by being interesting and unique enough among the avocado toast options to pique my interest.
The next option I picked out was a mango and papaya pavlova, combining both tropical fruits with a fluffy whipped egg meringue. I had briefly considered something like an île flottante, for the eggs combined with the fluffy cloud like meringue seemed fitting for such a graceful creature flying through the skies. But poaching meringue in custard is a bit complicated for a more casual recipe list. So I home this pavlova, and papaya lemon meringue tart are at least a little more accessible, if not equally delicious.
Lastly, I wanted to include a few drinks. The first is called Chamoyada, which blends sweet, tangy and spicy in a frozen mango treat. The second being a hot mulled apple cider, for some classic autumnal comfort on a cold evening.
A love letter to one of my favorite characters, through food, fandom, and infodumping.
Heads up: This is gonna be a long one. This is probably going to be my most self indulgent kit ever. The topic in question really got away from me- but I had so much fun in the process. I’m going to be adding a read more for legibility here, so please enjoy this edition of food research and excessive rambling for Linnea, a character from Genshin Impact.
I knew right off the bat that I wanted to start the list off with things that wouldn't necessarily fit elsewhere. So I’m going to start off with a general recipe first- Semlor. A Swedish recipe , for a character named after the father of modern taxonomy, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. We’ll come back to him later, but I did want to stick to more Swedish influences for other parts of the list because of him.
Next off- let’s jump into her backstory, with fond memories of her family before it was revealed she was a Changeling. Specifically- with the honey cake that was always waiting for her to come home to.
There were a lot of ways I could’ve gone with the honey cake just for starters! Do you go for more of a Russian Medovik cake? Lean more upon the snowland faes hyperborean roots with a more Greek style one? Do you lean into full indulgence and just soak the entire thing? Or make a convenient travel sized nostalgic cake like Linnea longs for in one of her voice lines? There’s just so many options! And so many recipes!
Then there’s the matter of the Augury birds, which was another fun extraneous detail to deep dive into. Carrying on the theme of ancient history, this time we lean more into the Romans with their augury birds. Though they had a great many methods, ranging from the flight patterns of vultures, eagles, and doves, others have rhymes of the portents a number of blackbirds bring. I ended up mixing ideas here. First in the augury read from feeding chickens a “bread or cake”, which turned out upon further research to be more made of grain or meal, and secondly, the animal of choice being doves. Considering her trailer, knowing doves could be used for augury seemed like the perfect choice. Specifically- the Eurasian collared dove, as I couldn’t find one endemic specifically to Sweden, and Celaenos view on how they were “bound” by fate made for an interesting visual. I looked into their diet, and ended up translating it into a seeded rye bread for a more Nod Krai twist to it.
While on the topic on Nod Krai- and I swear this is relevant for later, I wanted to include something about its regional specialties. And when it comes to the various ones, it’s Pine Amber that actually interested me the most. You can find it in the forests around Piramida, grow it in your teapot, but it’s also considered an ore- it is literally amber, and during Linnea’s geological survey- she finds a sample that’s been unearthed through recent activity alongside a bunch of iron and other things on a hillside. Her voice line talking about it, “Tears of the grand pines”, the remnants of an ancient forest- it really captures the imagination.
Unfortunately- as much as I love spruce trees, here’s where we pretty much immediately pivot into a far more accessible option. While I can fantasize about various pine syrups, spruce tip recipes and methods- and recommend various foraging tips or videos, I don’t know how well those syrups will take to being randomly substituted. Some compounds get unpredictable in heat- and some methods for extracting flavors work better or worse in others. (First time I saw Justinthetrees try to make spruce ice cream, his first pine syrup attempt made his mouth go numb! No thanks!) So, let’s turn to a much more accessible tree syrup that’s found in a lot of grocery stores: Maple syrup. Considering the usual environment of the snowland fae, it seemed fitting to include some softer maple taffy.
While we’re here, we should talk about Linnea’s specialty and one of the specialties of Speranza, the lakkaberry pie. It appears in the background of so many shots, in Linnea’s lectures, and it’s also definitely one of the more interesting recipes to translate for a couple of reasons. Let’s tackle Linnea’s version first.
Linnea’s version of the pie is topped with a dollop of smetana made to look like Lumi, valberries from Mondstadt, lakkaberries and Midsommar berries. It’s a very tasty looking mixed berry latticed pie. Part of me wants to try making a spruce tip sugar- I know you can make lemon sugar, rub the oils from the zest into the sugar, and I’m curious if I can do that, maybe grind some up and sprinkle it over the top to caramelize on the pastry- but that’s entirely my own experimenting to do.
The in game model is more yellow, the inclusion of midsommar berries likely contributing to this. They are fantasy fruits, so it is a little harder to pin down some equivalents. Midsommar berries resemble Persimmons, yes, but their ranges tend to be more temperate. Then again, Nod Krai and the areas we specifically find them do appear to be particularly lush. On the other hand- in another recipe they appear in, Midsommar Torte, does have a very clear irl equivalent, which is strawberries. Lakkaberries meanwhile don’t resemble many fruits, but translate among many other names to Cloudberries, a yellow/amber colored aggregate drupelet like raspberries or blackberries. If you wanted to color match you could go for a custard, persimmons, or a lemon curd. There’s also options to pursue here with the dense crust. So it all just comes down to personal preference really.
Because I’m the one making the list- it was tempting for me to just say- it’s a Dutch baby with a lemon curd. But I wanted to talk about a couple extra options in case you did want to try exploring them.
As for the Midsommar Torte- it’s a traditional strawberry cake for summer time. Usually strawberries and cream. There was a recipe I found in Swedish that had custard, lemon curd, and it looked like a treat. I tried my best to find one in English that came close, but it seems that people have their own variations on it. This one however had a curd, which seemed closer to the game version, even if it’s less traditional.
Last off from the Speranza Menu, we have the Lakkaberry Madame. This recipe is one that threw me for a loop at first, but ultimately- it’s a fruity acidic twist on a glazed chicken roast. While you can find yogurt marinated chicken as a substitute for the smetana, I found it hard to find a recipe that included both yogurt and the berries, and felt the yogurt alone lacked the spirit of the recipe. So I opted for a balsamic raspberry glazed chicken instead.
Next up- we’re going to start talking about some of the other regions Genshin has to offer. Linnea has canonically travelled to a few of them by this point. So we are going to Natlan.
First introduced in her trailer, in her story quest with Mualani, as well as with her companion naturalist archive- the evidence that Linnea has been to Natlan is everywhere. So I thought it would be interesting to include recipes that could reflect some of her journey across teyvat as well- reflecting some of the other regions specialities and her travels.
We know she interacted with Mualani, so the first thing that came to mind were the hot spring snacks that featured in the archon quest- namely the saurus crackers. To me, the recipe definitely suggested more of a short buttery biscuit, but made with cornmeal or a cornflour. Though it wasn’t exactly what I had initially had in mind, I was able to find some Mexican corn flour cookies that fit the bill, and even has some chocolate dipped versions if you wish to try them- and I do prefer chewier cookies to be completely honest with you.
