The World-Traveller's Cookbook: Recipes of Etharai

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Written by Tastes-and-Thinks
Edited by Dreams-of-Space

A Foreword

It is with great pleasure that I am publishing this cookbook. Cooking has been my passion for years, ever since I was a little child. Where most other kuuyikar took to the roads and to the skies, I stayed at home, experimenting with what flavours could mix and couldn't, what textures went well together and which ones didn't, and what tastes and flavours appeared to others. It was my dream to pursue cooking in a professional setting, and I find myself here today, thinking that I never could have made it this far without the undying support of my family, friends, and community. It is to them I owe this feat of mine, and it is them who I shall eternally be grateful for, for encouraging me to pursue my dreams.
Each of the recipes presented in this cookbook have been personally made and tasted by me and my family. The fact that you are even reading this book means the world to us - and this book is my way of thanking you for caring, and letting you in to my heart and my home, both of which cooking has become a significant part of.

Explore the Tastes of Etharai

Cookbook Table of Contents

Welcome, weary traveller, to Etharai's cookbook! This world-renowned collection of recipes contributed by only the best chefs will provide you with plenty of recipes to take your tastebuds around the globe - all from the comfort of your own home. Each and every recipe explored in this cookbook comes with its own cultural history, vibrant flavours, and wonderful tastes. In this book, you will be able to truly experience all that Etharai has to offer.

Explore the World through Taste

Food can often say a lot about a culture. After all, what a community chooses to sustain themselves with, and how they choose to prepare it, are all decisions that are made not only with the flavours they have at hand in mind, but also with what they deem socially appropriate to eat. Furthermore, what a culture values in food can say a lot about what a culture values in the other aspects of their life. In addition, how much value a community places on food and those who make it goes a long way in discovering their attitudes towards life - because food is just that, life.
I hope that even if you decide that all of the recipes listed in this cookbook are not for you, that you take this message to heart. Food is one of the things that brings us closer together, and should be celebrated as such. Not just as something necessary to survival, though it is, but as something worth discussion and love.

More than a recipe

Each of the recipes and foods explored here hold their own cultural meanings to the communities they originated in. While this cookbook does not have the time, space, or funding to dive deep into these cultural meanings, these foods offer but a glimpse into their communities.

Explore Articles

!! These links direct to full articles. To navigate this document, see the cookbook table of contents. !!
Breakfast Favourites
Fulfilling Meals
Refreshing Beverages
Snacks
Desserts
Condiments, Toppings, and More
The Secret Section

Recipes to Remember

Food is life - this is something to live by. These recipes are specifically curated for the best experience of those using this cookbook. Many of these are ones I have enjoyed at home with my family. And for many, my kids have come back for seconds, for thirds, and then asked for more. These recipes are made not just with the physical ingredients listed, but also with love. Lots and lots of love, for the craft, for family, and for community.

A warning

As I have done my best to include recipes from many communities across the planet, there are a few kuuyik dishes included in this cookbook. Many kuuyik dishes are made from inedible and/or toxic materials to other species, which the kuuyikar themselves can eat due to their own anatomy. Such foods are marked at the beginning of their recipes, and may require light or heavy modifications to be edible to non-kuuyikar - or may not be edible by non-kuuyikar at all. If you are not kuuyikar, pay attention to the warnings at the beginning of some of the recipes. Some will say "this food is not recommended for non-kuuyikar individuals": this means that you will need to make heavy modifications for it to be edible, and there are no promises that you will enjoy the taste. For the recipes that replace the word "recommended" with "edible", those dishes feature a primary or key ingredient that cannot be substituted that is either inedible or toxic to certain species. Do not try those recipes.

The Author's Favourites

There are a few recipes here that stand out above the rest. These recipes are ones that I have cooked time and time again for my family, friends, and even for formal gatherings, and have gotten much enjoyment from. I highly recommend these dishes to you for your enjoyment.

Pyreheart Candy
Item | Dec 30, 2023

A soft, airy candy made from crushed-up pyreheart

Sweetbread
Item | Dec 30, 2023

A soft and sweet bread made from udarain

Sunkenweed Tea
Item | Dec 30, 2023

A beverage made from the sheaths of sunkenroot

Spellvok Candy
Item | Dec 30, 2023

A hard candy made from spellvok crystals

Cooking Times & Efforts: An Overview

The recipes listed in this cookbook have varying amounts of times and efforts required to make them. The efforts are relative and subjective, and the time is somewhat of an estimate, but I have done my best to categorise these as well as I am able. Here they are sorted:
Low effort
Kuuyik Seafood Salad
~15 minutes
Orchid Salad
~15 minutes
Woodcutter Soup
3-4 hours
Ink Juice
15-20 minutes
Sunkenweed Tea
5-10 minutes
Udarain Smoothie
4-6 minutes
Deepcoral Pudding
15-20 minutes
Spellvok Candy
1+ days
Eelsauce
~5 minutes
Sand Soup
40-45 minutes
Medium effort
Goldenroot Stew
30-40 minutes
Jellyfish Stew
40-50 minutes
Stew of Rot
40-50 minutes
Stuffed Algae
20-30 minutes
Bubblebark Pie
1-2 hours
Ocean Gelato
1+ days
Pyreheart Candy
~15 minutes
Udarain Pudding
1-2 hours
Jungleradish Mustard
1+ days
High effort
Sweetbread
1-2 hours
Barknoodles
~1 hour
Volcano Salad
1+ days
Baked Goldenroot Crisps
~1 hour
Coral Cake
1+ days
Udarain-Glazed Doughnut
20-30 minutes
These recipes each correspond to a food article, which can be accessed by clicking on the associated header. Some of the articles for these recipes have not been made yet. If you wish to see those articles expanded, feel free to leave a comment.

