Venison Stew

“‘You can stand by the fire as long as you like. You’ll have food and drink, too. Hot mulled wine and a bowl of venison stewed with onions, and Hobb’s bread right out of the oven, so hot it will burn your fingers.’ Sam peeled off a glove to wriggle his own fingers near the flames…” -A Storm of Swords

After episode 3.6, where Sam longingly describes this stew, I decided to finally get the venison and have a go at it. Fortunately, it coincided with a bit of a cooler spell here in Boston, which suited the heartiness of this stew perfectly.

While this particular description of the stew is fairly limited, there are others throughout the books that contain other tidbits. In other passages, descriptions of Hobb’s venison stew includes carrots and barley, and in the south, it’s stewed with beer. So, everything went into the pot, along with a few more additions of my own.

I used spent grain from brewing (see link below) for the barley component, because I can’t imagine the Night’s Watch letting anything go to waste. It gave the stew a unique texture, and was the source of some of those black flecks you see in the photo. The bacon, I’ll admit, was also my addition, but I don’t think anyone who has read the books can fault me for that. Everything tastes better with bacon. :)

The resulting stew is thick, hearty, and filling- just the thing for a cool night in the North. It’s wonderful with a hunk of rustic bread and a sharp cheese, and a flagon of the same beer that went into the recipe.

Venison Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

3 strips bacon
1 lb. venison (I used ground, but use any small cut you like)
2 Tbs. butter, divided
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup peas
3 cups broth
1 bottle dark beer (12 oz/335 ml)
1 cup spent grain, or other barley of your choice, cooked according to its own directions
1 cup small boiler onions, peeled
1/2 tsp. smoked salt
1/2 tsp. savory, or thyme
1 Tbs. flour

Cook the bacon in a medium frying pan. Take out the cooked bacon, reserving the grease, and chop the bacon into small pieces. Brown the venison meat in the bacon grease, then pour it all into a medium pot, along with the bacon bits. In the same frying pan, melt 1 Tbs. butter. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, until it’s not quite browned. Add the carrots and peas, stir to coat with butter, then pour in 1 cup of broth. Cover, and simmer for a few minutes, until the carrots are tender. Add this mixture, along with the rest of the broth, the beer, barley, onions, and seasoning.

If you’d like the stew to be a little thicker, make a roux: melt the remaining 1 Tbs. butter and add to it the 1 Tbs. flour. Stir to combine over medium heat. When the butter-flour looks bubbly and golden (under a minute), begin to add ladlesful of broth, whisking to combine. This should create a thick mixture that can be poured back into your stew. Cook the stew for at least 1 1/2 hours on medium-low heat. Enjoy with some sharp cheese and rustic bread. If you’re using spent grains in the stew, consider also using them in the bread!

Root Soup

“He found Dolorous Edd at the fire, complaining about how difficult it was for him to sleep when people insisted on blowing horns in the woods. Jon gave him something new to complain about. Together they woke Hake, who received the Lord Commander’s orders with a stream of curses, but got up all the same and soon had a dozen brothers cutting roots for a soup.”

Root Soup

Thoughts:

This is a basic soup, meant for sustenance rather than to showcase one’s culinary prowess.

When constructing this recipe, I carefully took several things into consideration. First, that most of these roots would have to be foraged. The Brothers of the Night’s Watch are north of the Wall, which dramatically changes their supplies. They don’t have access to a pantry, and could only cook what they found or had brought with them.

I considered the roots to be foraged, a task I would have loved to experience firsthand, although I foraged mine from a variety of grocery stores instead of a forest. Salt pork is an easy enough thing to travel with, as is a bit of grain, such as barley. I happened to have cracked barley, and used that, figuring it would approximate the condition of barley after traveling in a saddlebag for a long while.

The fun of a recipe like this is that you get to construct it much the same way that the Brothers would. The ingredients list is flexible, so you needn’t stress about finding obscure roots in order to make a perfect copy of my version. Forage among your local markets, in your pantry, or if you’re lucky enough, your own backyard. Or your neighbor’s: I won’t judge.