Another scene from the trailer that really caught my attention honestly isn’t very long- it’s just a short clip of a dazed goat and penguin on the ground as Linnea is on the search. But it stuck out to me- because I know that spot. Those are local legends, that’s Ironclaw and Battlegoat. Casually defeated in the pursuit of a white capybara. So I desperately wanted to include something from the collective of plenty. This unfortunately gave me more trouble than I thought it would. Do you go for more of a chocolate lava cake to reference the volcano like the recipe in game, or try to replicate the “fruit juice” recipe that is basically just a chocolate protein shake? In the end, I went with a summery corn salad recipe with lime, tomato, avacado, cilantro and onion to get the classic flavors as well as similar visuals to the in game “Forest of Color” recipe.
The next recipe takes us to the Easy Breeze resort while returning simultaneously to talking about Carl Linnaeus as we get to enjoy a refreshing drink. Namely, as I get to talk about dumb linguistic things, and history. Which in this, starts with his father attending college and adopting a permanent surname in admissions rather than the traditional patronymic at the time. The name he adopted was Linnæus, after a specific kind of tree. A Linden tree, or sometimes called a European lime, despite not being all that closely related to limes or even citrus trees! And another fun fact is that while researching Natlan and it’s real world equivalents is that quenepa berries do have a name- they’re called the spanish lime, and they’re not citrus either! So fuck it, enjoy agua fresca of lime, and pineapple, courtesy of the not limes squared double negative turning positive rule, and the pineapple mascots of that resort. I don’t care anymore.
There’s actually a way you can make a bridge back to Nod Krai, though I hadn’t expected it at the time. It’s certainly an odd way to come full circle- made even more hilarious by the fact it came in a rabbit hole with the very silver capybara that Linnea had spent all that time searching for before returning only to find it back where her journey had begun.
Winter Icelea is an interesting plant. It’s a hardy plant, it has a mythological duality story with fae kings of Summer Oak and Winter Ice, it’s a symbol of the light keepers, it can even be edible when brewed into tea. And that got me thinking actually. Because, from the look of it, all of these things translate very well into a holly plant. And Yerba maté is just that, a traditional tea, made from a specific South American variety of holly, but still a very fitting kind. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, and the traditional method of using a gourd, metal straw and the intricacies of pouring to the side might make it a little inaccessible to people unfamiliar, it’s still something I wanted to share and encourage people to look into.
Fontaine, I ended up playing rather fast and loose. We know significantly less about her path through Fontaine, much less actual locations and more broad strokes. It can be summed up neatly- she nearly got arrested trying to befriend the melusines, and only avoided prison after the misunderstanding was resolved.
At first I took a look at the Fontaine recipes, and quickly started running into issues when trying to narrow down which ones I thought I could feasibly use for this section. I knew I wanted to use the conch madeleine, and thought that using an orange flavored one to reference the abundant Bulle fruit of the region as well as the fossils would be fun. We even spot one in her story quest, and though traditional molds look different, it’s still a fun reference. But after that- it just stalled.
I realized somewhere along the way that I didn’t want to be just looking at in game recipes and copy and pasting them here, seeing what matched and what didn’t. What made sense, what she could’ve encountered- sure that was part of it, I could argue all I wanted that it doesn’t make sense for her to queue up for the Hotel Debord exclusive cake, or use recipes from there in general because of the price point, or that since she wasn’t actually arrested that the recipes you can find in Meropide would similarly be off limits- it turned the whole exercise once I reached Fontaine into an exercise in frustration once I started looking at it that way. And I’m doing this for fun. So I took a bit more of a creative approach here and thought of maybe starting with the melusine she eventually does make friends with.
Linnea only meets a melusine in Nod Krai, Mamere, when following in the wake of the pink frostfin whale. Superstition attributes it good luck, so I decided to do some research. Turns out in France, fish has some good luck associated with it, specifically happiness, as well as some slightly more mischievous connotations as well- being somewhat synonymous with a certain pranks based holiday.
While initially I thought fish bread was bread shaped like a fish, turns out pain de poisson is much more similar to the in game Fontaine Aspic, a terrine of fish. Though I couldn’t quite get the mental image of a fish shaped bread from my head, so I kept looking- this time on purpose for more of a fish shaped pastry for the purposes of this list.
In between salmon en croute and braided curry fishes I can’t even name- I eventually found a sweet April Fools “Poisson d’Avril” feuilleté.
Another piece of lucky symbolism is a pig, and though a lemon pig in particular might not be very French, I thought the flavors would pair well together. Especially when I saw a recipe advertising escalopes with pine nuts- it seemed a little too perfect for a French dish themed around a chance meeting in Nod Krai.
Finally, I had wanted to include some kind of tempura within the recipes. Initially I went looking for pork but well- we ended up with the escalopes above. There had been a bit of a pun I was looking to make with tempera paint, traditionally made with egg as a binding agent- though hypothetically you could use blood as one as well. Or as a substitute in baking, though apparently the results will not rise as much- the coagulants will help bind, but I imagine it’s a bit harder to incorporate air. That, and Mameres original paints used crystallized blood anyways, which makes this a bit moot point anyways.
While a beer batter is not the same as tempura, it was close, and it does fit the bill for fish and chips. So we wrap up this section with another interesting cross regional recipe, with a fried fish sandwich like the one found in Mondstadt, sold by a woman from Not Krai, while the main ingredient is fried fish like a popular dish from Fontaine.
Sumeru
Sumeru was a hard one. It was in some ways the secondary region I first got excited about, spotting the same mushroom from Tighnaris trailer in her presentation. Then I had done “field research”, exploring in game around Gandharva Ville, seeing what food could reasonably be found- fish, zaytun peach, and rose, alongside the food the hunters offered. And then I nearly talked myself out of it, wondering if perhaps her knowledge was more second hand, as her trailer mentioned an encyclopedia, and the segment was brief- could the visuals be more symbolic? It wasn’t until I talked to her about rishoboland tigers, and dusk birds and spinocrocodiles that I finally got my confirmation and confidence to put this admittedly very short section on the list.
Because really… even if I make justifications about pita pockets, ridiculous unseasoned mushroom plates, selva salad or not… the part that really captured my imagination and I knew I really wanted to put onto this list was a recipe that captured something between Sumeru, her voice line about the desert, and the golden Sumeru rose.
“Sleep, close your eyes. Yon golden slumber summons thee, wandering sand. Drink not that bitter salt water, for the sorrows of tomorrow have gone away.”
The line is a little jarring against the other weather based lines, a fragment of a poem being quoted. It’s also pretty evocative, and as I realized later, familiar. I already knew I wanted to focus on regional specialties and plants, but the special golden Sumeru roses from the world quest only add another layer to that- and being found in the desert as well? Even better. So what recipe works with this? Well. If we look at the song Linnea is quoting, I think that this Semiya Payasam recipe works quite nicely. For a more in game version- I found a rather interesting labneh recipe someone made based off the game, if you’re interested in checking it out!
