Authors: Alan Kistler
Tags: #recipes, #cookbook, #Game of Thrones
A Word of Wisdom
Though acorn paste may be unfamiliar to anyone who hasn’t needed to forage, other nut butters are commonplace. As an alternative to store-bought peanut butter, make your own almond, walnut, or macadamia butter. To prepare, just heat nuts of your choice in the oven at 400°F for 6–8 minutes or toast them on the stovetop in a dry skillet. A quick run through a food processor with a little oil will finish up the spread.
Winterfell Cold Fruit Soup
A harvest feast in a nobleman’s keep naturally involves both fruits and vegetables from his land and exotic ingredients bought at great cost from traders and merchants. In the halls of Winterfell, the kitchen staff bring out a dish representing the North’s bounty and the Stark family’s wealth. Whether served as an appetizer or dessert, this soup might make it hard for guests to see the reality of the Starks’ increasing weakness through the pretense of money and territory. (
A Clash of Kings
, Chapter 16 — Bran)
Serves 4
1 large mango, peeled and diced
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sliced bananas
2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
2 cups seedless grapes
1 cup nectarines, unpeeled, sliced
1
⁄
2
cup kiwi fruit, peeled, sliced
1
⁄
3
cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1
1
⁄
2
tablespoons honey
1
⁄
4
teaspoon ground ginger
1
⁄
8
teaspoon ground nutmeg
A Word of Wisdom
Preparing all of these fruits may be the most difficult part of this recipe. To peel ripe mangos and kiwi, slide a spoon, bottom side up, under the skin to remove it easily, without damaging the fruit.
Blackbird Salt Cod Toast
On the ship known as the
Blackbird
, many leave the Wall to pursue different agendas. A hunk of salt cod and a heel of crusty bread would be common enough sights on a journey south on the narrow sea, but the commonplace can be prized as much as the rare — and anyone with Samwell Tarly’s taste for food or Maester Aemon’s nose for simple luxuries would find this snack a welcome distraction from the dangers in the deep. (
A Feast for Crows
, Chapter 15 — Samwell)
Serves 6–8
1 baguette of French bread
1
⁄
4
cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1
⁄
2
pound salt cod, soaked for 24 hours (water changed 4 times), drained
1 garlic clove, peeled
1
⁄
3
cup milk
1
⁄
4
cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste
A Word of Wisdom
Some salt cod products are presoaked and will be labeled as such. Presoaked salt cod can shave a whole day off the preparation time!
Sandor Clegane’s Pickled Pigs’ Feet
The Hound isn’t to many people’s taste — nor is his chosen wedding “gift” of pickled pigs’ feet. But if the history of Westeros teaches its people anything, it’s that sometimes the people and things that are seen as unwanted or beneath notice, the discarded bits and seeming mistakes, can wind up having a great and positive effect in the long run. Many who have tried this dish have been surprised by what tastes it brings to the table. (
A Storm of Swords
, Chapter 50 — Arya)
Makes 2 quarts
6 pigs’ feet, halved
Kosher salt to taste
2 quarts vinegar
1 small red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons grated horseradish
1 teaspoon whole black pepper
1 bay leaf
A Word of Wisdom
This is a traditional recipe that people either love or hate. It adapts well to minor tinkering, so add spices according to your personal taste.
Ten Towers Cold Beef and Oldtown Mustard
Between two unwanted reunions and the hard journey to get there, proud Asha Greyjoy’s arrival at Ten Towers is hardly comfortable. A snack of cold beef and mustard is hardly enough to fill Asha’s crew or make the Kraken’s Daughter relax, but it’s meal enough to make old Three-Tooth smile. Cobbled together from different lands — the beef from the mainland and the mustard from Oldtown — this dish resembles the awkwardly constructed castle it is served in, a patchwork palace that is strangely emblematic of the divided nation of Westeros itself. (
A Feast for Crows
, Chapter 11 — The Kraken’s Daughter)
Serves 4
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
Pinch kosher salt
1 (6-ounce) beef tenderloin filet, 1
1
⁄
2
inches thick
1 teaspoon butter
2 tablespoons cognac plus 1 teaspoon
1
⁄
4
cup heavy cream
1 ounce Stilton, Gorgonzola, Cabrales, or Roquefort cheese (optional)
4 to 5 sprigs fresh chervil
Mustard:
2
⁄
3
cup yellow mustard seeds
1
⁄
2
teaspoon dill weed, dried
1
⁄
2
teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon honey