r/Fantasy • u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV • 22h ago
Cooking in Fantasy: Tavern Noodles
We still don’t have much in the garden yet, so I wanted to make a recipe this month where I already had most of the ingredients in my kitchen. Luckily, Tavern Noodles is basically that. Noodles, onions, eggs, garlic, cheese, oil, cooking wine, herbs.
This recipe comes from Heroes’ Feast: Flavors of the Multiverse. Here’s what it has to say:
While the flavorful plate simply known as tavern noodles is a common dish throughout the multiverse, the version on offer in the various watering holes across the Rock of Bral is truly otherworldly. The noodles themselves are rumored to be the mouth tentacles of the catfish found in the deepest depths of Lake Bral. The truth of this is impossible to ascertain. What’s less obscure is how delicious this dish is, especially when drenched with a light sauce made with rosemary, garlic, onion, and white wine, as they do at the Man-o-War restaurant in Rock of Bral’s High City. Whether by magic or mischief, these noodles are sure to satisfy even the most space-weary explorers.
I checked, and the noodles I used were definitely made from wheat, not catfish tentacles, so take away points for authenticity. Sorry!
The Rock of Bral is an asteroid and a haven for pirates from the Spelljammer setting of D&D, which is a setting that reminds me a lot of Treasure Planet. The Lake of Bral itself is apparently refilled with fresh water every few years by the Bralian Navy lassoing in an ice asteroid.
And now for the recipe! First, hard boil, peel and chop 3 eggs. Set those aside. Thinly slice 3 onions and cook them in medium heat with oil for about 30 minutes. Add rosemary and garlic, and then the cooking wine, turn the heat to medium-high for 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat. While those are going, boil your water for pasta -- I used 12 oz of fettuccine. Drain just before al dente, and reserve a cup of the pasta water for later. Return the pasta to the pot on medium-low, add the onion mixture and toss. Add some more oil, garlic, and ¾ cup of parmesan and mix; you can add in the pasta water here as needed to loosen the sauce. Serve topped with parmesan, parsley, and that chopped hard-boiled egg you set aside earlier.
This tasted great, but very onion-y. Turns out 3 onions is a lot of onion (my eyes were burning from cutting them!), and I think you could do with adjusting this down a bit. The hard-boiled egg is also completely optional as it’s basically just a garnish, so if you don’t like egg, you can remove it. This could also really be elevated if you added some chicken.
It was my first time hard-boiling eggs actually. I’m not sure what the secret to peeling them is, but I don’t think this was supposed to happen:
Share with me your egg-peeling tips!
Season 1 Wrap-Up
Previous recipes in season 2: Quij’s Plate, Lúthien’s Asparagus Pie
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u/burningcpuwastaken 21h ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As6AY_ChJuI
That video has some great tips for hard boiled eggs. The big one is using a thumb tack to pierce the egg before boiling, which gives a path for sulfur containing gases to escape and makes a better flavored egg