If you made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
Okay. This wasn’t the project I was working on initially- I actually asked a friend for one of their favorite genshin characters to procrastinate on the other list I’ve been working on in the meanwhile. Still looking to get that one finished within this month- but it’s a lot longer and I wanted to get out a relatively short and fun project in the meantime. So let’s get on with it.
Sigewinne is a neat character who stumped me for a while because at first there wasn’t a lot of clues to work with. She’s a melusine doctor, and works in a beauty column. A lot of her profile goes towards exploring that rather than nutrition, except when it goes out of its way to highlight that she as a melusine doesn’t really understand human food because she sees it very differently than we do. The purple snake? meat in the prison meals, her milkshakes that are apparently made by her blending every good nutritious thing together (no wonder Wriothesley thinks they taste of despair) and her lack of comment on food gifts made it kinda hard to work with at first.
Not to say you can’t work with it! But it meant you had to take a more creative approach.
Starting with what we do have to work with- her specialty dishes, and the food within Meropide prison. Her special dish is based off the Bulle soufflé, which is orange soufflé. This grand mariner soufflé is a good simple translation of that before we get into the second interpretation- which is this meat soufflé, which attempts to bring the strange meat into the dish itself rather than on the side. Most of the recipes I found looking for this seemed to use potatoes as a layer instead of a rising soufflé, so this one caught my eye as having the egg layer on top of the more savory one.
The next step is obviously the milkshake… best I can do for that is a protein milkshake. The more you add to it, the more lore accurate it will be. If you’re looking for a particularly bad protein powder to add to the mix, I’ve found pea based ones can be particularly hard to incorporate smoothly, leading to chalky and unpleasant textures. Or maybe you could look into cottage cheese milkshakes? That’s another particularly wild diet trend. Some ingredients just don’t work very well in some contexts, and cottage cheese is one of them. I hear they’ve even made an ice brand with it.
Finally…. There is something interesting to be said about the resemblance of the snake meat from the desert, the consecrated beasts, and the concept of Eucharist rites and consumption of godly flesh in genshin. But I’m not sure if that’s what Sigewinne is going for, or if I should go looking for recipes for communion wafers either. While there is something to be said for keeping simple food, bread and protein, while someone’s recovering from pushing themselves, the mushroom, cucumber and… spongy thing in the strange meal is a little confusing. So all these thoughts ultimately culminated in putting a zucchini bread recipe in here?
Here I started taking a few steps back, wanted to focus on her more generally. Sigewinne origin story has her turn human shaped because of her teacher, a “witch”, and the very fairy tale associations that brings made me want to include something with apples in the mix as a result. I ultimately settled on an invisible apple cake, though the joke of her mentor disappearing is maybe a bit mean. (I personally recommend baking in cupcake tray for this recipe, as the smaller area means a more consistent bake.)
The next thing I focused on was more the melusines, than just Sigewinne specifically. We get an entire series of quests to get to know them in the village, and it’s such a lovely place I couldn’t help but add a couple recipes in homage. The obvious starting place is in poissonchant pie, or the real life Cornish stargazey pie. This one even has bacon!
The next step I took went more towards our dear friend Consanzeana, with her lovely flower garden. I loved that quest, and her description of the flowers really captures the imagination too- so I used some of the descriptions as inspiration for a couple of the recipes here. First off- from Paimons misunderstanding of the vegetable garden and the lovely rainbow roses, there’s a fun rainbow vegetable pie.
The next idea was a lot harder to find satisfactory results for. I’m still not sure about them, but when she described the clear silk flowers, I really wanted to find some crystal dumplings with a floral filling. And while there are floral crystal dumplings- the traditions behind them are very different than what I had pictured in my minds eye. So in the end, there’s a few recipes here that I picked out. A shumai recipe that looks like a chrysanthemum, like the silk flowers, a vegan teochew dumpling, and a couple colorful chor muang recipes.
Finally, I looked at her trailers and got a couple ideas from one specifically. In one there’s a drink in the background that’s straight up one of the in game drinks- which looks like a mint limeade, but the more interesting one one I’ll be leaving off on was a romaritime flower tea she was presenting to Navia, Clorinde and Lynette. It made me think of a flower we have that’s known for its own fantastical blue coloring- butterfly pea flower tea. If you want to reflect the trailer, steep longer to bring out the more bitter notes. To add a more magical look, edible glitter/ luster dust into drinks will match the Fontaine aesthetic of pretty mysterious liquid.
Been working on a character recipe kit for fun and I might have to put a read more on this one 😭. I’ve not finished the first segment but I’m already yapping so much. Definitely gonna end up longer than most, if not all of the other lists so far. Let’s see if we can get the muse under control by the time it comes out.
If there’s any good news about it, it’s unlikely that I’ll have a character get this carried away in scope (I even removed a segment- there was meant to be another but I didn’t know if there was enough of a sample size to conform it) and that working slowly and letting my brain pick at the tasks does help with not getting burnt out and overwhelmed about the whole thing.
I had been working on a decked out recipe kit, but then Tango started working on Decked Out 3. So now I’m torn between waiting and making a comprehensive decked out kit (which would require waiting for it to be completed, and then played to understand the levels and ideas) or just working on the first two and then having a specific thing for it? I’m not sure yet.
While doing the ghost type Pokémon list, I started having more and more ideas for the Hisuian Zorua. So I decided to break it off, and make a longer list for our favorite snow ghost specifically.
Last time, I left off with a train of thought about Pomegranates, and the connection to the myth of Persephone. The grief and rage of Demeter, and that first bitter winter where she swore she would never let any living thing grow unless she saw her daughter again reminded me of the bitterness and cold that is a part of this snowy, vengeful spirit.
Finding a way to bridge that gap proved simple. Cold, and the pomegranates of that myth turned into a cold pomegranate sorbet. But I wasn’t quite done with thinking about the Pokémon.
The line is an interesting one, chased out by humans, out competed by Pokémon, lingering in a new form powered by bitterness and resentment. Following that train of thought lead me to think of other things. Artichoke hearts, how tomatoes are a nightshade plant, how bitter things are often poison.
Keeping on that train of thought, stuffed artichoke hearts seemed like a fitting option. Add some salty Parmesan, and you have layers of potential symbolism. Slightly salty, slightly bitter, but warm and cheesy with a sweeter outlook.
The last one that came to mind on this train of thought was almonds, as bitter almonds break down into cyanide and it’s said it smells like them too. This almond biscotti recipe is hopefully much less toxic. Biscotti are twice baked, and I thought it would be kinda fun to give it to a creature who’s lived twice over.
The next section is more to do with various forms of inspiration, from the game to the series of animated videos, to some real life examples. Starting off with something from the Hisuian Snow series of videos, I wanted to include a recipe for leek and potato soup. It’s a warm, hearty wintery dish that really helps warm you up, and seemed fitting considering the olive branch and subsequent friendship started with a plant that looked very similar.