Breakfast Favourites

The following recipes are best to taste when waking up in the morning. Elevate your day by starting off with a good, filling meal, rather than rushing off to your next destination, wherever that may take you. Savour your mornings, and you will learn to savour your days.

Sweetbread

A wonderful breakfast for those with a sweet tooth, this soft bread is a delicious meal to wake up to. Striking a perfect balance between sweetness and dryness, this appetising dish is sure to appeal to your taste buds. Or, if you don't have taste buds, the texture of this airy bread is still a wonder to behold.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 udarain fruits
  • 2 large eggs (any)
  • 2 cups milk (any)
  • 1/2 stick bitter
  • 1 tsp salt (ocean)
  • Yeast

Instructions

  1. Remove the interior of the udarain fruits.
  2. Mix the resulting paste with milk.
  3. Lightly heat for around 5 minutes.
  4. Add the yeast, and stir.
  5. Let sit for 10 minutes.
  6. Mix in the butter, salt, and eggs.
  7. Stir the mixture until it is thick enough to knead.
  8. Knead dough until smooth.
  9. Place in pan and bake until golden-brown.
  10. Let cool.
  11. Serve.

Fulfilling Meals

The meals presented in this section are equally suited for those single and living alone, as well as those cooking to feed entire villages. These delectable options are for those of any walks of life, and can provide warmth, comfort, and community no matter the situation.

Barknoodles

Barknoodles are a wonderful meal, brought down by those who have been to the Heavens. And one thing that I can say for certain is that the angels living there sure do know how to make a great meal! These noodles have an earthy and decadent flavour, and can be served with a great variety of ingredients and sides. This truly is an all-purpose food.

Ingredients

There are only three basic ingredients needed to make these noodles.

Instructions

The noodles themselves are fairly simple to make. Set out your flour, and crush the bark into the flour to release its water. Add the salt to your mixture, to suck out any excess moisture, and knead before cutting into long strands.

Bubblebark Pairings

These noodles can pair well with many different foods. I highly recommend mushroom-based meals, the earthy flavours and textures going quite well together. Alternatively, some more bitter plants, cooked and seasoned, compliment the noodles' flavours quite nicely.

Cloud Mushroom Stew

The article for cloud mushroom stew is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Cloud mushroom stew is a wonderful and simple meal made in the dewdrop peaks. It is astounding for its simplicity, and its lovely, earthy flavours form beautiful harmonies on the tongue. This dish is truly ethereal, much like the angels who make and serve it.

Ingredients

There are four major ingredients that you will need for this stew. The first of these are cloud mushrooms, found in the dewdrop peaks. These watery yet delicious mushrooms make the flavour of the stew, and the amoung you add in will correlate to the thinness or thickness of the stew. You will also need any herbs you plan on adding - I recommend wood chips from bubbletrees, along with a few other more airy flavours. You'll also need cream and flour to create the amazingly creamy flavour that truly elevates the dish wonderfully.

Instructions

The first thing you'll want to do when making this lovely stew is bring your cream to a simmer, whisking in your flour. Chop up your mushrooms to add to the cream, and throw in all of the other ingredients you plan on using. I recommend broth, herbs, oils, and other additives for flavour. You will then want to continue to boil your stew, stirring it until it reaches that creamy consistency we all love. The, wait for it to cool enough and you are ready to scoop your stew into bowls, serve, and enjoy! A tip for eating it: this stew goes wonderfully with the addition of barknoodles.

Goldenroot Stew

The article for goldenroot stew is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Goldenroot stew is one of the simplest foods out there, and many can grab its ingredients simply by heading out into their backyards! The stew features its main ingredient of goldenroot, along with a variety of garden vegetables and even meats, if those are to your tastes. This stew is highly customisable, and able to be individualised to your specific tastes! This recipe uses a basic structure of goldenroot, green vegetables, and leafy greens, though the majority of these ingredients may be substituted or removed, and new ones can always be added to your tastes. Due to this, I have kept this recipe purposefully a bit vague - be as creative as you'd like!

Ingredients

  • Goldenroot
  • Any green vegetable
  • Any leafy greens
  • Your choice of broth and other ingredients

Instructions

When making this stew, you'll first want to boil your broth, adding any initial spices that you desire - I recommend at least adding some salt and pepper. Depending on the ingredients you have chosen, these can be chopped up and added to the pot and various points in your cooking. You'll want to add thickening agents, and I recommend some more salty additives to pair well with the flavours of the goldenroot. After the stew is done cooking, you'll want to add any additional spices you'd like, which can give the stew nice spicy, umami, or salty flavours, depending on the direction you'd like to go with this dish.

