Adventures in Pop Culture Cooking

[AquaMarie]

Hi, Darebees! Welcome to my cooking thread!

I love fandom and spin-off cookbooks, and I have, uh, a few of them. And a few more I have my eyes on, lol.I love seeing how creative the authors are with what's in the source material, and I love bringing a little part of these worlds to life.

I recently bought a cookbook based on one of my favorite video game series (the Horizon series by Guerrilla Games)-The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes. I've been having a blast trying new recipes and new-to-me ingredients, and I wanted to share the fun. While I can't share the recipes themselves because of copyrights, I will share my experiences and impressions from cooking with you here.

I hope you all enjoy!

 

[AquaMarie]

First dish: Goddess' Gold, from the Official Horizon Cookbook

This is a curried cabbage, carrot, and potato dish; and it was really tasty! It has fenugreek and cinnamon in it, so it had a slightly sweet taste to it. I'd never used fenugreek on its own before - it smells like maple syrup!

Edit: sorry for the blurry picture!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Peanut Butter Cut-Outs, from Winnie-the-Pooh's Cookie Book

Some fandom cookbooks recreate (or invent) recipes found in the source material (the Horizon cookbook is like that), and some collect recipes based on vibes . The Winnie-the-Pooh cookbooks (of which I have 3 ) are the latter. There are no cookies mentioned in the Pooh books, that I remember, anyway; but cookies are very good teatime snacks, and they are a beloved childhood treat. And teatime and childhood are very closely associated with Pooh Bear.

These cookies are the first cut-out cookies I've ever seen that are peanut butter flavored. It was about 7:30 PM when I finished them, so I did not decorate them, but I think they'd be good with a piped chocolate frosting. They are pretty darn good plain, too!

 

[Mamatigerj]

The Winnie-the-Pooh cookbooks (of which I have 3

Oh, i need to get these cookbooks!

 

[AquaMarie]

@Mamatigerj They are super cute! The other two I have are Winnie-the-Pooh's Teatime Cookbook and The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook.

I recently learned that the Teatime book and the Cookie book are part of a series with a third book, Winnie-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook, that now I desperately want to get my hands on. Maybe as a reward for finishing the Ironheart program?

 

[Saffity]

Oooo very nice! The one I'm wanting to get is the The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook but I'm definitely adding these ones to my list to get.

Editing to add: I think we need a drooling option for post emotions because that cabbage dish looks amazing.

 

[AquaMarie]

@Saffity Oh, I've seen that one! I've never played Stardew Valley, though, so I haven't picked it up.

There are so many fandom cookbooks I want, too. There's one particular Studio Ghibli cookbook I found that looked really good, but I couldn't afford it at the time and I've never seen it again . I'm still on the lookout for it, though! I'm also going to look for Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen when I'm at the library. I really like the Witch Hat Atelier manga, but I don't know if the Kitchen series is actually a cookbook series or just a spin-off story. And if they ever write an official Delicious in Dungeon cookbook, I absolutely will buy it. I'll pre-order that one!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Antidote, from The Official Horizon Cookbook

This is a ginger-infused matcha lemonade...mixed with ginger beer. It is SUPER spicy! Like, my nose was running by the time I finished each glass. I love ginger, though, so I adored this one. I will definitely be making it again.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Loaf Bread Pizza Au Gratin, from The Gangster's Guide to Housekeeping

So, I like reading housekeeping guides. I have ever since I was a teenager. (No, I don't know why. And, no, even though I know several ways how to keep the house clean, I can't actually keep my house clean ) So when a housekeeping guide based on the hilarious manga series The Way of the Househusband came out, of course I had to buy it. I was thrilled when I found out it included a chapter of recipes.

This one is homemade croutons, sautéed green pepper and onion, and Italian sausage covered in pizza sauce and cheese and baked. I have to use non-dairy cheese for my tummy, so the mozzarella doesn't get melty and toasty like regular cheese. It still tastes great, though! And it makes good leftovers, too.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Brew Battered Wedges, from The Official Horizon Cookbook

The name of these wedges is a bit of a puzzler. Maybe 'battered' has an official culinary definition that doesn't include a flour-and-liquid coating? Or maybe the author was leaning into the idea that the usual meaning of battered would have gotten lost or changed in a post-apocalyptic society?

