Alright, so here’s the idea.
We’re going to put together some meals that we think really represent some of the characters in GoT, starting with
Robert Baratheon
Big and boisterous, the lamentable late king was a lover of life, drink, women, and food, although not necessarily in that order.
So here’s your chance to give us your best: What dishes do YOU think typify Robert Baratheon? We’ll take the best suggestions and combine them to make an epic meal fit for a king.
We’re thinking Dark Beer, Wild Boar Bacon and an assortment of Tarts… ;)
Roast wild boar for sure! Preferably the one from that fateful hunting trip. Oh, Robert.
DEFINITELY wild boar, roasted over an open fire, too! A strong, dark beer, obviously (I think that’s mentioned all through AGOT). I don’t think he’d be too big on veggie sides…mashed neeps? LOL!! I think a beef and bacon tart would be part of his meal, and more beer! Maybe fried potatoes?
I can’t help but view King Robert’s favored meals as being something one could order in a tavern. Dark beer and boar with bacon absolutely- I’d say also something with hearty bread and melted cheese (thick soup, perhaps?). What’s the medieval equivalent of hot wings? ;)
Some kind of roasted wild boar (since one killed him with a little help from Lancel), large smoked turkey legs (because in my minds eye, I can see a drunk Robert with a flagon in one hand waving a turkey leg in the other) and huge amounts of dark beer. Loaves of dark bread that are torn and used to sop up juices…
That would be delicious.
Hmm…never thought about it but I can definitely see him waving that turkey leg too
Are you including service in your meal? Because if you are, it *definitely* has to be served by buxom women in low-cut dresses!
LOL! How appropriate for Robert! And he would make sure to bed at least one of them, too. (It’s good to be the King.)
Rack of Pam.
Wild boar, corn fritters, and black cherries.
For a king, you need something special:
For Robert, boar would be ideal. Maybe marinated in mead? That could counted act the dark beer.
Served alongside a strong, full sauce with a few vegetables in.
Maybe a secondary meat dish, like a mustard-covered rack-of-lamb?
I think potatoes are far too bland for our beloved drunkard/monarch. Side-dish would be something berry-oriented, some acidity, to count the fullness of the sauce and the sweet mead. Maybe some frosted redcurrant?
A tart with bacon be a suitable, if a bit bland, sidedish.
Meat pies. Venison, with a pecan crust?
Ooh! Venison with pecans sounds marvelous!
Maybe meaty boar ribs with a thick decadent dipping sauce, buttery cheesy potatoes, and a wide assortment of southron and exotic tarts. All washed down with a thick red strongwine.
A whole roasted boar, a cask of dark ale, and for desert, another cask of ale.
I assume the assortment of Tarts are helping him eat the meal. ;)
I vote strong wine, smoked boar, bacon jams, and crusty breads on the menu.
For Robert I would recommend a beef baron. Well crusted with herbs and roasted and basted over an open flame. Mashed Yukon Gold potaoes to appease all the Lannisters at the meal. The veg should be roasted carrots served in butter and topped with pepper bacon. Washed down with a Guinness, Anchor steam, or oatmeal stout. For dessert I would go with blood orange glazed cheese crowns topped with sweet cream. A meal fit for a king!
YUM!! Now I’m hungry!
I, too, thought boar, but then I remembered how Cersei gleefully requested boar for any big feast after Robert died, in her own private celebration of the manner of his death. Seems ill-fitting for a celebration of his character.
Something like aurochs? That’ll be hard, considering they’re extinct in our world… Venison or moose seems appropriate.
With strongwine, certainly! (Although dark beer would also be fitting.) I liked the idea of beef and bacon pie someone suggested above.
I don’t see how it would be ill-fitting to have boar. Robert made it known before he died that he wanted the boar that killed him to be cooked for the funeral. And he was very proud that he killed the boar despite his injuries.
A walnut tart for dessert, definitely.
The man would want a venison he took down himself. Perhaps with some gorgeous whole roasted vegetables presented in style!
Starter of raw whale, thinly sliced and marinated in lime juice and horse radish paste. Bear with wild herbs, drenched in a cowberry based sauce for main course. Dessert of duck liver “ice cream.”
Breakfast: slabs of stale brown bread fried in bacon grease, sausages, fried eggs, and dark ale cloudy with yeast and thick enough to chew on.