Jellyfish Stew

The article for jellyfish stew is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not edible for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Jellyfish stew is a lovely, juicy oceanic stew I learned about from the abyssal kuuyikar. These fine folk live deep below the ocean's surface, and I consider myself very lucky to be one of the few people to have met them. This beautifully salty stew has a wonderful consistency, with the mushy texture of the jellyfish pairing surprisingly well with the thicker salt water that the stew is set in.
Most traditionally, the jellyfish used in this stew are buttercup jellyfish, moonlight jellyfish, and opalescent jellyfish, but seeing as these creatures live deep in the abyssal depths, these foods can be adapted to use other types of jellyfish instead.

Ingredients

This stew uses three simple ingredients:
  • Salt water
  • Jellyfish
  • Salt

Instructions

Once you have collected your ingredients, the first thing you'll want to do is separate the bodies of your jellyfish from the tentacles. They cook very differently, and so it is best to keep them separate from each other for the sake of easier cooking. You'll want to boil your salt water, adding more salt as it heats up. You want to keep this at a consistent liquidity, only adding more salt as you are able, ensuring that no grains of salt are floating loosely in the water - this is a sign that you have added too much salt. This amount of salt is needed, as the chemicals in the jellyfish bodies will begin to offset this saltiness. Next, chop up and add the jellyfish bodies, cooking until the pieces become somewhat firm. Finally, for a bit of added spice, you can add the jellyfish tentacles to the stew as it cools.

Kuuyik Seafood Salad

The article for kuuyik seafood salad is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not recommeneded for non-kuuyikar individuals.
This lovely dish is one of the first that I learned how to make as a child. It is a wonderful blend of many of the tastes that the ocean has to offer, and it fairly simple to make, provided the right ingredients. The salad is a harmonic mixture of crunchy, soft, salty, bitter, and metallic flavours that compliment one another quite beautifully and create an excellent flavour and texture experience.
Unfortunately, this dish requires heavy modifications to be edible to non-kuuyikar, which I will describe at the end of this recipe.

Ingredients

  • Seagrasses
  • Any coral(s)
  • Any nuts, typically oceanic
  • Palepetal seeds
  • (Optional) Small fish
  • Glow ink
Some of these ingredients can be removed or replaced, and others can be added, but this is the gist of the dish. To keep the spirit of the salad, it is best that the majority of the ingredients used are oceanic in nature.

Instructions

To start off making this salad, you'll want to chop up all of your ingredients, making sure to prepare them specificly to your liking. For some ingredients, this means chopping them up, for others it may meen cooking and cooling, while for more it may mean simply throwing them in the bowl. Once you've added your main ingredients, you should start to toss the salad, mixing it so that all of the different ingredients are well jumbled. Then, you can add your toppics like palepetal seeds and glow ink, and serve!

Orchid Salad

The article for orchid salad is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not recommeneded for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Orchid salad has been one of my favourite quick meals whenever I'm on land. It's quite tasty, with a bitter, tangy and metallic flavour that I do enjoy, though it is not typically to the tastes of others. Still, I just had to include this recipe in here. It's been a lifesaver for all my travelling days when I didn't want or have the energy to put a lot of effort into my foods.

Ingredients

To make this salad, you'll want to collect an assortment of grasses and other leafy greens. The primary taste of this dish comes from the orchids used to make it, most typically rot orchid - though of course any other magic-reactive orchid species can be used as a substitution here. Sparkflowers make a rather faithful substitute, if you are unable to obtain any rot orchids.

Instructions

This dish does require a bit of magic to make, though if you find yourself incapable of this there are plenty of tools out there that you can use instead. The taste may be affected by this slightly, but not too much so. Much like the previous salad, you'll prepare your ingredients separately before mixing them together. Tossing this salad is fairly simple, and once you add your toppings, you're done!

Sand Soup

The article for sand soup is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not recommeneded for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Sand soup is a wonderful kelpen kuuyik recipe straight from the kelp forests. There is great variety in this dish, from the gritty texture of the sand to the smooth bites offered by the kelp mixed in. The sand really helps to bring out and elevate the flavours of the kelp, making for quite a stunning dish.

Ingredients

Instructions

This dish is really quite simple, though it does require a bit of preparation. You'll want to first grind your sand, in order to ensure that it has that consistent gritty texture that really makes this dish. Once you've gotten your sand to a consistency that you enjoy, all you'll need to do now is cook your kelp until it is nice and smooth, and then mix your sand in. You want there to be more kelp than sand, but the sand should be visibly noticeable. Then, you are ready to plate and serve this dish!

Stew of Rot

The article for stew of rot is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not recommeneded for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Stew of rot is a wonderfully pungent food, though its strong smell only highlights its flavourful ingredients, and the delightful melody of taste that this stew provides. For those who enjoy such tastes, I highly recommend this kuuyik dish to anyone with an open enough mind to try it.