These spuds are parboiled in a beer-and- water bath with thyme and bay leaves before being tossed in olive oil, more thyme, and garlic and roasted. The outside is just a little bit crunchy, and the insides are super soft, almost creamy. They are so, so good, and they taste great hot or cold! Definitely will make them again.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Beanweed Bites from the Official Horizon Cookbook

I get so tickled at the name beanweed. One of the cool things about the Horizon games is that you can recognize where they relate to and reflect the real world when you read the item descriptions, data logs, etc. The first time I read the description for Beanweed Bites in the game, I went, "Wait a minute...that's tofu! Which means beanweed is edamame! I know what edamame tastes like! " It was so fun to see something I recognized from real life in this awesome game. And now every time I see beanweed it makes me smile.

The bites are really good - a little salty on their own, but it balances out nicely when you serve them with plain rice. And the sauce mixture is fantastic! These tasted like beef to me. They came together really fast, too, so I can definitely make them on a weeknight after work without too much fuss.

 

[legolo]

I love this thread. The recipes look super delicious. And I found a few books I wanna get my hands on Definitely need the Way of the Househusband one. Totally second the need for an official Delicious in Dungeon cookbook, that show is amazing and has found its way into my usual show rotation

 

[AquaMarie]

@legolo Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the thread


Gangster's Guide to Housekeeping is so much fun! It has sections about cleaning, cooking, community building, and a little bit of crafting - there's instructions for how to make Tatsu's shiba inu apron in there. I can highly recommend it if you liked Way of the Househusband.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Resist Freeze Potion from the Official Horizon Cookbook

Well, after four tries, I am admitting defeat on this one. The recipe calls for dried butterfly pea flower blossoms to give it a pretty, ice blue color. I couldn't get blossoms, but I found butterfly pea flower powder...but no matter how little I use, the drink always comes out BLACK. Like, I used 1/8 teaspoon of powder for this photo, not even 2 grams! So imagine a hot cup of tea that smells of flowers and tastes like lemon and honey, and make it dark as the abyss. That's what I've been drinking this week

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Imperial Dark Seafoam, from The Official Horizon Cookbook

This is a vegan chocolate mousse made with avocados and dairy-free dark chocolate, and topped with whipped coconut cream. The intro to the recipe has a vague but definite reference to the whole 'millenials can't afford homes because they eat avocado toast' thing from, what, 8? 10? years ago, which made me laugh when i read it.

This one is so, so good! The coconut cream is light and just a bit sweet, and the mousse is thick and RICH - now I understand why the servings are supposed to be half this size

 

[snowdrop]

Oh this is interesting, love this thread, I should get out some of my game cookbooks and actually make stuff eventually.. I think I have 3? But my stardew valley one has been on loan to my brother for most of the time I've had it, might need to see if I can get it back one day.

Double checked, and I have the Stardew one and the World of warcraft one. I didn't have a proper kitchen when I got that, so it hasn't gotten much use.

 

[AquaMarie]

@snowdrop Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the thread!

Recipe: Honey Chocolate Pie from The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook

You'll probably notice that the side of the pie to the bottom of the picture is a little mangled...my poor oven. It's not really level. When I covered the the pie for the last little bit of baking, the filling had sloped down over the crust on that side, and I guess the tin foil stuck to the filling. When I took the foil off, some of the crust came with it It might not be pretty, but it still tastes good!

It doesn't really look it, but this pie is very smooth and creamy. The recipe says to serve it with whipped cream, but I don't really think it needs it - the 12 oz. can of evaporated milk in the filling cuts a lot of the richness of the chocolate.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Mountain Trail Bread from The Official Horizon Cookbook

I bought a Dutch oven! Specifically to make this recipe, and a couple more from the Horizon cookbook. There was definitely a learning curve. I burned my fingers on the lid, and the bread is a bit dark. But now I know what to look out for when I use it again.

The bread is packed full of goodies: golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, pecans, and walnuts. It's really dense, but it's also really soft.

 

[Saffity]

That looks amazing! And it's filled with all the things I'm allergic to, so I'll just imagine the smell.

Fantastic job! Bread is a masters degree in itself.

 

[AquaMarie]

@Saffity Thank you! It did smell FANTASTIC when the lid came off.