Lunch: pork pies with white beans & bacon and roasted onions, dripped in gravy, washed down with pepper beer or autumn ale.
Dinner: rack of venison, spit-roasted rabbit, quails drowned in butter, corn fritters, turnips & butter, salad of turnip greens, red fennel, and sweetgrass, and tarts with fruits, nuts, & cheese for dessert, all served with mead and dark beer.
Bedtime Snack: lemon cakes and pale ales and Myrish fire wines to help with digestion. (He’s gonna need it!)
Robert didn’t get his girlish figure with healthy or moderate eating you know!
Some of these items aren’t normally found in Kings Landing, but as King, Robert could have “ordered in”.
You forgot that he’d need something along the lines of cheese and crackers and another flagon of beer to keep by his bedside in case he woke up in the night feeling a bit peckish ;-)
What, Cersei won’t be at his side feeding him grapes? HAH!
Tourtière with gravy, roasted root vegetables in butter, wilted greens with pepper and bacon, pecan tarts, strongwine, and ale.
I am noticing a lot of people requesting potatoes, however I cannot seem to recall a mention of that in the books? Despite it being a fantasy series, GRRM seems to pretty much conform to that absence in the medieval European diet.
As for the topic at hand, I see many dishes that suggest the man as he was seen in A Game of Thrones. I would like to see some dishes more suited to the strong and powerful younger Robert; what about a sweeter, delicate dish in honor of his love for Lyanna? A burning, spicy dish to put fire on the tongue, evoking his hatred for the Targaryens? Perhaps a specially arranged platter of rack-of-lamb for the main course, set to look like a crown, in honor of his conquest and reign as king, flanked by two deer antlers to represent his House. The meal needs something sour as well, to reflect his numerous promiscuous relations. And for his other favorite thing, well, ale or dark beer of course works well.
Many people many not be aware that potatoes didn’t show up in Europe until the 1500s because of how much of a staple it is now. But you have to admit, Robert would have been a total meat-and-potato man if they had been available. And if you get right down to it, if we are sticking to only what was used in medieval Europe, be can’t be using pumpkin or corn as they didn’t show up on that side of the Atlantic until about the same time as the mighty potato. (These are just 3 of the gifts the Spaniards brought over from South America.)
Martin’s world doesn’t strictly conform to the flora and fauna of the Old World. I don’t recall ever seeing potatoes mentioned, but it’s not out of the question to have them.
Basil Gill: That was the point I was trying to make. It’s a book. They can have whatever foods they want. I myself suggested corn fritters.
Beer? Really? No. A king like him would have something else. A strong flavor but something fit of royalty, Mead! Good strong mead mixed with the blood of the boar, powerful and robust, but with a sweetness, served with a hot rack of ribs from the foul beast spiced to thepeak of heat like the fire from a dragons belly. On the side would be the creamiest, finest duck or goose meats that just melt on your tongue, wrapped up in a wonderful spiced breading, I’m thinking perhaps black pepper and Ceyanne. As for a in-between some soup made with the finest of cheeses melted and then accented with ale, a strong dark ale, and focusing on the main ingrediants perhaps more duck or maybe beef, Hell even more boar! Of course we cant forget the main dish, fit for King Robert. A massive stag prepared in any way you can think of, bacon crisp yet moist, ground into a fine meat pie, ribs dripping with sauces from the finest lands hot and sweet, leg of stag (they have four of them you know). You name it and it would be served, all marinated in the finest wines of course.
Oh my! *faint*
That sounds lovely!!
(1st courses served with a good dark stout or ale of course)
Venison stew
Boar (pork loin) medallions wrapped in bacon.
Prime rib (for aurochs) served with mashed turnips swimming in butter, black bread and pease.
For dessert, blueberry tarts and a good port (strongwine) to wash it down.
Definitely not boar. Like Katy said, boar seems more of an anti-Robert choice thanks to Cersei. Venison sounds good, with large loaves of bread perfect for tearing huge chunks out of. Maybe roasted onions, with a thick gravy to sop everything up with. Any Robert-centric meal should be rich, creamy, and slowly but surely killing you from the inside, in my opinion.
How is boar an anti-Robert choice? What was he doing when he got the wounds that killed him? Oh yeah, that’s right… boar-hunting.
Boar!!!
I think you need to add some King Crab, served with a hammer to crack them.
Swan stuffed with goose, stuffed in a boar, served in a whore.