Ingredients

  • Rot orchid
  • Broth
  • Vegetable oil
  • Additional vegetables
  • Other spices

Instructions

To make stew of rot, you'll want to separate the stems of the rot orchid, and add them into the boiling broth first, with no other ingredients. This is essential in the broth absorbing the flavours of the rot orchid, and provides a base for the rest of the stew.
Once the broth has become noticeably pungent, you are then safe to add your other ingredients into the stew, and then add your spices, pour into bowls, and then serve. Though you'll most likely want to wait for it to cool off before you eat it, lest you burn your tongue!

Stuffed Algae

The article for stuffed algae is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not edible for non-non-kuuyikar individuals.
Now, if there's one food I love above all else, it's algae. It's such a versatile food, and can be so many things in different dishes and contexts - it can even be multiple different things at once! Because of this, stuffed algae has always been one of my kids' favourite foods, and I am always more than happy to oblige! This recipe uses carnivorous algae, giving it somewhat of a biting taste, and making it inedible to non-kuuyikar. Unfortunately, this cannot be substituted, as the flavour and chemical balance of the dish is contingent on the digestive enzymes of the algae.

Ingredients

Instructions

This dish requires a bit of preparation beforehand. The carnivorous algae must be dried and heated, both to prevent it from wiggling as it is eaten (an uncomfortable sensation, take it from me), as well as to help it keep its shape.
This algae can then be formed into a bowl-like shape, where you can then include any additives you desire! After they've been stuffed, seal them up and they're ready to eat!

Volcano Salad

The article for volcano salad is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not edible for non-non-kuuyikar and non-flamekin individuals.
Volcano salad is a lovely dish that I had the good fortune of being able to try during my trips to the emberpeaks. It is made by the vibrant flamekin living in the region, and its an amazing warm dish to have on a cold day. Its slightly sweet taste gives it a wonderful balance of flavours, and I do love how the Flamekin add metallic ingredients to their meals.

Ingredients

Instructions

While this recipe is a bit more time-intensive than most, it is definitely worth the effort. While flamekin can eat this dish hot, with melted metals on top of the salad, I and the majority of other species are unfortunately heat-sensitive, so this recipe does take a bit of a departure from its source material.
The first step in making this meal is to heat up the metals that you intend to use. For flamekin, it is as simple as keeping this warm while preparing the rest of the salad, but for us heat-averse folk, it is important to pour out the metal into bite-sized pieces. I have a lovely crouton mold that I use for this purpose, but really any small shape works. I also prefer to use softer gems and metals, so that I can bite into them and don't have to make them as small.
Next, you'll want to prepare the rest of the salad while those are chilling. Typically, the remaining portion of the salad only consists of firegrass, but you can add whatever else you want in here to spruce this salad up. The additive I like to use are rot orchid or palepetal flower, as I find the flavours pair quite nicely with the metallics of the salad, though this is entirely up to the individual.
Finally, you'll want to crush up some pyreheart and sprinkle it on the salad, giving it a sweet edge to the otherwise metallic taste. It is my opinion that this pyreheart truly makes the salad, and I never go without it.

Woodcutter Soup

The article for woodcutter soup is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Woodcutter soup is a lovely and refreshing meal, make from the bubblebark trees of the dewdrop peaks. In a pinch, it can also be made into a nutritious smoothie, to drink while on the go. This meal is oft enjoyed by the ever-moving angels, who don't always have the time or wherewithal to sit around to enjoy their meals.

Ingredients

The incredible news about making this divine dish is that it requires very few ingredients! All you'll need is the branches of a bubbletree, and you're set! If you want, you can also add sugar to this recipe, though it is in no way required for enjoyment of this dish. The dish itself is fairly sweet on its own, after all.

Instructions

To make this watery dish, you'll want to take your branches of bubbletrees, and remove their bark. Then, you'll want to cut the wood into thinner slices, and lay it out to dry. To quicken the drying process, you can lay out water-soaking materials on either side of your slices. Depending on the humidity of the air, you'll want to wait 2-3 hours for the wood to dry out enough. When they have, you'll be able to tell by their softness and malleability, and you should be able to run a finger along the wood without getting excess water on your hand.
Once the wood has been dried, this is simply a matter of grinding it into a soft pulp, adding any additional sugar you wish to add, and then blanding it the rest of the way until it is nice and smooth. If you want, you can add any other toppings or ingredients on here - I particularly recommend udarain - though this step is not required.

Refreshing Beverages

Ink Juice

This beverage is not recommeneded for non-non-kuuyikar individuals.
The metallic taste of this lovely deep kuuyikar staple beverage is one that tastes just like home for many individuals. The impressive glow of this thicker beverage makes it popular among kuuyikar children, and a food that is fondly remembered from childhood in kuuyikar adults.

Ingredients

There are two ingredients needed for this beverage to be edible for kuuyikar, though it gets more complicated for non-kuuyikar. The first ingredient is always glow ink - which must be diluted in a 2:1 water:ink ratio for non-kuuyikar edibility - while the second ingredient is traditionally tallfruit juice. This second ingredient may be substituted for juice from a few other fruits with similar sweetness, such as the ocean pomegranate, the udarain, or the lathayr.

