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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 8223386" data-attributes="member: 3285">With St. Patrick's Day nigh, we decided to cook a dwarven repast from <a href="https://amzn.to/3aB7QLY" target="_blank">Heroes' Feast</a>: Corned Beef & Cabbage. It's also an opportunity to spotlight how different cultures express their identity through food in fantasy campaigns.[ATTACH=full]134219[/ATTACH]<h3>Corned Beef & Culture</h3>It's worth pointing out that corned beef and cabbage is associated with St. Patrick's Day in the United States, but that's not necessarily the case everywhere. Cows weren't commonly bred for their meat in Ireland; that came later thanks to expanding British influence. <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-corned-beef-really-irish-2839144/" target="_blank">In fact, the term "corned beef" is British</a>:  As you might imagine, tastes have changed considerably since then. Corned beef in the U.S. is actually made from brisket, a kosher cut of meat from the front of the cow. Because brisket is a tougher cut, the cooking process changes the flavor of the meat considerably to something much more tender than its predecessor. <a href="https://amzn.to/3aB7QLY" target="_blank">Heroes' Feast</a> specifically recommends brisket for its recipe.[ATTACH=full]134220[/ATTACH]<h3>Fantasy Beef & Culture</h3><a href="https://amzn.to/3aB7QLY" target="_blank">Heroes' Feast</a> doesn't have much to say about the recipe other than it's associated with dwarves:The recipe calls for pickled spice, which were weren't able to procure in pandemic conditions, so we instead made our own. I also overdid it on the celery (as a new chef, I'm still learning measurements). This meal takes over four hours, so it's not something you're going to whip up for your players just before they arrive to game. For all the references to salt, the recipe does its best to minimize your sodium intake. The butter is unsalted and the chicken broth is low-sodium, presumably because you'll add the salt yourself. Overall, the meal was surprisingly tasty. It was spicier than I might have expected, but then we created our own pickled spice so that surely had something to do with it. Some kind of bread would go well with it (<a href="https://amzn.to/3aB7QLY" target="_blank">Heroes' Feast</a> rarely mentions any sides to go with the recipes). All that said, there's a lot of meat and mostly vegetables so I'll be eating this all week for sure. [ATTACH=full]134221[/ATTACH]<h3>Where Do Dwarves Live, Anyway?</h3>There's a reference to Ironroot Mountains in the recipe's introduction, <a href="https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Ironroot_Mountains" target="_blank">which is in Eberron in eastern Khorvaire</a>: Heroes' Feast also mentions the Iron Hills, <a href="https://greyhawkonline.com/greyhawkwiki/Iron_Hills" target="_blank">eastward of the City of Irongate in Greyhawk</a>: There's nothing in either of the above wikis that explains the history of how dwarves came to create such a dish. Given the winding history of how corned beef and cabbage has come to be associated with St. Patrick's Day, a meal like this is an opportunity to tell their story, particularly of a well-traveled people who have faced a lot of hardship.Your Turn: Is dwarven cuisine different from other meals in your campaign?</blockquote>

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