My god! That’s perfect! I saw some show awhile back, I think it might have been on Food Network, and the meal was served upon the body of a nearly naked woman and the diners just picked the food up from her and ate it standing around her. I think that would have been to Good King Robert’s taste. In his case, though, the woman could be entirely naked.
Whoa! I’ve never heard of that, it’s crazy! But imaginative, nonetheless. :)
When His Majesty awakens from slumber, he grumbles and rolls to his feet. A horn of Mead sits nearby, along with a platter of eggs and bread fried in bacon drippings, a few finger-thick sausages, and of course a side of crisp bacon. Throughout the day Our King quaffs flagons of Dornish Red, Arbor Gold, and has more than a few samplings of Strongwine. Pages follow him throughout the Keep bearing trays over-laden with fruit tarts, morsels of roast squab, cheeses and breads, dried berries and nuts. Come evening, Lord Baratheon dines on poached trout, ribs of boar, haunch of venison, braised leeks, onions and mushrooms in gravy, and of course drains keg after keg of a very fine nutty ale. I hear there were three fine desserts, but a certain someone fell asleep in his cups.
Soup: tomato soup, no spoon. Main course: Tomahawk steak, roasted corn on the cob, whole boiled red potatoes drenched in butter, grilled leeks. Desert: Blackberry pie, no utensils. Beverage: pitchers of red wine and dark bitter beer available at all times.
I don’t think his tastes would change with age, just the amount of activity. A man who could scale battlements in full armour, carrying a war hammer would have had a healthy appetitre, it’s just he would have wored off the calories bashing skulls and shagging wenches.
He’d need at least 10 courses for a proper meal, I reckon you could put everything everyone’s mentioned so far on to one menu and he’d still be going.
There needs to be a seafood course, a big roasted or poached trout or slamon as well.
I reckon the dessert would have to feature big heavy suet puddings, pies and loads of custard, and things steeped in alcohol of varying types as well.
I imagine he’d be drinking lots of wine, and a different one with each course, probably carefully selcted to go with the food, but swilled down in prodigious quantities by Robert.
Very much beer with breakfast and lunch, wine for dinner, he is a high born lord after all.
Something with a trencher that leaves grease running into his beard. ;)
Although he is King I think Robert prefers simple yet tasty food. A game pie, some venison, boar, pheasant, rabbit, liver and kidneys. Sums good Ol’ Robert pretty well me thinks
I think Robert is real glutton man, but in my mind he isn’t a gourmet. I think he prefer the simple stodgy food. I imagined what kind of food he can eat on a hunting trip. I think there is no hunting trip without spirits, for example the special hungarian fruit brandy the pálinka is ideal for the start. After the shot of the pálinka i think he can eat a rich dish, for example a goulash made with multiple meat, wild boar, vension etc… This goulash should cooked in a cauldron, above the open fire. This kind of food very rich and is it filling, it gives power to chase the game all day, and drink all night. One of my old friends were raised among hunters. He learnd the lore of how can cook a good hunters goulash. Every year he cooks a cauldron of goulash for us, and i think it is very good. I try to write the recipe, but I’m affraid of that my english knowledge not enough to express the correct meaning. This food in hungary is a very common dish, and in the modern days the people cooks this soup/stew on garden parties or public events. My friends first rule is, the goulash is the best when it prepared in cauldron whit multiple meat. First we put some smoked bacon so called “szalonna” in to the pot and fry the szalonna. The szalonna discharged the fat. I know that it is not realy healthy, and may be the west europian and north american readers think this grease is discusting, but here in Hungary and east europe we often use and eat the fat of the pig. The fat can be repleaced by vegetable oil (we used some times sunflower oil, it was not bad). When the szalonna discharged the fat we put some choped onion in to the pot. Aftre the onion is cooked we take out the cauldron from the fire, and add the main spice of the goulash. This spice is sweet a paprika powder. We must stear the dish, beacause the paprika powder burn easily in the hot pot. After this we put back the cauldron to the fire add the meat, for example wild boar and vension. If you want to prepare a perfect goulash you should put the meat into it whit the bones. We pour some water to the pot and boil the soup. We put the other spices to the pot, the pepper, the salt and whole little red hot paprika (be carefully whit the hot paprika, if we want to eat it realy hot we put some extra paprika to our personal dish). After the seasoning we can put the potato and the other vegetables (for example: carot, turnip, kidney beans or something like that, but this vegeatbles not irreplaceable parts of the soup) After that we cook until it’s made. Somtimes we season this soup with dry red wine.