The next thought was to take some inspiration from the game itself, as well as the region it was based on. Considering the whole old Gateau thing, I was surprised to learn that potato mochi wasn’t just in the game, but had some basis in Hokkaido, the region Sinnoh is based on.
In the game of PLA, though, you can use different foods to lure Pokémon. While I had to rely on Serebii for the information, I found it interesting that the preferred ones for Zorua were plump beans and hearty grains. I had been initially thinking of going more for a rice flour cake, like a butter mochi muffin akin to the Jubilife muffin- but. It didn’t quite sit right. Instead I found this Baghali Polo, Persian dill rice made with a variety of beans. I’d personally use fava beans for it, as the game reminds me a bit more of broad beans than lima, but the recipe accounts for other options too.
Moving back to Hokkaido, research was fascinating, but left me somewhat stymied. There’s a lot to the island, but finding something that specifically fit around the Alabaster Icelands. The abundance of dairy, fresh produce and fishing is a very interesting thing to lean on, particularly as Snowpoint city definitely had sea access considering the ferry- it was hard to figure out what to include.
Starting off though is Sapporo soup curry. It definitely leans more into Hokkaido agricultural side than anything else with a lot of vegetables, which can be prepared a number of ways. I grabbed a couple of recipes for this one before moving onto the next recipe, which is this Ishikari Nabe, or Hokkaido salmon hot pot. Apparently the miso is a typical addition for the region.
Then there’s the more general section. There was a lot of research done into foxes, and I couldn’t decide which specific one to base my references on with Hisuian Zorua. Do I lean on the arctic fox on the color? Do I go for a fox native to the United States, as Unova was where the original zorua appear. Do I base it on the red fox, which range can extend into arctic fox ranges? Hisuian zorua was out competed, do I look at how arctic foxes are struggling with the red foxes, or do I look specifically into the Ezo red fox native to Hokkaido? Ultimately I ended up just going in circles.
Bridging the gap between the game and foxes in general, I decided to go with onsen eggs after seeing Snowfall Hot Spring on the map. Eggs are very appetizing for foxes, so when I went for another recipe for this part, I couldn’t help but include some empanadas de pino, which, among other things, includes some boiled egg. (I personally prefer them with more than just a quarter of one, but I can just add more to my own.)
Then there’s a couple meatier options. Roasted rabbit with white wine and bacon is a fun choice, and you could make an argument about the native rabbit species in Sinnoh being found in the northern regions around the Alabaster Icelands. The next option I went for was a pesto chicken saltimbocca, with tomatoes and burrata and a truly mouthwatering description.
Finally, the last recipes are more sweet and loose with its inspirations. I could ramble about nuts and fruit and foraging, make some excuses. But to be perfectly honest, the Russian tea cake recipe is just plain tasty, nutty and sweet even if the name is a little misleading, and reminds me a bit of snowballs. And the bourbon soaked cherry pavlova looked a treat, and quite on theme with its red and white color scheme. All in all, I had a lot of fun putting together all these recipes. It’s kinda funny. Going into this I thought that I would end up with a lot more sweets than I did. I wish everyone a very happy spooky season, and that you enjoyed the rabbit hole a month in the making.
Hi, do you think you could do recipes relating to Ghost Pokémon, maybe some Lavender Town inspired ones as well? Your posts are so well written, I commend your research efforts and enjoy reading them :)
Thank you! That means a lot. Due to how general the request is, I tried to balance it between a more general spooky vibe, some of the classic ghost types, as well as a few more specific ghost type Pokémon to work off of. It ended up being a more sweets oriented list, which while fitting for the season, is kind of limited. I hope that’s okay!
Starting right off the bat- I wanted to address the Lavender Town part of the request. There’s all kinds of hauntings, themes of death and memory, and the name is also rather evocative too. There’s some really interesting history around funeral food and customs like funeral feasts, corpse cakes or funeral pies. There’s a lot of traditions you can look into regarding mourning and burials that are genuinely rather interesting. From sky burials, to the day of the dead- there’s a lot of fascinating ways that we handle the concept of death. So let’s get into that.
The first few recipes take inspiration rather simply from the name of Lavender Town, but I also wanted to include some of the locations foggy atmosphere. So what better way to kick that off than a drink like a London Fog, and some earl grey lavender cookies while we’re at it. If cake is more your thing, I managed to find a recipe that included lavender three different ways. Lastly, I decided to go with a classic lemon lavender combination, with a slight twist. A lavender and lemon poppy seed cake, for the lovely flowers associations with death, peace, and remembrance.
Now time for the ghost types. For some classic Pokémon found here, there’s the original Kanto line of Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar- as well as Marowak, due to its importance in the story of Lavender Towns graveyard.
For the original line, the first idea I had actually came from its middle stage, Haunter. There’s a kind of cookie called langue de chat, or cats tongues (there’s also a kind of chocolate with a similar name, but I don’t think I can really provide a recipe for it. So a cookie sandwich with chocolate seemed fitting to cross between them)
The second Pokémon I decided to focus on was the Marowak. It felt fitting to use pan de muerto, both for the coloration of the sweet bread, but also ties more into the death aspect of things. Then I thought about maybe adding an entry for Alolan Marowak too, so Kalua pork ended up on the list as well.
I struggled most with Gastly. Gengar has a bunch of interesting directions you could go in, something with dark chocolate maybe for the shadows, or maybe pull from the idea that Clefairy and Gengar are linked, which could further take you towards the idea of Mt Moon, and beyond. Which is how I ended up with Gengars recipe, between a potential werewolf joke with tomatoes scientific name, and the color of its eyes + shadow associations, a balsamic tomato recipe seemed like a good fit.
But, for Gastly? A little harder. Ultimately I just ended up thinking about how a lot of foods we have are technically poison. Spices, coffee, peppers- list goes on. You just need to have an airy texture, like coffee foam, and you’d be well on your way. For something a tad more substantial- I ended up going for a coffee mousse instead.
A Pokémon that stood out that combines both ghost type and theme of the dead was actually the pumpkaboo line, specifically with the recipe calabaza en tacha, a traditional treat during day of the dead.
While less associated with day of the dead, another recipe that came to mind was sopaipillas pasados. They’re a great comfort food, and funnily enough one I thought of while looking at Gimmighoul, because I thought making “coins” out of the pancakes in citrus syrup would be a fun way to reference them. But considering they’re made with pumpkin? It’s a fun recipe that bridges the gap between the two. Finally, to try and squeeze another savory option onto this list, a cheesy stuffed pumpkin recipe seemed in order.
After that, there were a couple more sporadic picks across some ghost Pokémon that just stood out to me.
Then there was a recipe where I found I could reference a lot of different Pokémon. Lunala, gengar, or others but. For this recipe, a blueberry meringue pie, I went more to Driftloon. While part of it might be bias, I remember when people were talking about how some pokedex entries were disturbing- and they pointed out Driftloons child stealing as an example. But the color of the pie, the little meringue swirls on top like the little cloud, and even the inclusion of citrus to bring out the flavor reminded me of the little guy.
