Monday Meals: Skyrim Beef Stew

Who doesn't love a slow cooked stew? While pretty basic, the taste and texture of a nice thick stew is irreplaceable. This is based on a recipe I found here, and I've adapted it some to fit with the theme, but of course liberties are taken to make it feasible and plenty yummy.

Yum yum

In TESV: Skyrim, beef stew is one of the many options you have to cook, and one of the easiest to emulate in real life. Beef stew is a nice warm, coming into spring meal, and I hope you enjoy it as much as Dovahkiin!

Skyrim Beef Stew:

Servings: 6

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cooking time: 4-12 hours (depending on setting)

You will need:

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch squares

1/4 cup flour

Salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (while not "TES-y" this adds a nice punch to the stew, think of it as mead)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

1 1/2 - 2 cups beef broth

3 potatoes diced (more or less, depending on size)

4 Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 - 2 1/2 cups fresh sliced button mushrooms

(Optional) 2 teaspoons of cornstarch

When all chopping is done...my hand hurts...

Other notes:

A slow cooked beef stew takes time.  The cooking time varies on what setting you put you slow cooker on. High is 4-6 hours and Low 10-12. Choose your setting based on how long you want to wait to wait. I usually start mine at about 11AM on High, and by 5PM, with some fresh rolls or bread on the side,  dinner is ready.

Procedure:

1. In a large bowl (enough to have the meat in with room) mix your flour with the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add as much as you think you need, but be mindful to not overdo it. 

2. Add the stew meat into the bowl, and with your hands, mix the meat and flour together, ensuring an even coat. 

3. Mix meat, vegetables, and garlic together with the broth, and Worcestershire sauce. Make sure to pour any extra flour into the cooker, this will help thicken it. If you want an even thicker broth, add the cornstarch.

4. Turn the cooker on your desired setting and wait! If on low, stirring is not really needed except every couple of hours. The higher the setting the more you should stir, you don't want anything stuck the bottom. On "high" I stir once every 45 minutes to an hour.

Once done, the potatoes should be firm, but not crunchy, if the edges have started to round at all, you might have overcooked and you may a slight starch issue.

Your meat may be slightly pink inside, which is fine, as long as it is not bloody; a pink center is just a symptom of slow cooking. 

And you are done! If, if the operative word there, you have any leftovers, just put them into a fridge or freezer safe bowl and let them cool. If you put them in the fridge, the fat will separate from the broth, feel free to pick most of this off, this will make for a thicker and less greasy broth upon reheat.

I hope you enjoyed the featured Meal, and I hope you come back for more next week!

Ready to eat!

Now tell me, what is your favorite recipe in TES or the real world? What would you like to see next week? Tell me in the comments! No really, go, comment, now, shoo shoo!

A Humble Start and Many Thank Yous

CoT has just broke the 100 view mark! I celebrate this because I think any milestone celebrated leads to many more! 

For anyone that has viewed here, thank you! Spread the word, I hope to make this a place for Elder Scrolls fans and non-fans alike. For anyone who likes simple recipes, crafts, or just fun to look at stuff.

Again thanks so much! And be sure to "like" CoT on Facebook and "follow" on Twitter. There are links in the side bar.

Content should be picking up shortly, I am still getting myself organized in general, so stick around, and I promise, it will pay off!

Tell me, what do you like about CoT? What are looking forward to come? Anything Feature/Content wise you's like to see? Let me know in the comments!

Monday Meals: Foods of the Provinces Part 1: Morrowind

Hello again, all!

As you know, today is a feature day, and as I have yet to prepare the article this week I decided to make an interim. Look out for the first real meal next week.

I decided that week I would start talking about the various food articles are that are seen throughout the lore of Elder Scrolls. Since the resources are not there, and I never (sadly) played Arena or Daggerfall, I will focus on the three games I do have experience with, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

In Part 1, I will focus on the foods of Morrowind, and I will add another part to come covering the additions in Tribunal and Bloodmoon. These features will pop in intermittently between regular Monday Meals posts and will not be in the Monday Meal Archive. I will feature the various drinks in the games and lore also as time goes on. 

