This meal presents an interesting textural array—the creaminess of the perfectly cooked soft-boiled egg, the crispiness of the bacon, and the pop of berry seeds all add something special. The continental elegance of the soft-boiled egg is a wonderful counterpart to the salty heartiness of the bacon. Likewise, the sweetness of the preserves and honey pairs well with the other elements. Go ahead and splurge on the bacon and eggs. If you truly wish your breakfast to have the feel of Winterfell, you shouldn’t skimp on the ingredients. We recommend a nice cut of Black Forest bacon and free-range eggs. While the meal is fairly hefty, the mint tea lightens it more than one would expect and is the perfect finish to what might be the perfect breakfast. It’s cold in the North, but this is a great breakfast for any time of year, anywhere.
2 eggs
6 strips bacon
4 small slices rustic bread
Butter, honey, and berry preserves
A sharp white cheese, such as cheddar
2 mint tea bags
Cook the bacon to your preference. Meanwhile, toast your bread, then butter it and add preserves, honey, or both. Heat water for tea. When the bacon is done, cover it with an overturned plate or a sheet of tin foil to keep it warm. Then you can focus on the eggs.
To cook the eggs, fill a saucepan about halfway with water and bring it to a simmer. Gently lower the eggs into the water one at a time. Cook the eggs for about 4 minutes. Don’t wander off! (Although the worst that will happen is you’ll have hard-boiled eggs, which are still yummy.) Using a slotted spoon, fish the eggs out of the hot water. Run them under cold tap water for 30 seconds to keep them from continuing to cook in the shell.
Pour hot water over the tea bags and steep them for a few minutes while you prepare the plates. Place the egg in an egg cup if you have one, or in the partially hollowed-out end of your bread loaf, as in the picture. Serve the eggs with the bacon, cheese, and toast alongside, accompanied by steaming cups of tea, and enjoy!
Cook’s Note: To eat a soft-boiled egg, remove the top third of the eggshell. Use an egg cutter if you have one; otherwise, tap the shell with a knife or the edge of a spoon to crack it, forming a circle around the top. Carefully insert your knife or spoon into the egg and lever off the top. You’ll know your egg is perfect if the white is reasonably firm and the yolk is hot but still runny. A small spoon, such as a teaspoon or grapefruit spoon, is the ideal utensil for scooping the egg out of its shell—there is even such a thing as an egg spoon.
Oatcakes
When they woke the next morning, the fire had gone out and the Liddle was gone, but he’d left a sausage for them, and a dozen oatcakes folded up neatly in a green and white cloth. Some of the cakes had pinenuts baked in them and some had blackberries. Bran ate one of each, and still did not know which sort he liked the best. —A STORM OF SWORDS
Traditional-style Oatcakes
Makes about 10 oatcakes Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 30 minutes
Pairs well with Breakfast at Winterfell,
Leek Soup, butter and honey, tea or ale
This recipe is loosely based on a traditional Scottish bannock, which at its core is a paste of oats and water cooked on a hot stone or griddle. We’ve assumed that the Liddle’s oatcakes were baked at home in his kitchen, and we included ingredients accordingly. The resulting oatcakes are a unique combination of crisp and soft, dry and moist. Because of their texture, they are equally wonderful with tea or on a hike.
3½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats, not the quick-cooking variety
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons honey, plus additional for serving
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, plus additional for serving
About ½ cup water
Handful of fresh berries of your choice (we used about 10 fresh blackberries)
Handful of pine nuts, roughly chopped
Jam for serving
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Combine the oats, salt, flour, and honey in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the contents have a crumby texture. Add just enough of the water to dampen the dough so that you can roll it into a ball. Divide this mixture in two, pouring half into a second bowl. Add the berries to one bowl, and the pine nuts to the other, and mix thoroughly.
To form the cakes, pull off a piece of dough from one of your mixtures. Place a 3-inch-round cookie cutter on the greased baking sheet and press the dough into the cookie cutter. Alternately, you can form it into uneven rounds roughly the same size, sans cutter. In either case, your oatcakes should be no thicker than ¼ inch. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Place the oatcakes on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. (The berry version needs just a bit longer than the plain/pine nut version.) Transfer the oatcakes to a wire rack to cool. They are delicious plain, or with butter and honey or jam.
Modern Oatcakes
Makes about 14 sandwich cakes Prep: 15 minutes
Chilling: 1 hour Baking: 20 to 25 minutes
Assembly: 10 minutes
Pairs well with Breakfast in King’s Landing,
Honeyed Chicken, hot tea
These crunchy oat cookies, neither too sweet nor too savory, sandwich jam and pine nut fillings. They are great as dessert or a snack. Consider packing them with a lunch, taking them on a picnic, or serving them as an accompaniment to tea.
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup rolled oats
1½ cups flour, plus more for rolling and shaping dough
½ cup pine nuts
1 to 3 teaspoons olive oil
Blackberry jelly
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix together the butter and sugar until completely combined. Add the egg and vanilla, followed by the spices, stirring vigorously to mix everything. Add the remaining dry ingredients, making sure to fully incorporate each into the dough.
