A Stardew Valley Cooking Challenge!

5/80 recipes completed!

[stardewvalleycooking]

This week I made black berry cobbler! In the game, you learn this recipe via The Queen of Sauce in Fall of Year two, and it requires Blackberries, Sugar, and Wheat Flour.

This is truly a new fave of mine 😋 I did modify the recipe some, as I've made many a cobbler, but honestly the star of the show was the cinnamon biscuits on top! Flaky and delicious with the perfect crunch to accompany a sweet berry cobbler. Though definitely make sure to have some ice cream on hand to enjoy with this!

5/80

[stardewvalleycooking]

I made a Lucky Lunch or shrimp ceviche on a bed of greens 🦐 😋 ❤️

I'd never even heard of ceviche before this but when I visited my local butcher to get some fresh shrimp, he was actually full of tips! It's with his advice that I modified the recipe from the Stardew Valley cookbook. I didn't blanch my shrimp but instead soaked them overnight in a mixture of lemon and lime juice. The citric acid in the citrus juice breaks down the proteins in the shrimp and makes the meat safe to eat by destroying harmful bacteria. Otherwise I stuck to the book's ingredients and amounts.

In the game, you learn this recipe from The Queen of Sauce in spring of your second year. It calls for Sea Cucumber, Tortilla, and Blue Jazz. Next time I make this, I'll definitely look around for some edible flowers to include!

But this was good! I've always enjoyed Mexican food, and with the avocado and cilantro, this dish doesn't disappoint. Still, it was cold and reminded me very much of a salad. I might have enjoyed it more with a dressing of some kind.

4/80

[stardewvalleycooking]

Today I made Crab Cakes! A favorite from my childhood, but my family always just fried the premade ones. In Stardew Valley, you learn the recipe from the The Queen of Sauce during fall of year two. It calls for Crab, Wheat Flour, Egg, and Oil.

Once again, I used the official cookbooks recipe and included a side of peach salsa. It was all very tasty! The fried crab cakes were crisp, delicious, and paired surprisingly well with the salsa (which I was pretty dubious about while making). I did sub out the jalapenos some habanero honey 😋

3/80

[stardewvalleycooking]

Today I made the Pink Cake! In Stardew Valley, you can learn the recipe from The Queen of Sauce during the summer of your second year. It calls for Melon, Wheat Flour, Sugar, and Egg.

I used the official cookbook for mine 😉 so it's a yellow cake with a watermelon-strawberry jam filling and strawberry-cream cheese frosting. I had so much fun! The jam was tart and chunky while the cake was moist and the icing was like a pleasant strawberry cheesecake. The three elements worked really well together! It was balanced and not overly sweet. I did cut back on the lemon in the recipe as it seemed like quite a lot and added extra dried strawberry to the frosting to enhance the flavor.

If you wanted yours to be as tall as in the game, I would recommend doubling both the cake and icing but you should have plenty of jam.

2/80

[stardewvalleycooking]

I've cooked my very first dish - the Tropical Curry recipe! In game, you purchase the recipe from Gus while he's set up his stall at the Ginger Island Resort and it requires three ingredients: coconut, pineapple, and hot pepper.

I read the recipe from the official Stardew valley cookbook and used: pineapple, coconut oil, onion, bell pepper, Serrano pepper, garlic, ginger, thyme, Jamaican curry powder, veggie stock, coconut milk, gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, and cilantro.

It came out great! I couldn't get Jamaican curry powder in a timely manner so I went out and hunted down the individual spices to make the blend myself - the hardest thing to get was fenugreek seeds! I had never even heard of them before this but they smelled great! Definitely worth the trouble. And the curry itself had a wonderful, thick texture and was incredibly flavorful. The spicy from the peppers and the sweetness from the pineapple worked really well.

1/80

[stardewvalleycooking]

The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook by ConcernedApe and Ryan Novak was released May 14, 2024.

"Welcome to Stardew Valley, where each season brings a new crop of bountiful food to make for friends and family. From farm staples like veggies, fruit, milk, and eggs to foraged mushrooms and berries to fresh fish, there’s always something delicious to put on the table. These 50 recipes are based on in-game meals and food, allowing you to cook and eat all your home-grown and fresh-caught ingredients in real life. The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook is organized by season and has recipes from your favorite characters, including the Queen of Sauce and Gus at the Stardrop Saloon. Written in collaboration with independent game creator ConcernedApe and packed with original illustrations and food photography, The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook helps you bring the Valley’s incredible flavors to the dinner table, giving you the energy to take on the world."

As a longtime fan of Stardew and a lover of all things culinary, I've decided to cook every recipe in the game in real life! There are 80 different recipes total but since 50 are in this recipe book, I've decided to start there <3