Instructions

In order to make this lovely juice, one must first (if neccessary) make sure to dilute the glow ink that is crucial to the recipe. The remaining steps are fairly simple. First, mix the now-diluted glow ink with the juice of the chosen fruit in approximately a 3:5 respective ratio. Then, mix them together until the juice maintains a soft greenish glow and purple juice colour. Do be warned that if this glow becomes neon, this is likely because the ink was not properly diluted.
Ink Juice by notahumanhand

Sunkenweed Tea

A fairly simple beverage, this tea is favourable to those with more bitter tastes. This tea is has a beautifully biting flavour, and only takes a few minutes to make, provided the ingredients. The true charm of this tea comes in its medicinal uses - known to lessen sore throats and coughing in the blink of an eye.

Ingredients

The only two ingredients you'll need for this tea are the sheaths of sunkenweed grass, and water (along with a way to boil it)! For the more discerning palette, one can also add sugars, salts, or other sweeteners to taste.

Instructions

To make this tea, simply boil your water, add your sunkenweed, and steep for 5-10 minutes! The more sunkenweed added and the longer steeped will create stronger, more bitter flavours. Add any additional ingredients during or after the tea's steeping.

Udarain Smoothie

The article for udarain is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This wonderfully sweet and refreshing beverage is perfect for drinking in the arid and hot environments that the fruit they are made with is from. It has a lovely and sugary taste, and a thickness that makes it such a delight to drink. It's popular with my children, and my heart always breaks a little when they ask for it and I don't have any leftover udarain fruits. Thankfully, this is a quick and easy recipe, so my little ones never have to despair for long.

Ingredients

The only two ingredients that you'll need to make this smoothie is udarain and either water or milk (any type of milk should work well here), to add a bit of creaminess to the smoothie. You can add other fruits to the smoothie, though this is not a required step, and I find just plain udarain smoothies are more than flavourful enough for my. My kids like when I add some spiral or rainbow coral in the mix - though I'm convinced they just like the pretty pastel colours. You'll need a machine to blend your ingredients, as well - I've a trusty blender that has been in this family for two whole generations - it's truly a hardy one, to have stuck with us.

Instructions

All you'll need to do to make this lovely smoothie is to cut your udarains to get to those yummy, gooey insides, and then plop them and your milk/water right into your blender! You'll need to blend for a good 4-6 minutes to get a nice, smooth, creamy consistency, and then you're ready to pour this tasty drink and serve to yourself, your friends, or your family!

Snacks

Sometimes you're not up for a full meal - and that is okay! These snacks will satisfy your peckishness and give you the quick, tasty nutrients you're craving!

Baked Goldenroot Crisps

These salty crisps have the perfect amount of thickness and crunch for the picky snacker. Made from goldenroot vegetables native to the rolling hills, these tasty snacks are a household staple of many families. They're not too difficult to make, once you get the hang of it, and require very few ingredients - so fewer trips to the market!

Ingredients

To make these crisps, all you need are the following three ingredients:
  • Goldenroot
  • Salt
  • Frying oil

Instructions

  1. Wash and peel your goldenroots.
  2. Slice the goldenroot into thin slices, about 1/8th to 1/6th of an inch.
  3. Soak the slices in ice water for 10-15 minutes to draw out excess oils.
  4. Dry the slices thouroughly.
  5. Heat oil in pan.
  6. Fry goldenroot slices until golden brown.
  7. Let cool, and then serve!

Coral Cake

The article for coral cake is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Coral cakes are an absolute delight, brought to us by our coralite friends of the whirlpool reefs. Traditionally, these sweet and saltly snacks are made with rainbow coral, but any sufficiently soft colony of marine invertebrates (corals) will work. When properly prepared, these tasty treats have a nice, mushy texture to them, with an almost doughy feel that is such a wonder to bite into.

Ingredients

  • Coral flour
  • Rainbow coral or substitute
  • Salt water
  • Sugar

Instructions

This snack does require a bit of preparation to properly make. The day before you plane to make the recipe, mix bowl of salt water with sugar in approximately 5:1 water:sugar ratio.
Soak your coral in this water overnight, ensuring that the top of the coral is just covered by the water. You will know you have done this right if, but the next morning, the water has gained a slight tint of the coral's colour(s). Once you have done this, remove the coral from the water and drain. Then, take the coral and start to squish it together. It should have become sticky enough from soaking it to be able to stick together farily well. Knead the coral until it becomes a consistent texture, and then coat it in coral flour and cut however you would like. The flour will ensure that the outside of the snack is no longer sticky.

Desserts

We all love a good, sweet (or not so sweet!) treat when coming home at the end of a long day. Or sometimes, just when waking up in the morning, and even on special occassions. This section of the cookbook is dedicated to such foods, ones that are, in my humble opinion, essential to know.

Bubblebark Pie

The article for bubblebark pie is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Bubblebark pie is a soft, gelatinous treat with an airy flavour. It's another delicacy from the floating islands of the dewdrop peaks, a highly refreshing treat. It's quite a lovely and underrated dessert, and a lot of its preparation is just waiting, rather than any energy-intensive tasks.