Jumping forward a bit, there’s Litwick and Cofagrigus. I really couldn’t resist the idea of some crepes Suzette for litwick, cmon you light them on fire- and consider the color the alcohol tends to burn off with? Seemed fitting. Meanwhile for our sarcophagus friend, it seemed fitting to pull from some of the best preserved records of food from King Tutenkhamens tomb. A honeyed date recipe, and a more recent beef hawawshi recipe.
Finally, one of the Pokémon I kept coming back to was Hisuian zorua. The question was how to integrate things. Do I use a pomegranate, for mythological weight of Hades and Persephone? Should I try to tie it in with the bitterness of the Pokémon, and the winter inflicted by Demeter to tie it back towards the snow it appears in? Or do you lean more into colors and something smaller, softer. Meringue, or cherries. The first option was a little too good to ignore though. So I hope you enjoy this pomegranate sorbet.
Inspired somewhat by my groups shenanigans in a Pokémon ttrpg, it was really fun to do a dive into some foods that you can connect to them somehow. Plus, dinosaurs are just cool! I had a lot of ideas for some, and less for others- and this isn’t based on preference. Some I genuinely had no idea what to do for. That being said, hope you guys enjoy
Helix fossil/omanyte. Ammonite
At risk of being a bit boring, all I could bring to mind here was roll cake. So many different kinds tho. Do you go for a white and blue roll cake with a butterfly pea flower filling to get more the colors of the Pokémon, or lean more into this coffee roll cake for the fossil? Personally, I liked the look of this one, a caramel crunch roll cake. Lastly, this one just seemed like a solid recipe, if you want a simpler one.
Dome fossil/Kabuto. Trilobite
This was one of the trickier ones for me, but ultimately I went with the vibe of more of a hot fudge or Oreo chocolate sundae, as the banana added the necessary colors between them. Add some cherries to top and you even have the eyes.
Old amber/aerodactyl. Pterodactyl
When it comes to this Pokémon, I found it easier to go more towards the fossil for my inspirations. This honey hard candy shares the look of amber, and the crunch, while these peach gummy rings now mimic the color that you sometimes see in the art depicting it.
Root fossil/lileep. Crinoid
Shrimp cocktail. What more is there to say?
That being said, if you want to step away from the appearance of lileep, and more towards its evolution, another option is something like this ceviche.
The final thought was along the lines of gochujang. It can get pretty dark when fermenting- and it’s got a more interesting flavor profile. So the final shrimp recipe here is a Korean gochujang shrimp
Claw fossil/anorith. Anomalocaris
This one I actually got the idea from a friend but. Croissants do kinda look like anoriths little front claws. I went with matcha to match the pokemons color. This recipe uses croissants as a base, be it store bought or homemade. Considering how time consuming making croissants from scratch are, I’ll leave a from scratch recipe too, but up to your own discretion if you’ll actually try it out.
Skull fossil/cranidos. Pachycephalosaurus
Despite being the game I started out with, I struggled the most this Gen. I ended up going with deviled eggs, to get the kinda shape from the head and underbite, while the paprika adds a reddish hue that can be linked to its shiny.
Armor fossil/Shieldon. Chasmosaurus
Similarly I struggled with these guys, but I eventually decided on some macarons to get the shiny flat kinda face plate in the end.
Cover fossil/tirtuga. Archelon
The first recipe here is a chocolate turtle, cuz I couldn’t exactly resist the pun.
However, the tirtuga line is said to be a predator of both land and sea, so for one of the savory options on this list, there’s some surf n turf.
Plume fossil/Archen. Archaeopteryx
This one I went more towards a moment in the anime- namely, the fruits that appeared alongside Archen. What better treat than an old recipe like Maamoul? This one has orange water, which is closeish to the appearance of that mystery fruit. The other one uses semolina flour, depending on your preferences.
Jaw fossil/tyrunt. Tyrannosaurus Regina
This one was both a struggle and gave me lots of ideas. I wanted something spicy with a bit of crunch, so I thought something like katsu curry could be a good option. But those aren’t often very spicy. So here’s a couple links. Including to a Reddit comment for a spicier version. And a spicy coconut chicken curry to go along with the more spicy vibes.
The other thought I had was more towards the glorious ruff around the neck that Tyrantrum has. I figured a coconut macaroon could make for an interesting choice for the king of dinosaurs.
Sail fossil/amaura. Amargasaurus
For sweet little amaura, my first thought was towards Halo halo. The colors and the coolness of this icy desert felt fitting for the line
The second thing that came to mind were these many layered mooncakes, with some truly spectacular colors. (This one also has a sesame Totoro one bonus)
The Abominations
The Galar fossils are unfortunate freaks of nature and I almost didn’t include them. But they are technically fossils, so despite the hate I have in my heart for Cara Liss, I ended up pulling something together for them.
Dracozolt
It felt fitting to start this list off with this recipe. One pot spaghetti, with kale, tomato and lemon- because you really do just throw all those fossils in together huh. Add some chicken for protein, if you want to reference the bird half a little more.
Dracovish
For the next abomination I went with these… fish “tacos”. I don’t really think they qualify as tacos but that’s what the recipe calls these appetizers. The phyllo pastry’s jagged edges reminded me of the teeth, and the slaws mix of ingredients remind me of the tails colors.
Arctozolt
These ones got a lemon blueberry muffin with a streusel kind of crumbly topping. The shape and colors largely inspired this one.
Arctovish
Gonna be real I struggled with this one before finding a recipe for sayadieh, or, an upside down fish recipe. I trust that one is self explanatory.
Bonus round
Because not all of the good dinosaurs in Pokémon happen to be fossils
Relicanth. Coelacanth
Going in, I knew I wanted to include this living fossil, but was unsure how to go about it. A fatty fish dish to reflect the pokedex? Or perhaps focus more on the colors and do something with tomatoes, meat, or cherries and chocolate. Ultimately I went with salmon on rye bread, both for the fish and the color of the bread.
Tropius. Sauropod
I have gone on long talks with friends about this Pokémon and agriculture. Because bananas. Gros Michel. This Pokémon drives me nuts with the sheer possibilities it has because what if there’s heritage breeds of tropius. What strains of banana does it grow. There are Pokémon cards with art of these guys in the time of the dinosaurs I need to know what banans they have. But anyways. The recipe is a fun one. Banana leaf rice pudding, Khao Tom mud.
Lapras. Plesiosaur
Anyways. Keeping it simpler here. I went with a blue ocean themed vanilla pudding, to account for both blue and the cream underbelly. These Earl Grey macarons meanwhile make for a good shell to go with it. (As well as an in joke)
Meganium. Sauropod
This was one of the easiest ones. Hibiscus. I went with a hibiscus panna cotta, as well as a hibiscus drink called Sobolo
Sceptile. Dilophosaurus
I ended up going with a dandelion salad, for the bright yellow orbs on the back, as well as the pointy leaf blades on its arms. I possibly could’ve gone for a pine instead, but decided against that one.