Divide the dough in half, then press each piece into a flat disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Roll one disk out on a floured surface to a ¼-inch thickness. Using either a 3-inch-round cookie cutter or a similarly sized heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out of the dough an even number of pieces. Arrange the cakes on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove cookies to a cooling rack. The finished oatcake sandwiches can be assembled while still warm, but not hot.
Meanwhile, finely chop the pine nuts in a food processor. Gradually add a small amount of olive oil at a time until the mixture takes on the consistency of a spread-able paste. Set aside.
When the oatcakes are baked, spread jam on ¼ of the cakes, then press another oatcake on top to form a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining oatcakes to make sandwiches with the pine nut puree.
Cold Fruit Soup
There were great joints of aurochs roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves, savory duck, peppered boar, goose, skewers of pigeon and capon, beef-and-barley stew, cold fruit soup. —A CLASH OF KINGS
Medieval Cold Fruit Soup
Apple Muse.—Take Appelys an sethe hem, an Serge hem þorwe a Sefe in-to a potte; þanne take Almaunde Mylke & Hony, an caste þer-to, an gratid Brede, Safroun, Saunderys, & Salt a lytil, & caste all in þe potte & lete hem sethe; & loke þat þou stere it wyl, & serue it forth.
—TWO FIFTEENTH-CENTURY COOKERY-BOOKS.
Serves 2 Prep: 20 minutes Chilling: 1 to 2 hours
Pairs well with Breakfast at Winterfell,
Modern Pork Pie, cold cider
On first spoonful, this soup comes across with just a strong honey taste. The color fools one’s brain in
to expecting a different flavor—strawberry, perhaps—but once you’re over the initial surprise, you can begin to appreciate it for its own merits. With a little cinnamon on top, the soup reminded us of a candied apple, yet the almond milk lends it just a bit of nuttiness.
2 firm, tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 cup almond milk
⅓ cup honey
1 tablespoon sandalwood powder (or enough red food coloring to tint the soup a light red)
Pinch of saffron
Pinch of salt
Poudre Douce or cinnamon sugar for serving
Boil the apples until they become mushy, then drain them. Press the apples through a sieve, or whiz them in a food processor until they are mostly liquefied. Pour the apples into a saucepan and add the almond milk, honey, sandalwood, saffron, and salt. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the soup thickens to a desirable consistency.
Place the soup in the refrigerator until it is chilled through, then serve it with poudre douce or cinnamon sugar on top.
Modern Cold Fruit Soup
Serves 8 Prep: 10 minutes Chilling: 1 to 2 hours, or overnight
Pairs well with Breakfast in Meereen,
Oatcakes, fresh milk
This is a simple, wholesome fruit soup. The melon and spices, combined with unusual herbs, results in a lovely yet unfamiliar combination of flavors, equally suited to the warmer seasons in the North and to the sweltering weather of exotic Meereen.
1 medium cantaloupe, cut into chunks
½ cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
⅓ cup lemon basil leaves, or regular basil
Juice from 1 lemon
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg
Optional garnishes: a drizzle of honey, a few fresh basil or mint leaves, crushed nuts, a dollop of yogurt
Add the cantaloupe, yogurt, ginger, basil, lemon juice, salt, and cinnamon to a blender or food processor and blend until well combined. Refrigerate until completely chilled, preferably overnight. Dish into individual bowls, garnish as desired, and serve.
Onions in Gravy
Ben Stark laughed. “As I feared. Ah, well. I believe I was younger than you the first time I got truly and sincerely drunk.” He snagged a roasted onion, dripping brown with gravy, from a nearby trencher and bit into it. It crunched. —A GAME OF THRONES
Serves 4 to 6 Prep: 5 minutes Cooking: 30 minutes
Pairs well with Aurochs Roasted with Leeks,
Crusty White Bread, Baked Apples
Gravy, as we think of it today, evolved out of the ancient practice of using the drippings left from roasted meats to flavor other dishes; over time, it became a sauce in its own right. Here we have added whole onions to the gravy to make it more of a side than a sauce. However, as delicious as this recipe proves to be, it is at its best when paired with something. Bread, sharp cheeses, and roasted meat all suit admirably.
10 ounces boiler or pearl onions
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 sprig (about 1 teaspoon) of a finely chopped fresh savory herb, such as savory, rosemary, or thyme
⅓ cup apple cider
1 tablespoon flour
3 cups beef stock
Splash of brandy (optional)
Clean and peel the onions. Cut seven of the onions into quarters and set the remaining whole onions aside.
Place the honey into a deep frying pan over medium heat, along with the butter, herbs, and quartered onions. Stir to make sure the onions are covered with the butter and honey mixture, and cook for around 8 minutes, or until the onions begin to turn a nice golden brown. Stir all the while to make sure they don’t burn.
