Cooking Challenge 1: Dish that Honors the Harpies
Dish: Slow-braised shockshank and crisp-fried puddlehopper skin with meat-onion gravy and amaranth bread.
Asagohan looked over at her boss, Schwifty. Schwifty said, “You’ve got that look in your eye. What are you thinking?”
“Soup,” she said. “I figured serving a dish right off our deli’s menu would be a no-brainer.”
Spumoni said, “I’m not sure how much harpies would like soup — and wouldn’t a proper soup need more ingredients than just meat, anyway?”
Schwifty said, “We could use other ingredients, but the harpies typically don’t touch vegetables, except for garnish and decoration. But you know what we could use rambra broth for? Gravy. I’ve been working on a new dish for the deli; we could modify my recipe to fit a harpy palate. Here’s what we’ll do…”
Becias and Asagohan worked to break apart the rambra carcass into smaller, manageable pieces. Into a stockpot they went with enough water to cover. That done, they got to work grinding amaranth seeds into fine flour. Once they had enough, they got some quick yeast, salt, and vegetable oil to make a sticky bread dough. It didn’t need to rise much, and into a high oven it went.
Spumoni’s small paws worked well for paring away the fat from around the shockshank. It would cut down the gamey taste and smell. He boiled meat cotton candy with red wine and some of the rambra broth to make a flavorful liquid in which to braise the shank. He placed it in a heavy cooking pot with a lid and poured the liquid over-top. Once the bread had been taken out, there was enough residual heat from the oven to slow-roast the meat. He set a kitchen timer so that he or one of his teammates could baste it with liquid, to keep the meat tender.
Becias strained the broth while Asagohan chopped several wild onion bulbs into crescents. She fried them in vegetable oil with some salt until they began to caramelize. She sprinkled in some flour, and then slowly added the rambra broth, cooking everything down into a savory gravy, sure to pair well with the braised shockshank. Becias chopped the rambra meat from the stockpot into tiny bits to add to the gravy as well.
Schwifty removed the skin of several puddlehopper frogs. The frogs’ skins had lots of fat attached, like poultry — perfect for chicharrones. She fried them in a separate pan with their own fat until mostly brown and very crisp.
Time to plate! Onto a plate went a big slice of shockshank, its meat burgundy from its sweet, almost fruity braising liquid. Next to it, crispy fried frog skin was stacked up like logs in a fire pit. On the edge of the plate were two slices of dense, filling amaranth bread. Meaty gravy with caramelized onions and chopped rambra bites drizzled over the shank meat. The amaranth bread was already doing its job of sopping up extra gravy that spilled over to it.
Finally, as a mixture of Dragonhome and Harpy cultures, they garnished the plate with the petals of a red blood spath — a source of food and beauty in the Earth region — and a lavender cliffside milkweed, native only to Harpy territory.
With their dish done, the four Terrathorn cooks shared high-fives all around, waiting eagerly for the judging to take place.
Dish: Slow-braised shockshank and crisp-fried puddlehopper skin with meat-onion gravy and amaranth bread.
Required (min 3):
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Also includes:
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Asagohan looked over at her boss, Schwifty. Schwifty said, “You’ve got that look in your eye. What are you thinking?”
“Soup,” she said. “I figured serving a dish right off our deli’s menu would be a no-brainer.”
Spumoni said, “I’m not sure how much harpies would like soup — and wouldn’t a proper soup need more ingredients than just meat, anyway?”
Schwifty said, “We could use other ingredients, but the harpies typically don’t touch vegetables, except for garnish and decoration. But you know what we could use rambra broth for? Gravy. I’ve been working on a new dish for the deli; we could modify my recipe to fit a harpy palate. Here’s what we’ll do…”
Becias and Asagohan worked to break apart the rambra carcass into smaller, manageable pieces. Into a stockpot they went with enough water to cover. That done, they got to work grinding amaranth seeds into fine flour. Once they had enough, they got some quick yeast, salt, and vegetable oil to make a sticky bread dough. It didn’t need to rise much, and into a high oven it went.
Spumoni’s small paws worked well for paring away the fat from around the shockshank. It would cut down the gamey taste and smell. He boiled meat cotton candy with red wine and some of the rambra broth to make a flavorful liquid in which to braise the shank. He placed it in a heavy cooking pot with a lid and poured the liquid over-top. Once the bread had been taken out, there was enough residual heat from the oven to slow-roast the meat. He set a kitchen timer so that he or one of his teammates could baste it with liquid, to keep the meat tender.
Becias strained the broth while Asagohan chopped several wild onion bulbs into crescents. She fried them in vegetable oil with some salt until they began to caramelize. She sprinkled in some flour, and then slowly added the rambra broth, cooking everything down into a savory gravy, sure to pair well with the braised shockshank. Becias chopped the rambra meat from the stockpot into tiny bits to add to the gravy as well.
Schwifty removed the skin of several puddlehopper frogs. The frogs’ skins had lots of fat attached, like poultry — perfect for chicharrones. She fried them in a separate pan with their own fat until mostly brown and very crisp.
Time to plate! Onto a plate went a big slice of shockshank, its meat burgundy from its sweet, almost fruity braising liquid. Next to it, crispy fried frog skin was stacked up like logs in a fire pit. On the edge of the plate were two slices of dense, filling amaranth bread. Meaty gravy with caramelized onions and chopped rambra bites drizzled over the shank meat. The amaranth bread was already doing its job of sopping up extra gravy that spilled over to it.
Finally, as a mixture of Dragonhome and Harpy cultures, they garnished the plate with the petals of a red blood spath — a source of food and beauty in the Earth region — and a lavender cliffside milkweed, native only to Harpy territory.
With their dish done, the four Terrathorn cooks shared high-fives all around, waiting eagerly for the judging to take place.
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