LE Nordic Cuisine - An idea I had in my mind

[Omeletter]

Fail to prepare - prepare to fail. While having ideas is good, I must have an actual plan of what this mod is going to add to Skyrim and what I will have to do to make it happen.

 

I'm going to start with a list of raw foods/ingredients that are going to be added, starting with…

 

Fruit

Skyrim has a pretty poor range of fruit. While this is reasonable for a harsh, cold climate, Skyrim does have areas such as Falkreath and Riften that are warm and fertile, ideal for yielding a range of fruit, especially berries. Also, the Khajiit caravans are responsible for bringing in supplies of apples, according to some dialogue, but I think that they can grow in Falkreath and Riften as well. I’m thinking of adding the following fruits to the game.

 

Pears – Khajiit caravans

Lemons – Khajiit caravans

Grapes – Again, Khajiit caravans

Cherries

Plums

Strawberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

 

Snowberries will act as lingonberries and cranberries.

 

Fruit in Vanilla game:

Green Apples

Red Apples

 

Vegetables

This mod is going to add a lot more vegetables and uses for vegetables than those the game provides us with. Most, if not all, are heavily used in Nordic and European cuisine and can be grown in Skyrim.

 

Parsnips

Radishes

Onions

Turnips

Pumpkins

Cauliflower

Cucumber

Celery

Beets

Brussels sprouts

Kale

 

Vegetables in Vanilla:

Cabbages

Carrots

Gourds

Leeks

Potatoes

Tomatoes

 

Herbs and Spices

Skyrim already has a few herbs, but they serve only a little bit of purpose in cooking. This mod is going to give them more use.

 

Frost Mirriam = Parsley

Elves Ear = Bay Leaf

 

Dill will be added by this mod. Lemon, while a fruit, should also be included into this category. I’m also thinking of adding small bags/pouches of pepper and other commonly used spices to be sold by Khajiit caravans and in major cities.

 

Dill

Lemon

Black Pepper

Cinnamon

Cumin

 

Other Vanilla herbs include:

Garlic

Lavender

Juniper Berries

Thistle

Mountain Flowers

 

Herbs such as Thistle and Mountain Flowers will have their uses as salads, boiled, grilled, or sautéed.

 

Grains

In vanilla, there is only one type of grain and flour - Wheat. This mod will add 3 more -

Rye

Oatmeal

Saltrice – Brought in by the Khajiit caravans and Dunmer refugees.

 

They will be found in sacks, just like Wheat is in Hearthfire, and will have their uses as many of the baked goods added by this mod, and as a meal, in Saltrice's case. More on the recipes later on, in another post.

 

Alcohol

Skyrim has:

Ale

Brandy

Mead

Wine

 

It is the type of the drink that matters, however. For example, there is Argonian Ale, or Spiced Wine. This mod will add more variation to alcoholic drinks, such as Mulled Wine (Nordic glögg), Aged Mead, or Reserve Wine, and also add two new beverages - Cider and Beer, imported from High Rock and Cyrodiil. Rare beverages such as Argonian Ale or Juniper Berry Mead will be available for sale, but still will be rare.

 

In the next post I will talk about recipes, cuts of meat, seafood, and foods that I haven't yet covered.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Omeletter

[Eckss]

Just a few quick thoughts:

 

Nirnroot is mentioned as an ingredient in food in the Dark Brotherhood cooking quest.

Jazbay produces grapes

Spikey Grass produces a pod that could work as rice; as rice is a grass.

 

A major food resource that Skyrim ignores is Nuts.

 

Why are there no sausages in Skyrim?

 

What about dry/cured meats?

 

How about pasta/noodles? Medieval Britons ate a food called 'paste' which is basic pasta and possibly where the name comes from. They also ate a type of stew that was heavily spiced called 'curried' (from the verb curry) which is where the word curry comes from.

 

One thing that's ALWAYS missed in this game is accurate prices; no cooked food should EVER be cheaper than the ingredients that went into it (look at vegetable soup or elsweyr fondue!). Typical restaurant mark-up is 2.5x. Break-even is probably closer to 1.5x.

 

Beer doesn't travel well without modern methods or some magic equivalent which would jack up the price

[acidzebra]

@omeletter, if you're going to do this, there is already a modder's resource which adds a ton of fruit, veggies, and other assorted food which you may be able to adapt to your needs.

[Omeletter]

Oh yeah, I remember that quest. I also remember finding a book or a note in the game talking about using Nirnroot in cooking. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

Jazbay does produce grapes, but I don't see anyone farming it or any wineries in Skyrim. Plus, I remember the book Alchemist's Guide to Skyrim mentioning Jazbay being illegal to harvest at one point in history. This leads me to believe that either wine is made from normal grapes and the majority of it imported, or Bethesda being lazy by not adding wineries to the game.

