REVIEW: A Dwarven Cookbook

Today I’m delving into ancient Dwarven cuisine by reviewing A Dwarven Cookbook: Recipes from the Kingdom of Kathaldûm by Stephanie Drummonds and Daniel Myers. I first met Daniel at GenCon this past July during his “Rations and Feasts” panel on the Writer’s Symposium. Sharing a love of food in stories, we got to talking, and I found out that he is the man behind one of my favorite food history resources: MedievalCookery.com.

This is why I love geek conventions. I get to hang out with and get to know so many cool people in the community. So you can probably imagine how excited I was a month later to receive not one, but three of Daniel Myers’ cookbooks in the mail. Sharing your work with someone is like sharing a meal, and in turn, a part of your self. With that I’m very thankful Daniel chose to share his work with me so I can share it with you.

A Dwarven Cookbook

A fictional ancient manuscript found in an abandoned silver mine acts as the source for this 126-page cookbook. The introduction describes the tome as “written in three distinct hands” and likely from the time of the “Ascension of Thorfil Axewielder as King.” It also mentions how A Dwarven Cookbook seeks to represent the culinary tradition while also adapting the recipes for the modern kitchen.

A Dwarven Cookbook contains five sections: Udandizûd (Meats), Umaralâm (Non-Meats), Zozai (Sauces), Khazn (Things to Drink), and Nagindalu (Menus). Each recipe follows three parts- the original translated text, the editor’s cultural notes, then the modernized recipe. This format honestly reads like an anthropological study and that is half the fun.

Reading along I cannot help but chuckle at editors’ notes such as:

In the margin near this recipe is a hastily scrawled note saying, “Trying to make food from what food eats.”

and

The word “zurid”, which means something like “animal droppings,” gives an indication of both the appearance of the final dish and the Dwarven sense of humor.

The “original text” of the recipes also follow the format characteristic to recipes from Medieval Europe – ingredients not mentioned until their usage, assumptions about the cook’s skill level, and descriptors rather than times or temperatures. I assume Myers’s work in medieval food history responsible for mirroring these details, and I love it.

So now that I’ve talked about the flavor text of the book, it’s time to move to the next part — taste testing. Would you believe I’ve run this site for three years and this is my first cookbook review? Why not? I’ve not had the time to give a proper review in the past, and I believe in reviewing a cookbook properly, you need to cook more than one recipe from it.

That’s why I cooked three.

Recipe 1: Apple Tart

I chose this recipe for its simplicity and unconventional nature. A skim-through the recipes reads like a quiche made from cheese and apples. It tastes unlike any dish I’ve ever had before. The recipe uses grated apple so eating it is like taking a bite of savory-sweet apple pudding with a crumbly biscuit crust.

In short, you make it by mixing grated cheese and lard-fried apples with eggs, ginger, and honey before baking it in a shell of shortcrust pastry.

This is where I’ll bring up a point of criticism with the recipe — there is no recipe for shortcrust in the book. Shortcrust tends to be slightly sturdier and more crumbly than the standard pie crust, better for tarts. It’s also not readily available in US grocery stores, and while you can just google a shortcrust recipe, I don’t feel you should have to. That said, I used a Marie Callender pie shell as its consistency is similar enough to shortcrust.

The recipe also doesn’t specify what kind of cheese to use. I chose white cheddar for its salt content to balance with the apples and honey, though blue cheese would also be a tasty addition — especially if you top it with candied walnuts. Ultimately you want a sharp cheese to make the flavor interesting.

The best way to make this dish? Get. A. Food. Processor. A grater attachment makes quick work of the cheese and apples. Doing this will free you up to do more important things like downing a tankard of mead and preparing other dishes. Quick, easy, different, and delicious. I think I’ve found my new dinner party make-and-take.

Recipe 2: Stew of a Young Boar

This next recipe I chose for simplicity and my curiosity. The ingredients are pork, shallots, lard, broth, salt, thyme, sage, and celery seed. I was curious because this “stew” had no conventional thickeners like flour or starchy vegetables. And how do we satiate our curiosity? We experiment.

The recipe calls for three shallots. I used five because Kroger’s selection was pitiful that day. The recipe doesn’t specify what kind of broth to use, so I used some goat broth cubes I had on hand. Beef should work just as well.

Cutting up the pork loin I had leftover from my last Costco run, I set up this simple stew in a cast iron skillet. After 20 minutes of simmering, my husband came in saying he could smell thyme all the way from the driveway. I almost felt bad for our next-door neighbor…almost.

About 45 minutes of simmering, the sweet scent of pork wafted down to the den, reminding me in a way that no kitchen timer ever could. When the timer finally rang, the magic behind this stew became clear.

The shallots broke down in the broth into a creamy puree, its enzymes gently tenderizing the pork and thickening the broth. It honestly was one of the best soups I’ve ever eaten. My only complaint was that the finished portion was only enough for three small, yet filling dishes when the recipe states it enough to feed 6. That said you’ll want to double this recipe and cook in a large cast iron skillet for the perfect set-and-forget dish to feed your D&D party.

Recipe 3: Gurbok – Layered Chicken Hot Pot

Finally, I chose this recipe because it was the most unusual one I found in the book. The best way I can describe Gurbok is bacon, chicken, and apple french-toast sandwich casserole. It was also the most difficult of the three recipes I tried making.

While the other two recipes were pretty straightforward, I feel this recipe could use some editing. I did notice that:

• It doesn’t specify what cut of chicken to use
• The editors’ notes say what to do with the breadcrumbs, but the recipe does not.
• It also instructs the cook to roast the chicken and bacon “until done” but doesn’t elaborate when that is.

With that noted, this recipe will reward an experienced book with a balanced variety of flavors and textures. I suggest using pumpernickel or rosemary-infused bread to counteract the apples’ and mead syrup’s sweetness. Mixing the chopped chicken and bacon in its own juices will also keep the meat moist.

Was I to make this again, though, I think I’d mix up two to three times of mead syrup and bake it into the assembled hot pot for better cohesion.

Cooking in Kathaldûm

So I know this is only a small glimpse into A Dwarven Cookbook’s contents. I hope, though, it will give you a good idea of what’s in store for you. This book is suitable for both beginner and intermediate cooks as you will find the majority of it easy to follow.

I wish I could also cook and show off the homemade mead, the vegetable tarts, and the multitude of sausages the book covers. However, I will leave that to you to explore on your own.

Check out A Dwarven Cookbook by Stephanie Drummonds and Daniel Meyers on Amazon. And if you happen to cook any of the recipes, please take a picture and comment below!