And you're not wrong about bread being an education - it took me years to figure out why i couldn't get anything to rise. I still consider yeast to be my personal nemesis.

 

[legolo]

That bread looks amazing!

 

[AquaMarie]

@legolo Thank you!

Now for an unfortunate report:

Recipe FAIL: Dried Frog Pills from Nanny Ogg's Cookbook

I wanted this recipe to work sooo badly, because I am a huge Discworld nerd. It's a merengue, though the recipe looked a little weird, and I know I can make merengues. So I tried to make it work... but alas. Either I'm not skilled enough to shift a recipe that much, or the recipe wasn't actually supposed to be cooked. That happens in some fandom cookbooks, especially ones that supposed to be written by characters, like this one is.

But! I have a good merengue recipe that I know works. It wouldn't take much alteration to make it taste and look like what the Dried Frog Pills recipe was going for, I think. I'll try it sometime, and if it works, I'll be able to share the actual recipe with you all!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Sparkale from The Official Horizon Cookbook

I don't drink alcohol, so I knew I'd have to do a substitution for the mead in this recipe. Since mead is a fermented honey drink, I figured just honey and water would work, but after poking around online the consensus seemed to be that apple juice was the closest substitute? Something about the acidity...anyway, I found honeycrisp apple juice at the grocery store! And it does have a noticeable honey flavor to it! So that's what I've been using instead.

This one is honeycrisp apple juice (mead), ginger-infused lemonade, and club soda. It's really good! It has a really nice balance of flavors, and the smell of the apple juice and ginger offset by the lemon is really nice.

 

[Maegaranthelas]

@legolo Thank you!

Now for an unfortunate report:

Recipe FAIL: Dried Frog Pills from Nanny Ogg's Cookbook

I wanted this recipe to work sooo badly, because I am a huge Discworld nerd. It's a merengue, though the recipe looked a little weird, and I know I can make merengues. So I tried to make it work... but alas. Either I'm not skilled enough to shift a recipe that much, or the recipe wasn't actually supposed to be cooked. That happens in some fandom cookbooks, especially ones that supposed to be written by characters, like this one is.

But! I have a good merengue recipe that I know works. It wouldn't take much alteration to make it taste and look like what the Dried Frog Pills recipe was going for, I think. I'll try it sometime, and if it works, I'll be able to share the actual recipe with you all!

I have once upon a time made merengues that worked, but I can't envision making a merengue mic that's not sticky to the touch xD I guess that would require far more sugar than I anticipate. I suppose 30 grams of powdered sugar is quite a lot
Maybe your egg was too big

 

[Maegaranthelas]

This one is honeycrisp apple juice (mead), ginger-infused lemonade, and club soda.

And this sounds amazing for a summer's day!

 

[AquaMarie]

@Maegaranthelas Who knows? Maybe Discworld powdered sugar is magic.

And you are absolutely right about the sparkale, it's so nice and crisp! I've been tempted to put some in my popsicle molds and freeze it, too Hot weather calls for cold treats!

 

[Maegaranthelas]

OH GODS YES a popsicle of that sounds amazing!!!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Chicken Salad from the Winnie-the-Pook Teatime Cookbook

This is probably my favorite chicken salad recipe. It's really simple: celery, dill weed, and mayo. I don't make it all that often, though, pretty much only when I'm making something else with celery. This recipe only uses a stalk or so, and I hate buying a whole bunch (or pre-cut pack) when I know most of it will probably go bad before I use it. But the celery is what really makes this recipe. I've tried it without before, and it wasn't nearly as good.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Salt Bite Special from The Official Horizon Cookbook

There's only two (maybe 3?) actual side-quests (that I know of) that you have to complete to 'unlock' a given recipe in Horizon Forbidden West. One is the actual introduction to the game's food system, and the Salt Bite Special is the other.

Its a southwestern spiced chicken, onion, and pepper mix wrapped in a thick egg crepe, and it's fantastic! The smokiness and earthiness of the spices plays really well with the sweetness of the onion and pepper, and the tender crepe makes a nice contrast to the crunch of the veggies. The flavor of the filling ages well too, so I was able to have one on three different afternoons - I just made a fresh crepe each time.

I have to admit, though, this photo is from my third attempt. I'd never made a crepe before, even a thick one, and the first two...well, let's just say they weren't very photogenic

 

[Mr.Javo]

It looks delicious

 

[AquaMarie]

@Mr.Javo Thank you!

