The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook

I've just received my copy in the mail so I haven't had much time to try out the recipes, but here's my two cents on this book. The quality of the book itself is very similar to the previous Fallout cookbook; the corner was slightly dented in shipping, but there's large, gorgeous photos of every recipe and some maps and artwork in the front and back. The pages are printed on a glossy quality paper, and there's some flavor text on every page as well. Here's some key differences between the two books:-First of all and most notably, the ingredients are much easier to find. There's no esoteric expensive foods in here, like lotus bulbs and bison meat. Overall you should have no trouble finding what you're looking for at the grocery store.-The recipes seem to cater toward newer chefs more. There's now multiple levels of how easy a recipe is to cook (instead of just Easy, Normal and Hard), and there's a small diagram to compare difficulty. Since the ingredients are easier to find it should also be simpler to get started, since there's a good chance you already have some of the food in your household. Don't fret if you're looking for a complex recipe that's large enough for a gathering, though; there's several delicious-looking meals like the Juniper Lamb Chops that look impressive and are sure to please your guests!-The foods lean toward hearty recipes such as stews, roasts, and dumplings. If you love savory food this is the book for you!As with the previous cookbook there's multiple different desserts, drinks and appetizers along with the main entrees. There's lots of clever nods to the game and you'll find recipes for foods like Kwama Egg Quiche, Water of Life, and Goatherd's Pie. No matter what your experience level is in the kitchen you should be able to find something you'll enjoy making in here. Overall I love this cookbook and I can't wait to start creating some of these meals!

All those years of playing The Elder Scrolls. All the pilfering of homes and castles to find food items to keep our characters alive. Now arrived in a beautifully illustrated cookbook. The book came just in time as I recently committed to revisiting The Elder Scrolls from its first installment to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as the world awaits the next TES installment. That's thousands of hours of game play and game food-brought-to-life could not make a more perfect pairing for a gamer.This review is going to be a living review, and will be updated as I make each recipe. Each recipe review will be short and given asterisks to show my like or dislike of the dish. The max rating will be four asterisks. All recipes will be made according to the book instruction, with no deviation. Future attempts at some recipes that contain a deviation will be noted.Let's get right to it.May 2, 2020 Prepare Nord, Stormcloak, and Imperial Seasonings. Attempt the Horker Loaf and Imperial Mushroom Sauce.When reading through the recipes, I noticed that only a teaspoon (or less) is applied to the dish. I wondered how the dish flavor would turn out with so little seasoning given. Well, wonder no more, the seasonings are strong. Never in my life have I tried Marjoram or Savory. Surprisingly, I had these seasonings in the back of my spice cupboard, sealed and unopened. Good thing I didn't throw them away 10 years ago. Once prepared, the seasoning mixes put salt and pepper to shame.Horker Loaf (***). Before preparing this dish, I watched several YouTube videos and read several reviews. The reviews were mixed. Some tasters hated the dish on account of the grease and the oysters, and some tasters loved it. The recipe is generally a meatloaf recipe so I was not concerned about the grease, just the taste of the smoked oysters. My loaf came out perfectly, the garlic cloves did not burn on top and my bacon was wonderful. My husband and I ate this with the Imperial Mushroom Sauce and we both really liked the pairing. It was a heavy dish and I immediately went down for a nap after. For dinner, we tried another slice, although I kept the serving small because it is so rich. The oysters do lend an almost overpowering smokiness. I think more than 5 pieces of bacon would help, and next time around, I will use only half the can of oysters.Imperial Mushroom Sauce (****) The sauce was very easy to make, and it thickened up too quick so, as much as I did not wish to, I had to water it down with a bit more stock so that the sauce would be saucy. I started the sauce as the loaf was half way through cooking, so the two dishes came to a finish at the same time. The Imperial Seasoning is rich and flavorful. Very good.Next up, Snowberry Crostata!