 

Thanks for mentioning spiky grass. It looks something like a cattail, and according to Wiki people grinded it into flour, ate the stems and roots, or the heart of the plant like asparagus. Also the leaves have been eaten, etc, etc. I'd say it could act as an edible herb, something like thistle.

 

"I could forge you a warhammer that can crush a giant's head like a walnut." There are no walnuts in Skyrim. Or any nuts whatsoever, beside the ones hostile NPCs have. :biggrin: Ever had a bandit charge towards you, you wearing Daedric armor and him with an iron dagger?

 

I think Walnuts and Hazelnuts should be in the mod. They could easily grow within Skyrim's climate.

 

I don't know why sausages aren't in Skyrim, but I do know that they are a welcome addition to the mod. Imported from High Rock to Solitude, perhaps?

 

Dry and cured meats will be able to be found and cooked. Well, at least cured. We're talking salt curing, smoking, and fermenting the meat and seafood. Gravlax, for example.

 

Pasta. Hmm, I'm not really sure about it. Well, it was an item of status, but it took quite a long time to process and is pretty much nutrition void, so people didn't bother with it unless they were rich. That is, until the industrial revolution kicked in and processing it was easier. Also, before pasta as we know it was invented, it (Wiki) says that in 1st century BC there were thin sheets of dough that were fried, and later "an early 5th century cookbook describes a dish called "lagana" that consisted of layers of dough with meat stuffing, a possible ancestor of modern-day lasagna." I think having lasagna would be good in places like Solitude.

 

Oh yeah, expect prices and weight of food to be balanced. Bring a few extra Septims next time you go to the tavern, because your soup is going to cost more than what went into it. Or become a hunter, selling cuts of game to make a comfortable living. Or maybe a travelling chef of some sort; a gourmet, enriching lives of the people of Skyrim with your dishes and rare imported spices.

 

I'm not really sure about beer as I'm not old enough to legally buy it, so I'm not really knowledgeable on the subject of alcohol. I thought it lasts long just like wine, ale, etc. as it is fermented over a very long time when brewed. If you're referring to it not lasting long because it will be drunk, then I guess you're right on that one, haha. ;D

 

@acidzebra

 

That's awesome, thanks for bringing that to my attention. Now all fruit and the majority of vegetables are done. I don't understand how it only got 4 endorsements though - the resource is great.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Omeletter

[Eckss]

Paste was Henry VIII’s favorite food and Curry was James I’s favorite. Poor folks ate peas pudding. Wiki is wrong about Lagana, it’s a flat-bread that’s still eaten around the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea. In olden times it was quite common to bake bread with various things in it including meat. Roman soldiers lived on bread, which sounds very dull until you realise that it was rarely made without sausage in it among other things like olives.

 

Beer doesn’t last long without going off and becoming undrinkable without preservatives and moving barrels of it around tends to make it undrinkable. Brewing beer was considered an essential skill for housewives and everyone made their own. Once a particular house became known for brewing good beer in any community, everyone would gather there and it would become known as a public house which was eventually shortened to pub. Also, the idea of someone being too young to drink booze is a modern insanity that our ancestors didn’t suffer from; everyone drank beer, even kids, if you didn’t, you’d die of water-borne diseases the way so many people in Africa still do today. Mountainous regions like Skyrim with lots of clean mountain springs have fresh water, but not in the big cities.

[Omeletter]

Sorry for not replying for a couple of days. I've been captivated by Age of Empires being 75% off on Steam.

 

What you said about the beer and pubs makes sense. Also, there used to be small beers and small ales that contain very little alcohol, they were drunk by everyone to avoid waterborne diseases but not get drunk during the day. I think that should be in Skyrim - Small Ale - basically cheaper, benefits from drinking are smaller, but also no negatives like all alcohol has.

 

Pasta. I think that pasta cut into long strips like this, but maybe a bit wider, is probably one of the first types of pasta that were made - easy to cut into little strips.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Omeletter

[Omeletter]

Dishes

I think it's time to make a post on what food and dishes will be made out of the previously listed ingredients.

 

Grain and Flour Based

Grains and various types of flour are the staples today, and have been since the Neolithic Era. This mod is obviously going to shine some light on all kinds of food containing grain.

 

Bread. When we think of grains, we think of making bread. The first type of bread was flatbread. There is evidence dating as far back as 30,000 BC for making flatbread, whereas sourdough, the very first type of leavened, fermented with wild yeast bread likely originated in 1,500 BC, in Egypt. Sourdough wheat bread is the bread that we see in Skyrim, although it doesn't look as good as it does in real life, haha.

 

Since there are going to be 4 types of grain - Wheat, Rye, Oats, and Rice, there are going to be recipes for bread allowing you to use Oat Flour instead of some of the Wheat Flour, for example.

 

So yeah,

 

Flatbread - Wheat, Rye, Oatmeal.

