The Aisling’s Cooking Lore and Recipes
By the Monk and Expert Herbalist, Garland
Greetings fellow Aislings.
I suppose you are all wondering why I Garland, a herbalist, decided to become a cook also. The answer is simple. For a long time as a herbalist I have found one thing that is a common problem with all medicine and herbs: they usually taste very undesirable, and getting someone to drink a hydele duem (for the taste) is like trying to teach a kobold table manners. So therefore I spent many years experimenting (some successful, others not) with recipes not only with herbs, but also with various common food items that can be bought in your average mundane bakery. In this guide is a list of various recipes that not only taste good, but are also nutritional for the aisling body. I pray that you find these recipes useful for your meals. These are but a few of the recipes I am sure we as aislings are capable of preparing, and I myself have many more. However, I choose these because I found that they were my (and many other people’s) favorites.
Before I start listing recipes, I would like to take a moment to go over some of the fundamental basics of the ingredients. As a general rule, the more complex the meal, the more complex the ingredients. The basic meals may only require simple things, such as meats, vegetables, some fruits, bread, flour, etc… Things that can be bought at your average bakery. However, for some of the more elaborate meals, you will need some pretty weird things. For instance, the extremely rare Sevti blossom can be ground down the make a stew herb. Hemlock duem can be mixed with other herbal potions and rum to make a sleeping potion (which I call ‘Ard Pramh duem’ cause this one really puts you to sleep). The Hydele potion, as well as honey and some flour are the main ingredients to Hydele cakes (which taste MUCH better then the potion). This is just to name a few. But you should always remember that often getting the ingredients is half the battle in making a gourmet meal.
Beef and vegetable stew:
A relatively simple meal to make, perfect for a novice cook looking to feed a group of hungry aislings. It is simple, the ingredients are common, and it is a filling meal. The ingredients are:
3 pieces of (store bought sized) beef
3 whole tomatoes
A cup of flower
Various vegetables ((3 vegetables))
And your spices (salt, pepper, what ever else you decide to throw in)
Heat your cauldron to a bubble. Add your beef pieces and spices. Boil until the beef is tender and has absorbed the flavor of the spices. Then, add up you cut up vegetables and tomatoes. Once they are soft, add one cup of flour and mix until desired thickness. Then serve.
Recommended servings: 3 to 4 Aislings
Honey cookies:
A fantastic treat for your friends. The ingredient of honey, though it cannot be bought, is common throughout the eastern woodlands from wasps. This recipe is also an easy one for an aisling to make. Great for a snack to make while in the eastern woods. The ingredients are:
2 full sized honey combs
Flour (2 cups)
Salt
2 pieces of wax (yes, wax)
Mix the flour, salt, wax (melted) and water in a bowl to make the dough. Then, scrape the honey off of the honey combs, and mix it in the bowl along with the dough. Bake over a fire for 1 hour and a half. Cool, then serve (NOT serve, then cool… you’d be amazed how many Ancusa herbs I’ve had to make because some aisling couldn’t keep his or her hands off my cookies till they were done…)
Usually makes about ten to fifteen cookies, depending on how one uses the ingredients.
Fruit Salad:
I’m not sure weather this is a desert or a meal. You decide. Though the ingredients require various amounts of fruit and vegetables, the salad requires no meat, or cooking for that matter. Recommended ingredients:
Various vegetables (though I recommend lots of lettuce) ((2 store bought ones))
3 whole tomatoes
1 apple
1 grape bunch
2 cherries
Peel the apple, then cut it up. Slice the tomatoes. Pluck the grapes and cherries from their bunches. Peel the vegetables, and slice them up. Mix them all together in a big bowl. Toss, then serve.
Recommended servings: 4 to 6 aislings.
Hydele Cakes:
Tired of hydele potions that taste horrible? This is a recipe for you. Although each cake does not do as much to sooth as a hydele duem itself would, it tastes far more better and satisfying and feels more invigorating. I recommend this recipe for anyone who’s heard complaints that their herbs taste horrible.
2 bottles of hydele duem
3 cups of flour
Salt
3 pieces of honey
2 pieces of wax
Add 3 cups flower, a pinch of salt, and 2 pieces of melted wax into a bowl. You then mix the
Honey and the hydele duem in a separate bowl. You then mix the dough and the hydele honey mixture together. You then bake in a pan in an oven (or over a fire, but it will take longer). Cool, then serve.
Recommended servings:
5 to 6 aislings
Ard Pramh Duem: the sleeping potion
Finally! A use for hemlock duem besides being a poison! Not really much of a cooking skill as opposed to a herbal skill, but it’s useful none the less. This potion, when drank, will put the user into a deep, yet satisfying sleep within seconds. When the user wakes up, he or she will feel refreshed. Perfect for local politicians who lack sleep due to worry. When the user wakes up, he or she will feel fully refreshed and ready to go. Note: this potion requires many different herbal potions. If you do not have herbal lore, you will have a hard time finding ingredients…
2 hydele duems
1 betony duems
1 Hemlock duem (NOTE: drink this herbal drink by itself, and you will poison yourself almost to death. Yes, cooking can be dangerous too…)
1 bottle of wine
Mix the hydele duem (to sooth the drink) and the betony duem(to prevent nightmares and aid your sleep) in a bowl. You then CAREFULLY mix the Hemlock duem and a bottle of wine in a separate bowl. You then mix the two solutions in one big bowl. You then let it sit for one day (to let the effects of the hydele duem counteract the effects of the hemlock duem). Keep away from any people in the area while this is sitting, because inhaling can make one drowsy. You then ,while holding your breath, pour the mixture into a bottle and seal tightly.
This mixture makes for three bottles of Ard Pramh Duem.
Nila spiced Chicken.
This is actually a recipe I learned from a Mukul herbalist, although instead of chicken they use leech meat. I think chicken’s far better for our taste. This is one of the finest meals in all of Tremuir because of the Nila blossom, which is extremely rare and difficult to find. As well, the blossom itself is located in the heart of the Mehadi swamp, a very dangerous swamp indeed. None the less if you can make a meal out of this, it’s worth it. This recipe is intended for a feast, so you need plenty of time to prepare it.
1 Nila blossom
2 whole chickens ((6 pieces of store bought chicken))
2 cups of flour
salt and other spices
Plenty of vegetables ((4 store bought pieces))
1 bottle of wine
Prepare the Nila blossom by first removing the stem, then drying the flower out for a few days. Once it is brittle, grind the flower into a powder. (Note: the powder is extremely spicy! If you inhale or taste Nila powder in its purest form, I guarantee your mouth will feel like it caught fire and you’ll have burn pains for almost an entire moon! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!). Prepare the chickens however you may feel, though I recommend that you make them whole and skinless. Use one big pot for this meal. You then sprinkle the Nila spice over the chickens (make sure you do it evenly). You then add the salt and your other spices. Cut the vegetables, and put them in the pot too. Cook for 3 hours, or when ever the chicken is cooked through. Be sure to baste the chicken as it cooks. When it comes time to serve, pour out the juices, and mix them with 2 cups of flour. Then cook until it becomes gravy. Pour the gravy over the chicken, then serve.
This is a feast type of meal. One serving of two chickens can feed ten to twelve hungry aislings.
These are but a few of the many recipes that are out there that, you a creative aisling, could make. I kept this down to six recipes to keep this guide short, but I hope to make more recipes in the future. And as always, I hope you find my knowledge of herbs and cooking useful when you need to feed your fellow aislings or mundanes.
Garland, Master Herbalist,
Monk
Chef
And Fellow Aisling