Mamoswine. Wooly Mammoth
There’s two recipes that came to mind. A cold weather kind of recipe of pork chops with apple, and a stuffed pork loin roast.
Chien Pao. Saber tooth tiger.
For our final Pokémon on this list- we start off with these crystal candy gems called kohakutou, I figured between the gem like patterns in the fur as well as the “fangs” was rather fitting. The second choice was based more on the shiny form- some rich hot chocolate to warm the bitter soul. (And some hot chocolate cookies to go along with it)
Oh boy do I. Tango of Tek variety has a lot of stuff to work with, and he’s just a blast to work with. This man ranges from cartoon nonsense to dungeon crawlers, and it’s a ton of fun. I could probably do a recipe kit based on decked out alone! Here’s a few things from a few different seasons!
Starting off with a funky build from season nine- the piglin bartering Ferris wheel. There’s a lot of things I could do for fair food, like the classic funnel cake. But cmon, I couldn’t resist fried pork rinds. They’re a tad more fitting here.
In season eight, there were many classics I could draw from. The HASA program? Space food, or maybe the killer moon bunnies could get a taste of their own medicine in the form of stew or roasted rabbit- (or maybe just stick to a classic snowskin moon cake). But one of the things that I’m reminded of besides the classic Moon Big was actually the big eyes, with their gas stations. And growing up, the food I associated most with them was honey buns. So here’s a recipe on how to make some at home. And as another reference here- some pickled vegetables from his early season pickle farm.
Season seven brings possibly some of the most references I can make. The og Decked Out, the most literal cartoon nonsense with Toon Towers, the Boomers. But they’re also some of the less specific. There’s the big cartoon egg and frying pan of his farm on his base, but I could also make an argument away from it for later more…. rancher related foods. I could do a pie with a beautiful lattice for a silly cartoon spin on him, but I could also make it a reference to hungry hermits by including a pumpkin pie with a bit of honey. I have so much love for this season- but it’s also one of the harder ones to plot out for.
Ultimately I decided to add a fizzy drink for the boomers (complete with a pop rocks rim), and a couple decked out references. In the first one, there was the Blackstone Keeps web of lies, which had a cake to go along with it. A Black Forest cake seemed pretty on theme. In Deced Out 2- there was apparently an unused card called pork chop power, which I thought was a funny enough excuse to add to this list.
Finally- there’s the Ranchers. God I wanted to do so much for this. Grits, gravy, biscuits, beans. Eggs, mutton or beef, griddle cakes. I ended up doing a lot more research into this side of ranching and cowboys after reining in Decked Out. Even some more personal thoughts make it in too. I hope you enjoy the recipes I ended up picking out for these ones.
As I alluded to earlier- I ended up with an eggs recipe here. Specifically huevos rancheros. It’s a bit more than just a fried egg, and well it has ranchers in the name. I couldn’t pass this one up. Similarly, a classic pinto bean chili seemed like a no brainer.
Next was a meatier option. Pan seared steak and potato. Gravy is usually made by deglazing a pan, which this will certainly add some nice flavors to if you want to try it, and transitions nicely into gravy and biscuits.
Finally- a more personal association with those two of some rather indulgent cherry pancakes. I hope you enjoy.
In the down time between requests, when the inbox is empty- I’m thinking of putting together some recipe kits of my own just for fun. Would anyone be interested in seeing those? It’s been quiet lately and I’ve got a few ideas in mind already.
may i ask for some recipes themed around dnd silver dragons? a bit of a history nerd, struggles to eat most meats but chicken and a bit of a sweet tooth but anything is welcome :D
Sure thing! It’s oddly fitting that you like history- in dnd, silver dragons are usually local to cold mountain ranges, and are not only known for their icy dragon breath, but also their hoarding tendencies. Each dragon in dnd has a specific type of treasure to hoard. Silver dragons in particular have a fondness for items of historical value. Art objects, old treasure, and history.
As it turns out, humans have a pretty long history when it comes to food. What better way to flex than to have grand displays, opulent feasts, complicated creations, expensive ingredients? To show off your wealth and influence? Are you wealthy enough to import a royal fruit with a months long voyage? To afford expensive refined sugar for decadent desserts? To keep up with the latest trends? It truly is quite a rabbit hole to fall down here.
The fun part of this is figuring out how exactly, a silver dragon would flex. Fruits that are hard to come by in icy mountains perhaps, or dishes with a story attached? Foods from their local areas? Here’s a few interesting recipes, I hope you enjoy.
Let’s start off with the king of royal fruits- the noble pineapple. Expensive and rare at the time of introduction to Europe, these things skyrocketed in popularity from descriptions and became used many places as a symbol. It took a lot of money and time to get a fruit across an ocean- and many didn’t even get to eat them, it was such a status symbol it would be rented out and displayed. I can imagine it might be a bit tricky to grow pineapples in icy mountains, so I’m sure the allure of such a fruit would also play into a dragons interest. This historical pineapple tart was made when pineapples grew a bit more readily available to actually eat, but we’re still expensive enough to be a status symbol.
Next we have a much more modern treat- the Swedish princessa torte. Marzipan was a popular part of noble dishes, often as decoration, and this cake is no exception.
Another Swedish dish is older and a bit more well known as the dish that killed a king- semlor (or semla, if you’re only having one) featured in a feast, though you may have better luck with a more modern recipe than the king did.
When I started looking into stories- one of them stood out to me. Lohengrin, a famous German opera. Besides the opera, which features in several murals in the rather famous castle Neuschwanstein, it has an even longer history as a story of the swan knight. It seemed like a perfect thing for a silver dragon to hyperfixate on.
I did not realize how long that rabbit hole would take me. So let’s get into it.
Chef Escoffiers Peach Melba was initially called peaches au cygne, served upon an ice sculpture of a swan for a production of Wagners Lohengrin opera, though it was later renamed after an opera singer.
Another recipe that’s a little easier on execution are these swan shaped profiteroles, similar to another dish that was served for a production of the opera featuring a chestnut filling.
The play is set within the French region of Alsace, and one of the local specialties is a dish called Torche aux marron. Unfortunately, it seems that this dish has been so fully eclipsed by the Mont Blanc that they seem virtually indistinguishable unless you are French. And no one seems to agree what a Mont Blanc contains outside of the main three ingredients. I’ve seen recipes with savoiyardi biscuits, raspberry jam and macarons, pastry circle bases or whole shells- as well as a lot of disagreements of where it’s from and who made it originally. So here’s a French recipe if you want to translate it. And a couple Mont Blancs if you want to give those a shot.
Speaking of theater- this time we’re going to ballet. Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy introduced a new instrument for the time, a celesta. But what are sugar plums? A rather popular confection from the Victorian era. Here’s an interesting, if technical and lengthy process, to make some.