I hope i gave some inspiration for you guys, I think the hungarian and the east europian cuisine is very good, and as a proud hungarian I try to promote or cuisine. My english is very poor, and I hope you understand what I try to say. Congratulations for the site it is awesom.
Oh, my goodness, Pitzur, you make the goulash sound absolutely delicious. It is making me wish I knew a few hunters, believe me.
Oh my, this sounds absolutely delicious! Definitely a finalist for King Robert’s ideal meal (mine too!)!
whole leg of wild boar, or a leg of lamb. Dark red super strong wine
To drink he’d have mead, and wine (a strong, dark red. Port maybe?), AND beer – the kind where you could chew the last inch in the bottom of the glass (for anyone else who’s read Terry Pratchett).
I agree with the poster who said that Robert would be a glutton, but not necessarily a gourmet per se. But at the same time, I think because of his status and wealth, he’d obviously have access to the best chefs and food products (both local and imported) and therefore would likely have a broader palette for different types of cuisines than we would think.
I imagine that a meal he’d enjoy would be something along the lines of this:
Soup course: Bean and Bacon soup. Hearty and filling, with tasty and meaty flavors that would hit the spot.
Salad course: A salad of summer greens, with spinach and sweet grass, argula, fennel, apple, grapes, edible flowers (that’s something the chef would throw in) such as borage, nasturiums, and a vinegrette of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Fish course: Riverpike in a crust of herbs and crushed almonds. And/or a whole trout poached in a mixture of butter, dill, and lemon. Sides would be mashed turnips made with generous doses of butter and cream, and sweet peas and pearl onions.
Mains: Roast boar or pig. Despite being killed by a wild boar, I get the feeling that Robert regularly ate it, and would definitely would have wanted the one that did him in to be served on the dinner table (if I recall correctly, he said as much to Ned). The roast boar should have crispy skin, wtih it being like cracklin – crunchy yet unctuous, followed by solid porky flavors. A side sauce of pureed apples, flavored with mead, honey, cloves, and a dash of cinnamon would be the dipping sauce to complement the pork and counter act its richness. Secondary mains would be roast venison (an homage of sorts to the sigil of the Barethon house, a stag) with gravy and duck a l’orange (I can see one of his palace chefs introducing this to Robert, who probably would have loved it).
Side dishes for the mains: roasted root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, beets, onions. A quiche (real men eat quiche!) of spinach, cheese, and ham; boiled turnips topped with melted butter and honey, turnip greens cooked in pork fat, a risotto of barley (the books never mention rice) and wild mushrooms. And of course, fresh baked bread hot from the ovens, with butter served on the side.
Fruit and cheese course: An assortment of fresh fruit such as figs, apples, grapes, oranges, strawberries, currents…etc. And an assortment of cheeses such as cheddar, brie, stilton…etc.
Dessert: An assortment of fruit (apple, peach, strawberry) and jam (blueberry, blackberry) tarts served by tarts (but of course!). Custard creams and sweet honey creams and lemon cakes are also on the menu.
It goes without saying that the meal would be served with an assortment of ales, meads, wines (Arbor Gold, Dornish Red). And since he’s a King and could afford it, the luxury of ice wines (which if you’ve never had, you must try).
The yum factor in this thread is awesome! I’m tempted to try everyone’s suggestions! :D
This menu sounds good. The ice wine is a very special thing, and I have never tasted it, but I heard a lot of good things about it.
Ice wine is practically a dessert in itself. It is especially good if you put it in the freezer until slightly slushy!
Ice wine is delicious! It’s my all time favorite wine, and is indeed a special treat. Since ice wine is so sweet and has a “long finish” – that is, the flavor of it lingers in your month for a long time even after you’ve swallowed – it’s recommended that other desserts being served with the ice wine be less sweet. Ex: you don’t serve very sweet chocolately desserts when serving ice wine at the same time.
Skewers of venison and boar, for as Robert was consumed by his passions and his self-loathing, so too must these symbols must be present in his meal.
Buttered turnips with burnt bacon, served in a trencher, easy to eat with one hand while the other clutches a horn of ale or bawdy lass.
A small tart of brandy-soaked apples doused with cinnamon, a little something sweet to ease the feel of fullness, but allow one to continue carousing into the wee hours.