Ingredients

In order to make bubblebark pie, the primary ingredients that you will need are:
  • Bubbletree branches
  • Sugar
  • Flour
  • Butter
  • Pie crust
Sweet banana cake served on shelf by Marta Dzedyshko

Instructions

The first thing you'll want to do is lay out your pie crust, which can be homemade or stored - this depends on your preference and whether or not you have the time to make the dough for it. Lay out the pie crust in an appropriate pan, as this is key to the structure of the pie. Next, you'll want to peel your bubbletree branches, taking the inside wood and boiling it. If the wood does not melt entirely, you may need to stir or even blend it a bit, but it should be a nice, hot, liquid texture by the time it's done.
Next, you'll want to wait for the liquid to cool to a lukewarm temperature, and then slowly pour it in to your pie crust. Once it has settled, sprinkle your flour over top of it, and sprinkle however much sugar you'd like to add over top. Keep in mind that bubbletree wood is already fairly sweet. It is very important that you do not stir the pie.
Next, place thinly-sliced butter on top of your pie. If you've done the previous steps corrently, this butter should not sink. Once you have done so, you are now ready to bake. You'll want to preheat your oven, and it will take around 45 minutes to an hour to bake depending on the strength of your oven. Once you remove the pie from the oven, it should still be somewhat watery in the centre.
Finally, you'll want to place your pie somewhere to chill for a few hours to allow it to become firm before you cut the pie. Feel free to add any additional toppings at this point. Once it has solidified enough, you are free to slice and eat your pie!

Deepcoral Pudding

The article for deepcoral pudding is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not edible for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Deepcoral pudding is one of those desserts that brings me right back to my childhood, at home with my parents, pestering my father to make it for me. It's certainly nostalgic for me, which is a large part of why it's been included here, but it's also quite a tasty dessert. I have, of course, introduced my own children to this cullinary delight, and it certainly has become a fairly popular one. I've taken to making a bit for them every morning to have alongside their breakfasts. Made from deepcoral, this yummy nutrient- and magic-packed dessert is all the rage among the deep kuuyikar - and for great reason.
Now, unfortunately, deepcoral does have a few enzymes that can cause allergic reactions in many other species. As such, it is never recommended that non-kuuyikar eat this dish.

Ingredients

  • Deepcoral
  • Sugar
  • Milk
  • Cream

Instructions

Making this dish is fairly simple. You'll need to crush up your deepcoral, and mix it with your milk, cream, and sugar. These proportions can generally be eyeballed, and aren't particularly sensitive. Chill for a few hours, and you're done!

Ocean Gelato

This chilled treat is perfect on a hot summer's day, guaranteed to cool you off. With the added bonus of being adaptable to near any flavour palette, it's no mystery why this ice-cold sweet is popular in some warmer coastal regions. But of course, this food is not at all restricted to such areas - you can make it for yourself at home!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1-4 cups chosen oceanic flavour ingredient

Flavours

There are a great many things that can be used as flavouring for ocean gelato, and it would be impossible to list them all. Some popular ones are coralshrooms, spellvok, and rainbow coral, but the only thing that makes it ocean gelato is that its flavouring comes from the ocean.

Instructions

  1. Mix your milk and cream, and heat until bubbles begin to form.
  2. Beat egg yolks and sugar until frothy, and gradually mix with the milk and cream. Whisk thouroughly.
  3. Mix in your flavouring to taste, and chill overnight.

Pyreheart Candy

Pyreheart Candy by notahumanhand
A bit more difficult of a candy to make, this tasty treat made from pyreheart crystals is definitely worth it! The recipe requires a bit of additional equipment, but once you have this handy, you'll be the most popular adult around! This airy, fluffy candy is enjoyed by flamekin and outsiders alike, with a lovely melt-in-your-mouth feel and a lingering glow that kids can't get enough of.

Equipment

The primary equipment needed to make pyreheart candy is a machine which can be fed crushed-up crystals and spin the resulting filaments. While there are machines specifically designed for this purpose, other technology is available that can be co-opted for this purpose.

Ingredients

The only ingredient needed to make pyreheart candy is the pyreheart crystals themselves! Edible on their own, though hard to bite into, these sugary crystals can be found in the emberpeaks, growing in clusters.

Instructions

Once you've got your equipment and ingredients, all that remains for you to do is crush up the pyreheart crystals, and feed them into your machine. The machine should melt and thin the crystals, and spin it into an airy, cloud-like candy that is best collected on some kind of stick-shaped food-safe material.

Spellvok Candy

Spellvok candy is a popular sweet among deep kuuyikar children, and for good reason. This sparkly treat is easy to make, with little maintenance, and gives your children a light show as they eat. It has been proven to have some wonderful magical health benefits as well, and the flavours will (literally) dance on your tongue!

Ingredients

  • 3-4 Spellvok Crystals
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water (traditionally salt water, but fresh water will do)

Instructions

  1. Crush up the spellvok crystals into a fine crumb.
  2. Boil your water and sugar. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
  3. Mix the crushed-up spellvok pieces into the water/sugar mixture. Stir until the mixture is smooth.
  4. Put the liquid into molds or shapes of your choosing. Chill for 24 hours.
  5. Serve.
Spellvok Candy by notahumanhand

Udarain Pudding

The article for udarain pudding is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This dessert is very lovely, and likely on my top five dishes to make when it comes to sweet desserts for the summer. It made it into this cookbook primarily for how little effort it requires - though it still does take a bit of time. The variant I'm presenting here is not quite plain udarain pudding, as the flavour does get a bit dull. Rather, I will describe the way that I enjoy preparing this - and how my kids enjoy eating it - a lively mix of chilled pudding, soft breading, and sugary toppings.