My finished soup was certainly not a new favorite that I would serve to guests, or even necessarily make again (barring a zompocalypse). It was mild, but flavorful, and very filling, especially when paired with a hunk of bread and a bit of cheese. I liked the adventure of seeing what new combination of roots came up with each spoonful

But it’s all about the experience and mindset. Sipping the mild broth from the comfort of your couch is a vastly different experience than coming inside from the icy winter wind to a steaming bowl of broth and carbs. Make some arctic wind noices. Sit in front of your AC unit. Or wait until winter proper (it’s coming, you know…), and try the soup after shoveling the drive or helping with snow fort construction. I promise that it will dramatically change the way you experience this meal!

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Buns with raisins, dried apple, and pine nuts

Elizabethan buns

“‘Eat,’ Jon told him. ‘There’s no knowing when you’ll have another chance.’ He took two buns himself. The nuts were pine nuts, and besides the raisins there were bits of dried apple.” -A Storm of Swords

Modern Buns

Our Thoughts:

The Elizabethan buns look cute, if a little strange, but they taste very good. The sherry gives them an innate sweetness that is only increased if you have a bite with a raisin in it. I was fairly unimpressed when I first tried them, but found that the more I ate, the fonder I became of these little buns. And if you imagine yourself to be on the Wall, facing down dangerous threats and overwhelming odds, they’re even better.

Check out this entry in The Cookbook for another historical recipe, as well as a delicious modern version!

Get the Recipe!

Hen stuffed w/carrots, chestnuts, and prunes

“I never eat prunes myself. Well, there was one time when Hobb chopped them up with chestnuts and carrots and hid them in a hen. Never trust a cook, my lord. They’ll prune you when you least expect it.” (DwD)

Black Hen, carved, w/carrot-chestnut-prune stuffing

Our Thoughts

So, as soon as we learned about black chickens, we knew we had to try one. However, we didn’t realize that ours came with a head. Or with giant dinosaur feet. This made the preparation of the meal something of an adventure, and we mean the kind where it’s sort of unpleasant. We rolled up our sleeves, though, and soldiered on. The only solution was to cut that bird up until it looked like the sort of chicken we know and love, and so it stopped staring at us.

Eating this chicken is a strange experience. Your tastebuds say “chicken!”, while your brain can’t quite get over the color. The texture of the meat is somehow reminiscent of turkey, with a richer flavor than one gets with regular chicken. There isn’t a great deal of meat on one of these birds, but what you do find is tasty. Thankfully, the stuffing is absolutely YUM. Each flavor gets its own sort of showcase in your mouth, and each provides a nice, different texture from the others.

Bottom Line? A nice recipe, but next time we’ll put the stuffing in a normal chicken.

Get the Recipe…

Three-finger Hobb’s Breakfast

“Very good, m’lord, only Hobb’s made boiled eggs, black sausage, and apples stewed with prunes this morning. The apples stewed with prunes are excellent, except for the prunes. I never eat prunes myself. Well, there was one time when Hobb chopped them up with chestnuts and carrots and hid them in a hen. Never trust a cook, my lord. They’ll prune you when you least expect it.” -A Dance with Dragons

Three-finger Hobb’s Breakfast

Our Thoughts:

This was a smaller scale, yet immensely satisfying breakfast. The spices in the black pudding perfectly compliment those in the stewed apples, making a bite of the two together something amazing. The egg is the simplest thing on the plate, yet doesn’t seem out of place among the more flavorful elements of the breakfast, instead providing a nice balance for the fruit and meat.

Absolutely a win, and will be a new staple breakfast in our house!

Get the Recipe!

Salad in Castle Black

“‘From the Lord Commander’s own table,’ Bowen Marsh told them. There were salads of spinach and chickpeas and turnip greens, and afterward bowls of iced blueberries and sweet cream.” (I: 372)

Medieval-ish Salad

Our thoughts:

This salad is earthy and quite tasty. The different greens provide a wide variety of flavors; the splash of lemon from the sorrel, the refreshing crispness of the mint, and the classic tangy pairing of oil and vinegar. That said, we weren’t crazy about the oniony greens in the mix. Our big change? Swap out the mushy chickpeas for the crunchy Middle Eastern snack kind. Yum!

Make it at Home!

Rock Your Premiere Party!

In honor of the upcoming premiere of Game of Thrones on HBO, we have put together a selection of foods that would be ideal for any premiere party. We’ve included a selection of full recipes for those willing to try their hands in the kitchen, but also provided a “fake it” option for those with less time for or inclination towards preparation.

