A Man must eat… Jaqen H'gar's Ideal Meal

…and in this case, that man is Jaqen H’gar. It has to be close to three years ago now that you all threw out some wonderful suggestions for this meal, and inspired by a recent episode of the show, I have finally taken full advantage of them. I fear I have not quite done your excellent ideas justice, but a girl has to finish the post eventually, one way or the other. A man, however, eats what he must, and it’s important to keep in mind that Jaqen H’gar is a man who has to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.  

The prevailing thoughts about this meal included Venetian-inspired spicy seafood from Braavos, as well as smaller, easily transported foods, some of which could be foraged. I also loved the idea of incorporating some food trickery, and after looking into it just a bit, discovered that it was a medieval practice. There were historical recipes for making meat look spoiled, presumably to keep unwelcome guests from over-taxing one’s food stores. This would probably fall under a subcategory of Subtleties, or showpiece dishes (more on those later). In this case, the duplicity of such a dish would fit well with a faceless man’s meal. 

So in the end, I used a lot of your ideas to create a two-sided meal. For the man-on-the-go half, I took Juli’s idea of foraged quail eggs and paired it with some fruits, roots, and meats. A man would eat whatever he could come by in the wilderness, and might not be able to risk a fire for fear of discovery. A man might eat eggs raw, but I boiled mine.

For the more cultured Braavosi half of the meal, I agreed with Marianna about the Venetian connection, and went with a spicy squid ink pasta and scallops with a dash of caviar. Notice that black and white color palette of the main course? Yes, it was intentional. 

My relatively simple meal included:

• scallops on a bed of purple cabbage and fennel, served on endives (very pretty!)
• squid ink pasta with spicy cream sauce and mixed seafood
• quail eggs, fruits, nuts, cured meats
• mock-Sahlep, a thick spiced drink sold on the streets (recipe)

Honorable (and comedic) Mentions:

• Kate Quinn – all Black and White foods
• John Billburg- molecular gastronomy, for some ‘magic’
• @forkspoonknife – chameleons!
• B Lolly – a delicious sounding array of specific Venetian dishes

 One thing I really wish I could have incorporated is a deceptive sort of food, to represent the faceless man’s changeable nature and capacity for deception. Instead, I hope to do an entire post that looks at medieval subtleties. Let me tell you, there were some amazing ones back in the day!

I also loved the idea of doing those black/white half moon cookies, although they definitely wouldn’t be eaten in that fictional setting. I might still have to do that, although I’d make them rectangular, to better imitate the doors on the House of Black and White.