Ingredients

The ingredients you will need for this recipe are udarain fruits, heavy cream, sweetbread, and your choice of a spice to top it off - prefer sweet with a bit of a kick, but it's up to your personal tastes.

Instructions

To make this pudding, you'll need to get the paste from the inside of your udarain fruits. Once you've done this, mix it with your heavy cream in approximately a 1:1 ratio. You'll need to whisk the mixture for around 5 minutes, to ensure it gains a smooth consistency. Then, chill your mixture, making sure to cover the container you are storing it in. Wait one hour, and you will have your pudding.
To serve this pudding the way that I like to, you'll want to take cups (I prefer coralglass dishware, both for its beauty and its durability, though this is a personal preference) for each of the servings that you plan on making. Fill around the first 1/5th of the cup with pudding, and then add a slice of sweetbread (if you need a recipe for sweetbread, it is in the first section of this cookbook). Add more pudding and more slices of sweetbread to create a layered effect, ending on a final layer of pudding. Then, sprinkle on whatever toppings you want, and it's ready to serve!

Udarain-Glazed Doughnut

The article for udarain-glazed doughnut is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This is less a recipe for doughnuts, but instead a recipe of a fun topping you can add to your donuts. Udarain fruits make a delicious and sticky glaze that is perfect for doughnuts, and here I will describe how to prepare this lovely glaze.

Ingredients

  • Udarain
  • Water
  • Sugar

Instructions

To make this glaze, you'll want to first boil your water, and add udarain paste from the centre of the fruit. You'll want about a 3:1 ratio of udarain paste to water. Once it's reached boiling, add your sugar, with around a 2:1 ratio of water:sugar, of the water that you already added (6:1 ratio of udarain paste to sugar). Stir the mixture until the water is fully desolved, and let your claze chill cool. You'll want to pour it while it is still warm, since as it starts to cool, it will begin to harden.

Condiments, Toppings, and More

While my original vision for this cookbook only included meals, snacks, and beverages, I got to thinking about some of the things that can make or break a meal. The toppings, condiments, and other such foods in this section are ones I believe to be useful in elevating a great many meals, and so have included for this reason.

Jungleradish Mustard

The article for jungleradish mustard is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Jungleradish mustard is a lovely, spicy condiment that I just love to put on sandwiches, salad, and all sorts of things. It's not great as a food on its own, and its consistency would be quite strange for a standalone food, but it makes a lovely addition and elevates certain meals. Made from jungleradish in the megaforests, this condiment is definitely one of the most underrated on the planet, and I seek to rectify this mistake.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Jungleradish seeds
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp jungleradish juice
  • 1/4 cup vinegar

Instructions

  1. Soak your jungleradish seeds in vinegar overnight.
  2. Come morning, drain and dry the seeds, making sure to keep the vinegar.
  3. Mix the remaining ingredients together, only eexcluding the vinegar.
  4. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
  5. Let cool for around 10 minutes.
  6. Combine with vinegar, and blend until the mixture is a consistent texture.
Now, you can store your jungleradish mustard, to enjoy as a condiment, topping, dressing, or even just on its own if that's the kind of thing you'd enjoy! Make sure to store it in an air-tight container, and keep it somewhere neither too hot nor too cold. It will keep for a few months, but I'd be wary about storing it for more than a year or two.

Eelsauce

The article for eelsauce is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
This food is not edible for non-kuuyikar individuals.
Eelsauce is a great additive, native to my homelands in the submerged caverns. Where I'm from, we add it to nearly everything - salads, sandwiches, toast, and much more. It's quite simple to make, so much so that I won't bother to break it up into segments. You will need some amoung of resistance to toxicity and tolerance to magic to consume this, however.
The main ingredient required in this condiment is the blood of Thyic eels (ethically sourced, of course). You'll want to mix it with a thickening agent, with around a 2:1 blood:agent ratio. Then, mix thouroughly, and enjoy!

The Secret Section...

There are a great number of interesting foods I have come across in my travels, and not all of them have made in into my cookbook. This section is for the more interesting regional delicacies, which I do not have a recipe for and yet still would like to feature due to cultural interest.

Idyllic Essence

The article for idyllic essence is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Idyllic essence is a substance consumed ritualistically by the Keepers living in the Heart of Etharai. They are a strange folk, that is certain, and even I myself have not seen them. This knowledge is such that I am receiving second-hand, from my cousin who had travelled there. If you wish, you can read about his experience in his publication, Notice: A Caution Against Travelling to the Heart.

Root's Essence

The article for root's essence is still under construction! In the meantime, enjoy this recipe:
Another interesting substance from the Heart, I don't exactly recommend root's Essence. However, I wanted to touch on it a little bit here. This is a hallucinogenic known to cause confusion and lightheadedness, which comes from the spores of tangleroot tree. When inhaled, these spores have a similar effect. The essence can be noticed easily, a grey powdery substance.