Make It!

In this category, we’ve thrown out a bunch of options, and will leave the decisions to you! You can choose to make one thing, or all of them (if you’re feeding an army). Options are listed in order from left to right, more difficult to easier.

♦ A Full Dornish Dinner ♦

Stuffed Grapeleaves ♦ Flatbread ♦ Olives and Feta

Honeyed Chicken ♦ Skewered Lamb/Goat/Beef ♦ Pork Pies

Cream Swans ♦ Lemon Cakes ♦ Spiced Honey Biscuits ♦ Baked Apples

Southron Mulled Wine ♦ Mead

Fake It!

For this category, we have listed all the easy food stuffs you can get at most stores, and put together for your guests to nibble on. Think of it as a tasty wayfarer’s meal, eaten on The King’s Road, between Winterfell and King’s Landing.

Loaf of Rustic Bread ♦ Variety of cheeses (cheddar, brie, chevre, etc.) ♦ Pickles

Big Bunch of Grapes ♦ Slices of Blood Oranges, Pears, and Apples in Lemon Juice

Pita and Hummus ♦ Variety of Olives ♦ Packaged Stuffed Grape Leaves

Store-bought Rotisserie Chicken ♦ Pre-marinated Shish Kebab Skewers

Mead ♦ Wine ♦ Cider ♦ Ale

NOTE: The trick to faking it effectively is purchasing high quality ingredients and presenting them well. Consider visiting Whole Foods. If you want to feel like you are at Winterfell, the bread needs to be crusty and authentic and the cheese should come from some small farm in Vermont. Serve on your largest wooden cutting board, with your most rustic looking knife.

Pork Pie

“‘If I could fly, I’d be back at Castle Black eating a pork pie,’ said Sam.” -A Clash of Kings

Medieval Pork Pie with Currants

Thoughts:

When we began to make these, we naively thought, “Two meat pies? We’ll surely have leftovers for days!” They were gone within hours. Like many of our modern and medieval comparisons, the resulting dishes were quite different from one another. Here’s the breakdown:

The medieval pork pie is definitely in the sweet category. The amount of eggs in it makes it fluffier than the modern version, and the currants and ginger only add to the sweetness. However, it is a sweetness that really suits the pork. We might leave out an egg or two in the future, just so the meat holds together a bit better.

The modern pork pie is dense, and is very serious about being pork. It could have used a little more salt, but when dipped in either ketchup or BBQ sauce it is rendered delicious. If you do have leftovers, this pie is wonderful for a quick, cold breakfast straight from the fridge.

Bottom line? Modern is savory, medieval is sweet, but both are delicious, and will be a hit with anyone who can get their fork into one.

**NB: The cookbook contains a tweaked version of the Medieval Pie, and a much more dynamic version of the Modern Pie.**

Medieval Pork Pie

A-nother manere. Tak fayre porke y-broylid, & grynd it smal with yolkys of Eyroun; than take Pepir, Gyngere, & grynd it smal, & melle it with-al, & a lytel hony, & floryssche thin cofyns with-ynne & with-owte, & hele hem with thin ledys, & late hem bake, & serue forth. – Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books

Our changes: Instead of boiling down our own pork roast and grinding it up, we used pre-ground pork. Much easier! ALSO! This makes a great pairing with the Cream Swans, because you will be able to use the egg yolks for this, and the whites for that. Win!

Ingredients:

1 9″ pie shell with lid
1 1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 tsp. salt
6 egg yolks
2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup chopped dates

Brown the pork over medium heat. Let cool slightly, and mix well with all the other ingredients – The filling should be very moist. Place mixture in pie shell & add lid. Fold top dough under and pinch edges shut. Cut decorative steam holes in the top of the pastry, and bake at 375° F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a golden brown.

Modern Pork Pie

The new, updated, and totally delicious modern recipe is available in The Cookbook!

The Old Bear’s Hot Spiced Wine

“The Old Bear was particular about his hot spiced wine. So much cinnamon and so much nutmeg and so much honey, not a drop more. Raisins and nuts and dried berries, but no lemon, that was the rankest sort of southron heresy…” -A Clash of Kings

Thoughts:

The medieval recipe produces a hearty mulled wine, rich in spices. It is heavy and strong, without the sweetness of modern mulled wine, and might not be quite as universally palatable. That said, if you are making wine to serve out of doors on a cold winter night, this is the more warming of the two recipes.