Now, let's dive in shall we?

Morrowind

From the province of the same name, and the native lands of the Dunmer or Dark Elves, comes a strange assortment of foods. Being that Morrowind has a unique setting, ranging from ashy wastelands to lush plains, this offers a wide variety of foods native to the province.

Source

An interesting twist on the foods is the heavy presence of the Empire, reigning from Cyrodiil, who lent some of their food and drink to the province.

The Dunmer tend to eat what they grow or forage, unless otherwise shipped in from elsewhere. On the staples of the Dunmer diet is the Ash Yam, which looks as it sounds, an ash colored yam. This provides them many of the nutrients that they need to survive. Among other things they eat regularly are mudcrab meat, from the animal of the same name, various fungi.

Bungler's Bane

Ash Yam Pods

Another key staple to not only the diet of the Dunmer, but also their economy, is the Kwama. Assorted creatures of varying abilities, the Kwama lay eggs and the larval form, known as Scribs, provide a muscular-like jerky and a jelly.  The Dunmer "mine" these eggs from the deep caverns that the Kwama reside in, and in turn, provide food for the island.

Scrib Jelly

Kwama Eggs

Breads are also fare of the Dunmer table, and as wheat is not grown in the province, it is to be assumed that they are imported from elsewhere.

While this is not a comprehensive list of all foods in the province of Morrowind, I have featured here some of the more interesting bits that are eaten by the Dunmer.

Is there something here that you feel I missed? What are you favorite foods of Morrowind? Let me know in the comments!

By the Gods! A Weekly Feature!

Hello again all, after a short walk around the hall and some time in the garden, I have decided what the first feature of CoT will be. While the main focus here is on crafts, home decor and lore in The Elder Scrolls, I also love to make my way into the kitchen for some good old fashioned meals.

So, every Morndas (Monday for the initiated), I will be running a feature called "Monday Meals." This will heavily inspired by the foods that are found in the realms on Nirn, and turned into useful recipes you can cook at home. Of course some ingredients don't exist, so that is where the inspiration comes from. Some things are real world, like apple pies and beef stew, some are more out there, like horker stew and seared slaughter fish.

I will prepare entrees, deserts, breakfast foods, really anything that is either found in game or inspired by it. So if you have any ideas. send them like normal submissions, ignoring the rules that don't apply for foods.

As I said, these recipes will all be made with items you can pick up at your local grocer, farmers market, or wherever else you might get your groceries. I will make every effort to not include anything that needs really special equipment or ingredients to prepare. I may make some rare exceptions to that in the case of the more odd things but those will be more for fun than anything.

You will see a page up at the top that will archive all the meal recipes for easy viewing pleasure.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for the first edition of "Monday Meals"

The Welcome Post

Hail, lads and lasses. Grab a seat, and a pint, the bard should be along shortly!

Thank you so much for stopping by, however you may have gotten here! Whether by horse, foot, or this "Google" nonsense I've been hearing about. Must be related to CHIM or something...

At any rate, I hope to get my first real post up soon. Unless this happens to be the first post 6 months from now, in which case...oops, I tried!

For some serious business, this is a place to showcase the crafts I will be making for you to enjoy. All of my craft posts will be in tutorial form, though I plan to make them fun and entertaining for TES aficionados (and those who are not also), informative for the crafty types, and simple to understand for those as lost and confused as myself. In between I will post things that I feel relevant, whether it be Elder Scrolls lore related or craft related. And trust that I will sprinkle plenty of my own brand of humor into the mix. Again, spread out for any that might wander up to this site.

I hope that my crafts will appeal to the broader audience of the craft world while also attracting a well rooted fan-base of lore and tradition of The Elder Scrolls. For the die hard TES crowd, I will put my lore nose to the grind wheel to get some real meat to all the crafts I post, if any, so stay tuned folks!

While you wait for the mythical first post to rise from the ashes of the last kalpa, please take a look at any and all of the pages linked at the top of your viewing area. That is unless of course that blasted scamp made off with them again. Between them and those cliff racers...

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them! If you have any suggestions for crafts please click here, or find out more about CoT here.