Comments

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Dec 16, 2023 13:57 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

This is fun. I love the addition of the foreword. It definitely evokes a recipe book for me.

Emy x
Explore Etrea
Dec 16, 2023 15:02 by spleen

thank you! im glad to hear that :)

Have a wonderful day!
Dec 17, 2023 12:55 by Mochi

hoooooooooly god, this article is amazing. <3

I hope you have a great day!   Explore the endless planets brimming with life of the Yonderverse! Go after creatures, discover new places, and learn about the people you find along the way.   Come prep for WorldEmber with me!
Dec 17, 2023 14:20 by spleen

thank you! i'm very proud of it :>

Have a wonderful day!
Dec 17, 2023 19:27

What a great idea and I really like the implementation. A very nice detail is the division into levels of cooking effort and of course the names of the dishes. I love it.

Stay imaginative and discover Blue´s Worlds, Elaqitan and Naharin.
Dec 17, 2023 20:44 by spleen

thank you! i've been making a few dishes as i write about my cultures and species, and i had this idea that i just had to do

Have a wonderful day!
Dec 18, 2023 12:50

I added this to my reading list and I am trying to re-create a bit of it. It is always fun to try out cuisine from different worlds, sometimes literally.

You wanna see what we did for the last events? Go, click here: Eddies Major Events
Dec 18, 2023 14:12 by spleen

wow, thats so cool! fair warning - i don't know much about cooking, so no promises that the recipes will work irl without some changes

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 3, 2024 20:49

This is amazing! It really feels like a real recipe book.

I can hear the stars, they are singing to me...
For more mystery and magic, check out the world of Starsong
Jan 3, 2024 22:27 by spleen

thank you!

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 8, 2024 19:00 by Barb

I love how this feels like a real recipe book! It's something a lot of people may not consider, but knowing some food/recipes for a world or culture makes it feel more understandable to me when reading. I'll definitely be keeping that in mind as I build out my world for my players. Also, the layout is great!

Jan 8, 2024 21:19 by spleen

thank you! its not something i normally touch on in my worldbuilding but i had the idea and i just had to go through with making it xD

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 11, 2024 23:07 by Myth Magic

This is amazing. The amount of time it must have taken to create this is incredible.

Jan 12, 2024 01:57 by spleen

thank you! i took a bit over a day to finish it xD plus a lot of edits much later. it was exhausting but definitely worth it.

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 14, 2024 19:57

I expected a few recipes, but the level of detail and work that went into this is mindboggling. I really like the little details and structuring of the article.

Sit down, my friend, and let me tell you of Aran'sha . A world where the sands shift and the stars sing, where the wind carries secrets and the twin moons keep silent vigil over it all.
Jan 15, 2024 00:58 by spleen

thank you!

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 17, 2024 09:42 by Jon

Okay wow I LOVE this article! This is an honest to god book of recipes written so well I'm convinced that I can make some of these if I really wanted to, and the aesthetic on top of that is SO comforting.

While I would love to go on an adventure, writing them is enough for me.
Jan 18, 2024 02:43 by spleen

thank you! i'm glad you enjoyed the article :D

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 19, 2024 20:20 by Ann (Pistachio)

There is a lot of thought that went into the organization and creation of this. I really like that this is a work-in-progress, that gives article links that details information about the recipe if it hasn't been completed yet. It gives a very dynamic and immersive feeling to the concept, a compilation still in the making. Thank you for sharing.

Pistachio
Jan 19, 2024 20:28 by spleen

thanks! also can i just say, I love your username.

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 26, 2024 14:06

Amazing job and props to all the effort you've put into this article! It is incredible how interesting a world can seem thanks to something as simple as food. And I have to say that putting the prep time so close to the top of the article was also a great idea to make readers want to read further down. I, for one, immediately wanted to know why volcano salad and coral cake took so long to make.

Jan 26, 2024 14:24 by spleen

thank you! I took some inspiration from real-world cookbooks for that - but that is a great unintended side effect! :D

Have a wonderful day!
Jan 26, 2024 17:45 by Evilyn Carnate

I'm going to have to dedicate some real time to just reading all of your world - I've referred to your Norrith Sign Language and this article in my New Years Resolution challenge because they are just so beautifully executed; as others have said, this really does read like a real-world recipe book (similar to the ones written by people who travel the world in search of recipes - was that your inspiration for the design?) These are so well written, that I think if you could find real-world substitutes for your worlds' ingredients, you could sell this on patreon or something. I would certainly give some of them a try!

Jan 26, 2024 18:29 by spleen

yes, that was very much my inspiration in this! I have little to no actual cooking experience, funnily enough, so I'm so glad that it's realistic enough for these to pass as actual recipes. Thank you for your comment!

Have a wonderful day!
Feb 18, 2024 14:57 by Aster Blackwell

This is incredible! I really love how much you include food in your world. The foreword is so evocative and immersive! I just love the little things that remind you that this is a special place, like the mention of "if you don't have taste buds" and the warnings about the kuuyik dishes. All of this is just so awesome and inspiring.

Feb 18, 2024 15:10 by spleen

thank you! i'm glad you love it :D

Have a wonderful day!