Welcome back, Geeky Gluttons, to another episode of Munchies & Minis!
For those just joining us, Munchies & Minis is my tabletop RPG-inspired live cooking show. Once a week, I make a snack or meal to pair with a side of dice rolls. You can catch me on Twitch (unless indicated otherwise on social media) Wednesday nights at 7 pm EST.
In our last video, we made honeyed milk and rice pudding inspired by Pugmire’s Monarchies of Mau expansion. This week we return to D&D and Volo’s Guides for cheesy mushroom bar-snack popular in taverns all over the Sword Coast.
Fried and Pepper-Spiced
The bar Volo describes Gurdats twice in his Guide to the Sword Coast. It first appears in the village of Secomber at The Seven-Stringed Harp tavern as “pan-fried and pepper-spiced mushrooms rolled in melted cheese.” We also find it at A Pair of Black Antlers, a tavern in the city of Elturel, as “pan-fried, pepper-spiced mushrooms in a melted cheese batter.” The D&D Cookbook, Heroes’ Feast, turns them into cheese-stuffed, baked mushrooms. I had a different idea, though.
To me, Gurdats sound like the battered and deep-fried mushrooms I’ve had in bars all over Atlanta. With that, I breaded some button mushrooms with rye breadcrumbs, ground clove, and black pepper. Pan-fried they are not. But I decided to go for a crunchier coating through oven-frying with a quick coat of cooking spray. I love deep-fried mushrooms. But this method also keeps you from getting an explosive bite of hot water that gets trapped inside the batter from the raw mushroom releasing its moisture while frying.
So how does the cheese figure into this? I know that here in Atlanta, you’re more likely to get fried mushrooms with ranch dressing than cheese batter on the side. But I took some liberties to include another bar-favorite, this time from across the pond: Welsh Rarebit.
Welsh Rarebit (or rabbit) is a thick, cheesy sauce made with mustard powder and beer — often slathered on slices of toast. I’ve made it before for a Star Trek: Voyager-inspired recipe. This time I blended some swiss cheese and stout to complement the gurdats’ rye coating. One batch does make quite a bit, so go nuts incorporating leftovers into mac and cheese or as a dip. Just make sure to reheat it on the stovetop while thinning it out with water or more beer.
Want to learn how to make some Gurdats & Cheese for your adventuring party? Watch the video or find out how to get the recipe card below!
Gurdats & Cheese
Sing for your Supper!
This video will always be around to cook along with. But I also have the printable PDF recipe cards available for my Ko-Fi and Patreon supporters.
This week, my blog post and Munchies & Minis recipe cards are available in exchange for a $2 donation on my Ko-fi page.
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If you join my Patreon community at the “Kitchen Twitch” ($5/month) level or higher, you will not only get access to ALL of my Munchies & Minis recipe cards. You’ll also get blog-post Spotify playlists, community polls, random digital and physical swag surprises, AND a welcome gift of my Lord of the Rings recipe cards and playlists.
I hope that this episode inspired you to start a culinary campaign of your own. Next week, I’ll continue the third season of Munchies & Minis with a recipe chosen by my Patreon subscribers!
Make sure to join me live Wednesday on Twitch from 7 pm – 9 pm EST. OR you can catch the archived episode on YouTube.