Bread - Wheat, Rye, Oatmeal. At the Food Preparation Menu, you will be able to halve the loaf. There are going to be spiced breads as well as breads in different shapes, so it's not just your typical loaf.

Bread Rolls - smaller than a loaf, ideal as a snack - Wheat, Rye, Oatmeal.

Hardtack, aka Ship's Biscuit. Lasts for months, made from simple dough - Wheat, by baking it for a long time.

Pasta and Lasagne - Wheat.

Biscuits - Wheat, Oatmeal.

Pies - Wheat. There are going to be many pies such as Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pie, Snowberry Pie, Blackberry Pie, Chicken Pie, whatever. I'm thinking of also giving the player the ability to slice them into 4's at the Food Preparation Menu.

Quiche - Wheat. Again, many recipes will be available, though not as many as pie. I'm thinking letting the player slice them as well.

Tartlets - Wheat. They will all require Custard. They will either contain fruit or berries, and will be like a dessert.

Cake - Wheat. I'm not talking about birthday cakes, I'm talking about fruitcakes, or a sweetcake like the one in Oblivion.

 

Now, onto the "not baked" types. There are few.

 

Oatmeal Porridge.

Boiled Rice.

Rice Pudding.

Some of the soups will be able to be made with rice.

 

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits will either be part of a Pie, Tartlet, or a Fruitcake. Berries will also be made into Jams.

 

Vegetables will be either boiled, roasted, or grilled... I'm thinking of combining the "roasted" and "grilled" together... Ok, I'll just say "cooked". No boiled either. Just cooked in a way it is appropriate, e.g. roast parsnip.

 

Potatoes will be mashed.

 

They will also be a part of a stew, pie, or quiche. There are going to be lots of stews, not only the ones involving your average meat and vegetables, but also seafood, rice, offal, and herbs.

 

Herbs and Spices

I've been thinking of a way to introduce herbs and spices such as Elves Ear or Garlic into cooking, but not make them necessary in a stupid way - e.g. you're in the wilderness and starving, but you cannot make a stew because you're lacking a damn garlic.

 

I've came up with a system that will reward the player for using spices, but not punish them for lacking them. Lets take for example, a poultry stew. You can make it out of chicken or pheasant and some vegetables. Or, you can add elves ear and black pepper in the process to get "Spiced Poultry Stew" which will have more potent effects and will fetch a better price when selling. Note, salt isn't going to be considered an optional spice/flavouring. It is required for keeping food fresh, as you know.

 

This system is only going to work on simple recipes, not pies and such. Considering you'll require the use of an oven for a pie, not even a baking stone will suffice; having access to it will tell me that you also have access to spices.

 

Herbs such as Thistle or Mountain Flowers will have their uses. Thistle like a vegetable, Mountain Flowers in a salad or stew.

 

That's it for now. I really need to start researching different cuts of meat and what to do to avoid having hundreds of them clogging up your inventory.

[Eckss]

Just a few quick thoughts:

 

How about Black Pudding?

How about Haggis?

Most people don't know that Jamaica Patties are just the caribbean version of Cornish Pasties.

Rivita is just a modern version of viking flatbread.

 

How about recipes for Werewolves or Vampires? You can't get blood from a stone, but perhaps you can add something to animal blood to make it palatable to vampires, or add something to meat to make it better for werewolves.

 

Good luck.

Eck. :devil:

[Omeletter]

I gave some thoughts to Haggis and black pudding and honestly, I don't know. Maybe, if all required ingredients are simple.

 

Never thought about werewolves or vampires. I'll probably make raw meat give better effects to werewolves. 50 percent better, for example.

 

Sorry for not posting anything for so long, I guess I want this mod but not willing to do anything for it to happen. I'll make sure I actually start doing something soon.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Omeletter

[Omeletter]

While unrelated, I've spent some time yesterday installing and updating mods, and played a bit of Skyrim today. I used Frostfall, Live Another Life, and Realistic Needs and Diseases to make a very immersive, survival experience. I started in some frozen, destroyed camp with charred bodies around me. I was left for dead. I saw the statue of Azura as I looked around me, and soon enough stumbled upon a warzone with dead bandits clad in fur; gloves, boots, cloaks, hoods, even backpacks. I dressed myself well enough to survive the cold, grabbed an iron broadsword, and pressed on to find my way to Winterhold, stumbling upon many goats, wolves, and even draugr trying to get a taste of my flesh. When I got to Winterhold, I sold some gear, had a warm stew and slept in a warm bed for the night, and then I went out south, hoping to get somewhere sunnier, warmer, but decided to spent a night in Windhelm first.

 

For some reason, just playing a bit of Skyrim gave me lots of ideas as to what the mod should look like when it's finally done, and how it will contribute to my gameplay with survival mods.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Omeletter