French was the food and language of the courts for a while. It was the forerunner of haute cuisine and seeing as silver dragons like to disguise themselves- well. I could absolutely see them pulling some fairy tale nonsense of disguising themselves and knocking on the castle door asking for food.
This chicken fricassee may not have appeared on the tables of nobility- the meat of choice makes it harder to pin down- but dishes rather similar to it did.
In some courts, specifically Bavarian ones, alongside dishes like fricassee, you may have seen a side of red cabbage. Johann Rottenhöfer, a personal cook the king, was kind enough to record a recipe in his book that comes close to what we know today as apfelrotkohl, with its addition of apples.
Another rather historical dish takes us all the way to Rome with some Parthian chicken. This recipe offers some substitutions for ingredients we no longer have available at this time. (Silphium was just too good at it’s job, unfortunately.)
Carrots are another historical tidbit to visit. The orange carrot we know today was actually selectively bred to honor king William of Orange. While the Roman’s certainly also had carrots in their meals, you’d be more likely to find carrots served with particular spices, or arranged rather formally when it came to nobility. It’s a bit off beat from that, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain spiced carrot dessert- Halwa. Considering its wintery associations, I hope you can forgive me for adding it.
Finally- one of the oldest recipes I could find for this group of recipes, dating back to Mesopotamia rather than medieval Europe- we have Mersu.
As for drinks, there’s two ways you can go about things.
The first is an alcoholic drink with a fun name and a dark history- absinthe. Blamed for madness, and even death and murder- this drink was banned across many places in Europe. If our silver dragon happens to have a taste for slightly more morbid tales, like the semlor, then perhaps they’d like Death in The Afternoon, a drink popularized by Ernest Hemingway. Or, if you want to lean a little more into the pineapple flex- I found a more tropical cocktail playing on Absinthe’s other name of the green fairy- The Fairy Godmother.
For a non alcoholic drink, hot chocolate does have a long history too, starting with the Aztec Xocolatl. Tasting History has a fun spiced version of this drink, which could also be appealing to our dragons taste for history and dramatic stories…. But there is also other versions, and this Italian hot chocolate is rich, decadent, and thick. Both could easily make an appearance at the table.
There’s a lot of things I could’ve done, more things you could look into- there’s honestly so much history and I had a ton of fun looking into this topic. I really do hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I did learning about them :)
I dont have any restrictions and i also don't have any specifics for types of food.
I may have been zoo kept or i at least hung near humans. I'm not sure if that's of any help though 😅
Thank you!
- @snow-paw
Okay so, this was a fun one. Going off your request, it actually does help to know that you had some human exposure! To summarize very broadly- completely wild snow leopards have a very different diet from human acclimated ones (creating human animal conflicts when they hunt livestock) and zoos add even more difference to that. To roughly break down some of it- here’s some lists of foods a snow leopard could potentially hunt.
Wild Diet- blue sheep and ibex, marmot, musk deer, civet, hare, pika, game birds
Human acclimated diet- livestock, goat, sheep, donkey, ox, cattle, camel, yaks, and horses when available
Zoo diet- a special diet that depends on the zoo in question. fortified meat, bones, and the occasional thawed rabbit.
As you can see, that’s a pretty wide range in food! I tried to include recipes from within the snow leopards native range, while trying to keep in mind how easy it might be to source some of these ingredients, as well as include a bit of variety rather than sticking to something like a full paleo recipe list- which was interesting guidelines to work with. With all that said- Let’s get into it.
To start with- most of the zoo specific stuff. Bone broth can be very versatile, used in different things as a base and can help when your sick. Using it to supplement your overall diet would make it easy to include something across a variety of potential meals. Note, it does take a while to render, so you may want to use a crock pot or instant pot for a recipe like this one.
Next off- I wanted to get the rabbit recipes out of the way. You’ll usually find them in braised and in various kinds of stew, and this braised rabbit cacciatore is no exception. And here’s another rabbit stew.
Next, I’m moving towards probably the bulk of our recipes- and the much more regional. They’re less zoo but still very people oriented. You’re probably doing to see a lot of lamb recipes overall.
Starting off with Siberian lamb Pelmeni, with an additional one that has a recipe for a spiced adjika butter on the side- though it simplifies the filling in exchange. Be aware the first one is for making a Lot, and has a veg filling too- so don’t be afraid to either pare it down or use it to stock up the freezer- though I’d recommend trying them to see if you like them first. Nothing worse than stocking up only to realize you dislike something.
Next off, we have a couple Mongolian classics in the form of Khuushuur, and this Tsuivan, a fried dumpling (usually containing meat) and a meat noodle stir fry kind of dish respectively.
For some of the live stock recipes- I also wanted to include some live stock products as well. So- stuff like butter, cheese, and milk will appear too. Such as Bhutans Ema Datshi is a spicy, cheesy recipe that traditionally uses yaks cheese to mellow out the peppers.
In that vein, I also included this simple recipe for Tibetan Butter Tea, if you’re interested in trying it. It might be a better winter drink though, as the calorie dense drink really helps with staying warm and energetic in high, windy elevations.
Similarly- this Kashmiri Harisa is a rather rich mutton dish, while this dish from the same region is more of a lamb curry.
Finally, there is this North Indian style goat curry
Meanwhile- cheese like burrata or Mozarella can be made with ox milk- and might be a bit easier find. So if you’re ever craving something along those lines, these cheeses might be a good place to start. This recipe for fried burrata with some roasted tomato just looks nice, and people definitely get creative with it. Expect a lot of Italian style recipes if you go looking.
When looking to include gamier birds, while ptarmigan would work well for a snowy game bird I wanted to stick to a slightly more easily available one. As such- I was a bit hesitant to include a dish as complicated and technical as Peking Duck, but this homemade version manages to be crispy and tender still without specialized tools- just takes a lot of time in advance. If you’re willing to spend a day or two letting your duck sit in the fridge- go for it!
Finally, for our savory section… we are returning to a classic. A Stuffed Pumpkin- for enrichment :3
I also found a Shepard’s pie stuffed pumpkin too, but if you’d prefer one outside a pumpkin- it’s pretty delicious here too. Cottage pie is similar but uses beef instead.
Thinking of something sweet to include here was a bit tricky- but through a series of interesting research developments I found a couple of North Indian recipes. A milk based pudding called Rabdi, And this Kashmiri fish with dried fruit and spices called shufta (and butter, sugar, and paneer)
As a note, I do wish I had managed to find slightly more uses for goat on this list- as the misleading names and appearances of the blue sheep and ibex hide that they are actually in the goat family. But the list was getting long enough. It’s something to keep in mind if you want to do your own searching. I hope you have fun with this, and enjoy the recipes!
Okay- now that Artfight is over I have time to return to this blog. It might take be a little to get back into the swing of things (and recover physically, I did a lot of shrimping at the desk this year) but I’m gonna be getting on some of the recipe requests! Sorry for the wait!
Hey, could I request vegetarian recipes for a Vampire kin? Thank you in advance!