The modern recipe produces a delicious hot wine that, while spicy and rich, is medium bodied and easy to drink. The sweetness of the honey and cane sugar combines brilliantly with spice of the fresh ginger; the result is an arresting tingle that floods the palate, without compromising the other flavors.

Bottom line? Modern if you are throwing a party, medieval if you are planning to walk The Wall at night.

(Guest review written by Firepony)

Medieval Mulled Wine Recipe

Cook’s notes: Don’t be afraid to meddle with the proportions to suit your taste. The amounts of honey, and ginger are negotiable. If you find that you’ve added too much ginger, you can add a fruit juice (“rankest of southron heresy” that it is), to balance out the flavor. The best method for adding fresh ginger is to crush it in a garlic press to release the juices. Sugar can also be added, to make the wine more drinkable for those who are not enduring freezing temperatures. Adding sugar and fruit juice make the wine more similar to the modern recipe, but are great for salvaging a batch of wine that is just a little too authentic.

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

5. Potus ypocras. Take a half lb. of canel tried; of gyngyuer tried, a half lb.; of greynes, iii unce; of longe peper, iii unce; of clowis, ii unce; of notemugges, ii unce & a half; of carewey, ii unce; of spikenard, a half unce; of galyngale, ii unce; of sugir, ii lb. Si deficiat sugir, take a potel of honey. – Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century

Our Changes: This is a medieval recipe for hippocras, which is also mentioned in the books. Since both are a hot spiced wine, we decided to bundle them into one post. To match the Old Bear’s hot spiced wine description, we dropped the white pepper, and added raisins, cranberries, and almonds. This made it more like the Scandinavian hot wine concoction “Glogg”.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of an inexpensive red wine- sweet works better than dry. (Cabernet is good.)
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbs. each of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg
Handful each of dried cherries, raisins, and almonds (slivered or sliced is best)

Bring the wine and honey to a simmer. Taste for sweetness and add honey as necessary. Remove from heat, stir in spices, and continue to stir occasionally. After sitting, the spices will create a thick residue which will settle to the bottom. Using a ladle, serve into individual mugs or other heat-safe vessels. Consider putting the cloves in a mesh tea ball, or cheese cloth, to avoid picking cloves out of your goblet.

Fun Fact: Ypocras was a very popular Medieval beverage, and many different directions for preparation still exist. Also called Hipocras, the drink is named after the famous physician Hippocrates.

Southron Mulled Wine

Our modern recipe is only really modern in the sense that it is still made today. The recipe comes from the chaplain’s wife at a top British University, and while the specifics are a closely guarded secret, the basic ingredients are roughly the same as the medieval recipe above. However, this recipe has no nuts and berries, and calls for one part orange juice per two parts wine. The juice helps cut the acidity of the wine, and lends the mulled wine a sweetness not solely derived from honey. The citrus juice, coincidentally, makes the wine in keeping with the “southron” recipes alluded to by the Old Bear. This is much less trouble to make than it appears to be:

2 bottles of red wine (Shiraz and Cabernet work well)
750ml pulp-free orange juice (1/2 as much orange juice as wine)
1 Tbs. cinnamon and 2 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbs. nutmeg
~3 1″ cubes of fresh ginger. Crush these into the wine using a garlic press.
~3 tablespoons of honey
3-6 heaping tablespoons of cane sugar (or white sugar)
2 clementines, halved. (or 1 small orange)
1/4 of a fresh lemon, squeezed over the pot. (Optional, but don’t substitute lemon juice from a bottle.)
12-20 cloves. These should be inserted stem first into the rind of the clementine so that only the buds protrude. (You may need to pierce to flesh of the clementines with a small knife in order to insert the cloves.) Float the clementines in the wine, rind down, so that the cloves are in the wine.
1/2 shot of brandy, cognac, or armagnac (optional, but adds a pleasant kick)

Add all of the ingredients and bring the mixture to a simmer, but DO NOT BOIL. Stir it with a whisk often. Once it simmers for 5 minutes or so, reduce the heat such that the wine is kept just below a simmer. Heat for 45 minutes and serve with a ladle.

NOTE: The clementines make delicious boozy treats for the lucky guests still around when the wine runs out.