Recipe: Cleanse Potion from The Official Horizon Cookbook

Well. It sounded good: basically a green smoothie with Granny Smith apples, pineapple, cucumbers, spinach, and kale. But when I tried it...

And like, I tried it three times - sometimes a taste grows on you, right? But nope. This one was Not For Me. But hey, this is the tenth recipe I've tried from this book, and this is the only one I have not liked. A ninety percent success rate is pretty darn good for a cookbook!

 

[aku-chan]

I think you're brave for even trying that one, does not look appetising at all!

Especially compared to that crepe one that sounds really yummy.

 

[AquaMarie]

@aku-chan Yeah, the little kale bits were really not pretty. But I've made lots of ugly dishes that tasted great, so I tried it. But alas.

First recipes from my new cookbook: Barbecue Chicken Sandwich and Carrot and Raisin Salad with Cinnamon from Winne-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook

I'm so excited about this cookbook, y'all! There are five picnic 'themes' (Expotition picnic, Rainy Day picnic, Beach picnic) and five or six dishes for each, including a drink and two sweets. I'll have to scale everything down when I'm cooking just for me - each recipe serves six. And everything sounds so yummy!

These two are from the Birthday Party picnic. The chicken sandwich is the first time I've mixed up my own barbecue sauce. The chicken was marinated in the sauce before cooking, and a little more sauce goes on top, so it's got lots of barbecue flavor. The only spices in the sauce were salt and pepper, so I have plenty of room to experiment with flavors to see what I like. The carrot salad is dressed with a simple vinegar and olive oil dressing, but it has a little cinnamon mixed in. The raisins were soaked in the vinegar that was then used in the dressing, so you get this nice sweet-tart pop of flavor when you bite into one. It's really good!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Spicy Beanweed Morsels and pickled veggies from The Official Horizon Cookbook

Spicy is right! This was the first time I'd ever used gochujang, and hoo boy . It was so good though! I don't usually like spicy food, because the heat always seems to drown out the flavor for me, but I could actually taste the flavor of these - smoky and just a bit sweet. I definitely needed those pickled veggies, though. The vinegar cut the heat, but was strong enough to hold its own against the spice. Very tasty, will definitely be making this one again.

 

[Saffity]

I have little to no spice tolerance so I have to be very sparing with gochujang. Looks good though.

 

[AquaMarie]

@Saffity Yeah, I was definitely serving smaller portions of this than I normally would. Thank you!

Recipe: Cream Cheese Cookies from Winnie-the-Pooh's Cookie Book

This recipe had a typo. A 1/4 cup of butter is definitely not 1 and 1/2 sticks, lol. I thought adding butter to a recipe using cream cheese was a little odd, anyway, but they turned out nice - the texture is like cake, and there's just a bit of tang underneath the sweetness. They're not pretty, but they taste good!

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Wheatslice from The Official Horizon Cookbook

I haven't been cooking many new recipes lately; I've just been sticking to old favorites and easy to fix meals since my ankle and jaw pain have started acting up again. One of those favorites is an easy French onion soup recipe that I like to eat with some kind of bread. I forgot to grab bread when I was out-and-about, though, and I didn't feel like going back to the grocery store, so I decided to try this recipe.

It's a no-knead honey wheat bread that you let rise in the fridge before baking. I'd never seen a bread recipe that you put in the fridge before! It turned out so good, too. It's really soft and tender, and it has just a little bit of sweetness under the nutty wheat flour. It's ridiculously easy to make, and that 18 - 24 hour refrigerator rise means I could realistically mix it up the night before and bake it the next day after work. And it's really yummy toasted with French onion soup.

 

[Niki]

It looks amazing

 

[Saffity]

I feel we need a drooling reaction for posts because that looks sooooo good.

 

[AquaMarie]

@Niki @Saffity Thank you! It's so easy, too. I honestly think I've found my go-to recipe for making everyday bread. I put half the loaf in the freezer, since I can't eat a whole one before it goes bad. I hope it thaws out nicely...though I guess I could make croutons if it doesn't!

Oh, yeah, @Saffity , there's this one?It's the one I use when I see people's yummy dishes, anyway.

