Macha wrote:

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As I imagine everybody gets a little hungry after reading GRRM's descriptions of feasts in the books, and because I know there are quite a few of us here who love to cook, I thought we could have a place to share our own attempts at re-creating some of the meals inspired from the series. 

I haven't tried any of the available recipes so far, but I'm thinking of starting with a simple one - honeyed chicken. You can never gor wrong with chicken, the ingredients are easy to find, and the preparation looks pretty standard. 

Or I could just go for the suffed swan.

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         Tis true. Fowl is most best. Fish is closely second to me. Thanks for that recipe Macha ! 

DonalNoyesArm wrote:

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I have "The Feast Of Ice And Fire" cookbook, I almost want to eat the pages!

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         How come, did you wish to try out recipes or drool at the pages ? Do you have a part time chef gig ?

Cary Storm wrote:

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I don't believe there is a single GoT dish that is vegetarian friendly.

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         There were many described. The Northmen and Riverlands often made good use of the vegetable dishes

         and fish in their environs. GRRM often conjured up roasted on the menus in ASOIAF. I love the Tyrion

         chapters describing the delicaces but I really enjoyed the common meals. I realise that some smaller

          villagers and KL feasted often on spit fired game but there was quite a bit of variety to influence a

          book and web site.

Macha wrote:

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Wildseed - Oh I'm a great Dornish fan when it comes to food, I love all those Eastern Mediterranean influences. I love to cook but I hate spending too much time on a single dish, so I prefer anything that's simple, yet fairly spicy. Oh, and cheese (of any kind) should be on the menu, it's the one thing I can't do without.

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         True and I welcome your bias. Whenever I travel or have a simple meal here at home ( California has a

          ( Mediterranean Climate , Olive trees litter my neighborhood as do many fig and fruit bearing trees) .

          I pleasure a sweet bread  baquette or olive / rosemery herb loaf with meaty green or mixture of 

          olive variety, some sheep feta or bufala mozzerella. Add tiny heirloom tomatoes and grapes for dessert.

          dates or apples are pleasing too, just depends on what I have. If I'm not out of stock I have a saucer

          Balsalmic with truffle or plain olive oil. This is a meal I repeat or emulate as I travel. I try not to eat meat

          as I travel to keep my cost down and pick up great stuff from the market. I am always stuffed as I do too.

          I do attempt at least once at restaurants to sample local or ethnic menus when traveling but it more out

          respect and treating myself . I do enjoy immensely but I'm a cheapscate (?use) as I eat while traveling.

          My money is spent on museums and petrol or mass transit. I even skimp on rooms by taking boarding

          at a pension or farm. In Venice I stayed at a Art School. The experience is better than bunking it with  

          hostels and a room full of lost Americans.

Wildseed - I'm right there with you on how to travel, though more in theory than in fact. Actually, me and Mr. Macha were planning to go hitchhiking through Portugal, and spend the nights in small villages or camping places. Somehow, we always end up in hotels though, maybe because Mr. Macha is a cozy old bastard.  Could be easier if we would just save up some and buy a caravan (I believe you call it a trailer in the US), hehe. Do you find that meat is expensive in the US, compared to other ingredients? Here it's still pretty affordable, if nothing it's the price for vegetables that keeps climbing, as there was a serious drought this year and our irrigation system is shit. 

 I´m ready! 

I don´t eat (so you know): peas, polenta (corn flour?), chicken, cauliflower, tripe, carrots (except raw and small), pumpkin (if you force me I´ll eat though), deer (I find it too friendly and sweet).

WildSeed wrote:

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Macha wrote:

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Wildseed - Oh I'm a great Dornish fan when it comes to food, I love all those Eastern Mediterranean influences. I love to cook but I hate spending too much time on a single dish, so I prefer anything that's simple, yet fairly spicy. Oh, and cheese (of any kind) should be on the menu, it's the one thing I can't do without.

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         True and I welcome your bias. Whenever I travel or have a simple meal here at home ( California has a

          ( Mediterranean Climate , Olive trees litter my neighborhood as do many fig and fruit bearing trees) .

          I pleasure a sweet bread  baquette or olive / rosemery herb loaf with meaty green or mixture of 

          olive variety, some sheep feta or bufala mozzerella. Add tiny heirloom tomatoes and grapes for dessert.

          dates or apples are pleasing too, just depends on what I have. If I'm not out of stock I have a saucer

          Balsalmic with truffle or plain olive oil. This is a meal I repeat or emulate as I travel. I try not to eat meat

          as I travel to keep my cost down and pick up great stuff from the market. I am always stuffed as I do too.

          I do attempt at least once at restaurants to sample local or ethnic menus when traveling but it more out

          respect and treating myself . I do enjoy immensely but I'm a cheapscate (?use) as I eat while traveling.

          My money is spent on museums and petrol or mass transit. I even skimp on rooms by taking boarding

          at a pension or farm. In Venice I stayed at a Art School. The experience is better than bunking it with  

          hostels and a room full of lost Americans.