Sure thing! This one is a little trickier, but I’m willing to give it a shot. This time Im gonna lean a bit more into some of the folklore around them rather than recipes that are just red, meat and tomato based. I’ll be using the same rough guidelines of food that would be good for someone who’s a little anemic.
One of the more agreed upon depictions of vampires across cultures is arithromania, or the idea that throwing any sort of grain or similar granules would make them so distracted they’d be forced count them until the sun rose. Poppyseeds, millet, and rice seemed popular- but I went with some barley for these two Barley and Vegetable soups for the more savory options.
For slightly more sweet- I was torn between two poppyseed recipes, either with picking a more traditional European poppyseed roll, or a lemon poppyseed cake for the added citrus brightening it up. Ultimately- I decided on both.
The pale, burn in the sun elegant vampires we know today are a relatively newer invention, evolving a lot over time. Prior to the super pale depictions of vampires were a little more familiar with today, historically some of those depictions were more ruddy, round and bloated, especially after feeding. Combine with a cereal crop with some iron content, and the round red berries? Oatmeal cranberry bars felt fitting.
I’ve heard one of the ways to protect yourself from a vampire involved mixing blood with bread. So I got a couple beetroot bread recipes, one a more bread like sourdough, and a bit of fluffier looking one that reportedly pairs well with goat cheese.
Speaking of goats- there’s a couple creatures that are associated with vampiric tendencies, and goats specifically, though we probably wouldn’t recognize either as a traditional vampire. There’s the Greek empousa, a creature with a goat and copper leg that is said to drink blood, and the Latin American chupacabra, a creature said to drink blood of livestock and who’s name literally translates to goat sucker. So let’s throw in a couple goat cheese related recipes for fun.
- goat cheese and spinach quiche
- goat cheese tart with tomatoes
- goat cheese and walnut salad
Next I went to a bit more visual food items. Vegetarian kidney bean chili, and beetroot soup! It’s about as close/far I can get with some of the heavier meat/blood associations, but it’s the thought that counts.
Finally, I’m topping this all off with a drink. Blood Orange agua Fresca. Hope you enjoy!
hey! i'm a vigilante/anti-hero who is also a vampire (source is Complicated but i'm basically an oc at this point), and i don't really have any dietary restrictions other than no garlic, and i'd prefer somewhat easy to prepare foods so we can try making the recipes ourselves
Alright! Seeing as I don’t know what source the anti hero is from, Im gonna be focusing more on the vampire part, as I can’t really tie many references in or add specific regional cuisine. That being said- there’s a lot of stuff we could work with for the vampire part, ranging from colors, pop culture, and associations, to complimentary foods like acids, vitamin c, and iron. (Fun fact, if you’re anemic, these things help with the absorption of the iron in your food). Curiously- it’s almost easier to find anti vampire foods, but I did my best! So, let’s get into some vampire themed foods.
Starting off the list, I couldn’t help it. Paprika Hendl. I blame Dracula Daily for this one.
A tomato tear and share, this one is a video link to be clear, there are plenty of recipes like this in written form, but just didn’t quite capture the ingredients, process, and end result the way this did.
I wanted to add some kidney bean chili, both for the pun, and for the presence of many useful things. The legumes, the meat, and the red tomato sauce. Unfortunately, most of these use garlic or garlic powder in their ingredients. This one’s on the simpler side, but still seems satisfying.
You could also go for a bloody bolognese sauce paired with a longer, thicker and flatter pasta like papparadelle if you want to try playing with a bit more of a guts kinda vibe.
Shakshuka with some added beans. Once again returning to a vibrant red recipe, but this one adds some other forms of protein.
Some watermelon agua fresca, for a nice, red and hydrating drink in the recent heatwaves. Best served fresh from the fridge.
Red velvet cake (here’s a strawberry buttercream frosting if cream cheese isn’t your thing!)
Blood orange cake both for the name and stunning colors of this kind of citrus, as well as to help some of the other things go down nicely.
Sure thing! Mermaids have a long and storied history with humans and their imaginations. There’s something so evocative about it. Theres so many different kinds, different myths, different stories, that it’s honestly kind of hard to narrow a few recipes down! There’s so many places to take inspiration from, from stories like the little mermaid, to stories of drowned souls and sirens luring sailors to their doom.
I decided to split things into general inspirations, and more mythologized ones. I wanted to get a variety of recipes, so I may have stretched some of the recipes a bit farther than what might be immediately understood as mermaid inspired. I hope that’s alright, and that you enjoy!
Seas and seafoam
- starting off, we have an old fashioned sweet dish called a Seafoam salad, even if it’s more of a pudding.
- if you’re seeking a somewhat more adult recipe, here’s a link to a cocktail inspired by sirens and Seafoam
- though not quite seawater inspired, this raindrop cake certainly is an interesting treat that uses agar agar to solidify it, which is a compound from seaweed. Typically served with a simple syrup and some toasted soy bean flour alongside, you might be able to try something a little saltier and complex to go alongside it, like a sea salt caramel. It’s definitely a trickier recipe to execute, and takes a few liberties, but I thought it was interesting enough to include.
- Scaling it back a bit, this candied ginger recipe is a lot simpler to execute, and a classic aid for seasickness. Boiling the ginger first helps remove some of the spiciness to it, and I enjoyed cutting them into smaller pieces when I made them. I also botched the sugar syrup that it usually turns out with, but ginger sugar clusters are just as delicious if your syrup crystallizes.
- the first of our salmon recipes, this crab stuffed salmon is a decadently rich inclusion inspired more by the waters of Alaska and their lovely sea wolves.
- moving from the more general, the next stop is the Sargasso Sea. Golden seaweed, and a sanctuary for certain species of turtle and eels to raise their young- this golden fried eel seemed very fitting.
- similarly, I wanted to include a golden pasta, so I ended up with this golden onion and breadcrumb concoction. It’s a bit different than the toasty, nutty kind of associations I have with the sea, but toasting the spaghetti in the style of spaghetti all’assassina is still on the table
- while we’re here, why not try some salty seaweed soup?
- lastly, to round this out, here are a couple paella recipes to test out.
Myths and Mermaids
- starting us off is a trio of dishes, inspired by a story from the Isle of Man about a mermaid, a sailor, and an apple tree. It might not be what you think about when mermaids come to mind, but the descriptors of the man’s home led me to picking out this apple rose custard tart.
- then there was the fish, the herring the mermaid promised to help him find, in the form of this potato and herring stew
- lastly, to combine the two sides of it, I found a rather interesting pickled herring and apple salad.
- the little mermaid is a rather more well known story than that of the ben varrey, so I wanted to include a recipe paying respects to that. This salmon smørrebrød seemed a fitting reference to the land of Hans Christian Andersen.
- Green pasta. This one was more loosely based on the Slavic rusalka, said to have green hair. It might be a bit of a sillier inspiration, but the imagery really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.
Bonus- here’s a link to the tale of the ben varrey. It really was a charming story.