 

[Saffity]

Yes, but that's an emote, I was meaning the things you mark a post itself with.

 

[AquaMarie]

Yes, but that's an emote, I was meaning the things you mark a post itself with.

Oh, I see! Sorry, my mistake

 

[nell]

In my experience bread which rise in the fridge is not getting dry as fast as one, which rose fast.

After years of experiments I bake only sourdough bread with 80% rye. That one could stay "good" outside. the fridge for 5-6 days.

 

[AquaMarie]

@nell Oh, the fridge rise must be why my loaf was so moist, then. Thanks for telling me about that! And the rye flour loaves staying good longer is interesting - I wonder why that works?

Edit to add an update: the Wheatslice came out of the freezer quite nicely! No funky flavors or nasty textures after thawing, so this is definitely my new everyday bread recipe.

Recipe: Sables, from Winnie-the-Pooh's Cookie Book


I tried tinting turbinado sugar to decorate some of these (unfortunately not pictured...I, uh, may have eaten a few before I remembered to get a photo ). It turned out good - the color was a little muted, but still very pretty. I don't know why I have a box and a half of turbinado sugar in my pantry (what did I buy this for? ), but now at least I know how I can use it for decorating.

The best way to describe these is RICH. They're made with just yolks instead of whole eggs, so they were very flavorful.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Honey Spiced Tea Punch from Winnie-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook

This is Early Grey tea with cinnamon, cloves, and orange juice, sweetened with honey. It's good served hot, but it's AMAZING served cold! It reminds me a lot of a recipe my mom would make (instant tea powder and Tang mix combined with cinnamon) that she called Russian tea for some reason. This doesn't have the chemical-ly taste of the instant powders, though.

 

[dancer]

Recipe: Honey Spiced Tea Punch from Winnie-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook

This is Early Grey tea with cinnamon, cloves, and orange juice, sweetened with honey. It's good served hot, but it's AMAZING served cold! It reminds me a lot of a recipe my mom would make (instant tea powder and Tang mix combined with cinnamon) that she called Russian tea for some reason. This doesn't have the chemical-ly taste of the instant powders, though.

View attachment 7611

i will try this but cloves aint my thing but will try this and i dont have earl grey tea i can try this with green tea though! Thank you for this idea

 

[dancer]

In my experience bread which rise in the fridge is not getting dry as fast as one, which rose fast.

After years of experiments I bake only sourdough bread with 80% rye. That one could stay "good" outside. the fridge for 5-6 days.

gonna give this sourdough bread a try

 

[dancer]

Recipe: Beanweed Bites from the Official Horizon Cookbook

I get so tickled at the name beanweed. One of the cool things about the Horizon games is that you can recognize where they relate to and reflect the real world when you read the item descriptions, data logs, etc. The first time I read the description for Beanweed Bites in the game, I went, "Wait a minute...that's tofu! Which means beanweed is edamame! I know what edamame tastes like! " It was so fun to see something I recognized from real life in this awesome game. And now every time I see beanweed it makes me smile.

The bites are really good - a little salty on their own, but it balances out nicely when you serve them with plain rice. And the sauce mixture is fantastic! These tasted like beef to me. They came together really fast, too, so I can definitely make them on a weeknight after work without too much fuss.

View attachment 6799

will try this with tofu or cottage cheese

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Baba Ganoush from The Official Horizon Cookbook

Dips with fresh veggies, pita, or toasted bread have become my new thing; but, good grief, the grocery stores are charging a fortune for containers that barely last me two meals. One of the recipes in Horizon is called Feasting Board with Haunch, and it's basically a charcuterie board with hummus and baba ganoush. I love baba ganoush, so I decided just to make that this time around - I'll try the hummus later.

It turned out to be one of those "why did I ever buy this?" dishes. It was SO easy to make! And it tastes so much better! I'm really happy with how much this recipe makes, too; enough that I can enjoy it for several days, but not so much that I get sick of it before I finish it.

 

[AquaMarie]

Recipe: Blue Light Pudding from The Official Horizon Cookbook

This is a very lightly sweetened vanilla rice pudding made with almond milk, and it was really good - but I think I may have cooked it a bit too long. It was more rice than pudding, though it was still very yummy, both hot and cold. I think next time I'll cut back on the cooking time a few minutes so it's not quite as thick.