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 Those damn lost Americans! My sister did foreign study at Oxford and Paris.  She stayed at a "boarding house" in an area of Paris she had no business being in.  Needless to say, she was lost! Loved the Louvre, though.

my granmother was pretty medieval. That´s really nice DNA

Macha wrote:

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Wildseed - I'm right there with you on how to travel, though more in theory than in fact. Actually, me and Mr. Macha were planning to go hitchhiking through Portugal, and spend the nights in small villages or camping places. Somehow, we always end up in hotels though, maybe because Mr. Macha is a cozy old bastard.  Could be easier if we would just save up some and buy a caravan (I believe you call it a trailer in the US), hehe. Do you find that meat is expensive in the US, compared to other ingredients? Here it's still pretty affordable, if nothing it's the price for vegetables that keeps climbing, as there was a serious drought this year and our irrigation system is shit. 

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          Meat is very inexpensive in the States unless it's certified organic, same for vegetables & fruit. California has

           a year rond growing season and provide much of the nation's produce. Unlike most Urban Americans I am very

           familiar with products that they would naturally dismiss or unaware. I tend to skip meat as I travel because

           of questionable production standards and also it tends to be heavy in my digestion. Every region demonstrates

           a favorable climate for growth tho, I'm sure that ringd true for any country or continent.

           I wonder how Black as Snow views the Cheese made here. I grew up with a goat and drinking goat's milk

           but I'm more likely to have brined sheep feta not goat. I cannot drink milk anymore but mozzarella and 

           feta are what I tolerate. Cows milk ( sweet milk)  is untolerable for me to digest at all.

WildSeed wrote:

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Since lady YvyB is unfamiliar with her new Queen's favorite dish of Lamprey Pie ( YvyB prefers poached frog leggs
in wine sauce )

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 Er where did I say I liked frogs legs ? That would make me French! I offered to bring to the table the very Northern Black Pudding

WildSeed wrote:

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Since lady YvyB is unfamiliar with her new Queen's favorite dish of Lamprey Pie ( YvyB prefers poached frog leggs
in wine sauce ) and the Lady Stark refusal to export them from her infested Michigan waters, we are at an impasse
with the menu. 

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 My brother was with the DNR (Dept. Nat. Resources) for Winterfelll and he can get me all the vile lampreys one can stomach, which is not many! Her majesty is welcome to all those shitty fishes!

WildSeed wrote:

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Frog legs are quite good actually. My uncle had them on his menu at his restaurant in Savannah Georgia

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 My father, the Warden of the North, and my brothers went giggen' frogs all the time when I was a kid.  My mom fried them up just like chicken.  I would have peanut butter and jelly.

WildSeed wrote:

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           I wonder how Black as Snow views the Cheese made here. I grew up with a goat and drinking goat's milk

           but I'm more likely to have brined sheep feta not goat. I cannot drink milk anymore but mozzarella and 

           feta are what I tolerate. Cows milk ( sweet milk)  is untolerable for me to digest at all.

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Hi WildSeed!  Nice avatar!  Have you tried eating ricotta?  Since it's made from whey, some people can tolerate it even if they can't tolerate other cheeses. 

As for my thoughts, the goo called "American Cheese" is not cheese.  But I love many of the cheeses made here, especially some of the cheddars from smaller producers.  It's just too expensive to buy many of the imported cheeses of my youth, but a few times a year, I indulge.  I make my own goat cheese, but my attempts to make hard cheeses out of goat milk have had abysmal results.  It stinks to wait all those months as the cheese matures, and then it tastes like you're licking a goat!    So I've been dabbling with making hard cheeses with cow's milk, but haven't spent much time on it yet.  A don't make much goat cheese anymore though.  Just some whole milk ricotta when I'm making lasagne or ravioli.  

As for sheep, my plan is to add milk sheep next year, so I can try my hand at making sheep cheese and spinning yarn.  So I'll let you know when I've got some brined sheep feta for you!     

Ricotta is a bit lumpy, which is why I usually put it into other recipes (pasta, cakes, etc). But you can drain it in cheesecloth to make it more solid, just like you can do with yogurt. Then it's great as a spread if you add some herbs.

And no, sheep cheeses are not pungent in the same way goat cheeses tend to be. But it's easy for them to get too salty for some people. I like salty, so I'm a fan. I'm surprised you can find it at a farmer's market.  That's awesome!  There are not many sheep dairies in the US. I only know of one in this state, and I think he was trying to sell his flock last year. It's probably mutton by now.    Poor little critters.

WildSeed wrote:

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            Oh my, raising the chickens were my responsibility on our land, so was the egg collecting. I've slaughtered

            many (sorry) and plucked /prepared in gazillion ways. Ironically, I cannot deal with eating eggs. I have 

            witnessed too many chicks at birth and one accidently in the fry pan 

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 Oh, you do understand! Egg collecting, fleecing under hot water...  the smell is unforgettable! but chicks in the fry pan, luckily, never happened to me. My grandmother had all kinds of animals and my cousins ​​and I used to choose some as pets: ducklings, chicks, bunnies... a few months after, our beloved pets disappeared... in our stomachs. with time we realized what was happening with them (my beautiful black duckling ) and none of us went back to eating chicken or rabbit and you have to keep in mind that we are 19 cousins... eerrrmmm I do eat duck though... I love duck... not from here, because you need two rows of teeth to do so but when I have the chance I can not say  no. It´s too damn tasty. Sorry.

DonalNoyesArm wrote:

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I hear many Renaissance faires have begun using these recipes as themed dinners, I would not mind going medieval cooking for a week or so!

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         If you're ever here in Northern California you are welcome to attend the many Renaissance and/or

         Harvest faires / fetes. Almost year long choices of some sort.