Add the cider to the pan in three splashes, pausing for the liquid to heat between each splash. This will help deglaze the pan, dissolving all the lovely, sticky, tasty stuff into the gravy.
Sprinkle the flour over the pan and stir to make sure it fully incorporates into the gravy. Then add the stock and the reserved whole onions, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for at least another 5 minutes, then reduce until it has reached the consistency you desire. At this point, check the taste; add the brandy if you’re using it, season with salt and pepper according to your preference, and serve.
Buttered Beets
Then, for lack of any other books, [Tyrion] started reading them again. The slave girl’s story was the worst written but the most engrossing, and that was the one he took down this evening to see him through a supper of buttered beets, cold fish stew, and biscuits that could have been used to drive nails. —A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Traditional Buttered Beets
When cooked, cut them in thin slices. Put butter in a stewpan, and when melted, sprinkle in it a pinch of flour, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, salt, and pepper, then the beets; simmer twenty minutes, add a few drops of vinegar, and serve.
—WHAT TO EAT, AND HOW TO COOK IT, 1863
Serves 4 Roasting: 45 to 60 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes
Pairs well with Rack of Lamb,
Tyroshi Honeyfingers, red wine
This simple recipe showcases the best of beet flavor and texture, with the butter and vinegar subtly complementing the beets. Using different-colored beets adds a visual vibrancy to the dish, while still maintaining its rustic character.
4 to 6 beets, preferably a mix of red and golden
Olive oil
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
Pinch each of salt and ground black pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Coat the beets lightly with oil and wrap them in aluminum foil; place them on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven until cooked through; this should take between 45 and 60 minutes.
Let the beets cool for 10 minutes, then peel and cut them into ¼-inch-thick slices.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the parsley, salt, and pepper. Add the sliced beets, and stir to coat with the butter. Sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar, and serve.
Cook’s Note: Wrapping red and golden beets together in the same foil package produces a beautiful tie-dyed effect in the golden beets, giving them a remarkable sunset coloring.
Modern Beet Pancakes
Makes 4 pancakes Prep: 1 hour Cooking: 15 minutes
Pairs well with poached eggs, toast with jam, black tea
Beets make a fantastic alternative to traditional potato pancakes or hash browns. They turn sweet and tender when fried, and pair spectacularly with the creaminess of a poached egg.
2 whole beets, peeled and grated
1 shallot, chopped
Salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
In a large bowl, mix the beets, shallot, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place the mixture in a colander and allow it to drain for 1 hour. Heat the oil and butter in a pan, then add the beet mixture in four pancakes. Flatten with a spatula to a thickness of about ½ inch, and allow the beets to cook for 5 minutes. Flip pancakes over and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Once browned on both sides, remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Turnips in Butter
The lord’s seat at the head of the table had been left empty, but Robb sat to the right of it, with Bran across from him. They ate suckling pig that night, and pigeon pie, and turnips soaking in butter, and afterward the cook had promised honeycombs.” —A GAME OF THRONES
Medieval Armored Turnips
Rapam uel elixam uel sub cinere coctam in tessellas concides. Idem etiam facies de caseo subrecenti & pingui. Subtiliores tamen hae sint, quem quae ex rapis. In patellam butyro aut liquamine unctam. Primum tabulatum ex caseo facies secundum ex rapis, & sic deinceps, aromatum aliquid aut butyri continuo insundendo c
ito hoc pulmentum coquitur, cito etiam edendum est. —PLATINA, 1517
Serves 3 to 4 Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 15 minutes
Pairs well with Aurochs Roasted with Leeks,
Medieval Honey Biscuits, dark ale
Turnips have sadly been pushed aside over time by their more modern cousin, the potato. However, this medieval recipe is rich and flavorful, and the turnips act as a delightful canvas for the cheese and spices. A historically accurate version of potato au gratin, the garnished turnips are lovely on any medieval table.
5 or 6 small turnips
1½ cups (6 ounces) mozzarella or provolone
½ cup (4 ounces)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted Parmesan butter, melted, plus additional soft butter for the dish
2 teaspoons Poudre Douce
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Peel the turnips, then boil them until tender, about 20 minutes, and allow them to cool. Meanwhile, grate or slice the mozzarella or provolone very thinly, and grate the Parmesan. Slice the cooled turnips about ⅛-inch thick.
Coat the bottom of a deep 9 × 9 inch or 9-inch-round baking dish with butter. Then arrange the ingredients in layers that are as thin as possible—first some cheese, then some turnips, then some butter, then some spice. Repeat the layers until ingredients are used up, keeping each layer as thin as possible. Top with more cheese. Bake until the cheese is just melted, around 15 minutes.
Modern Turnips in Butter
Serves 4 Prep: 10 minutes Cooking: 30 minutes
Pairs well with Modern Pork Pie,
White Beans and Bacon, Lemon Cakes
These buttered turnips are nothing short of a miracle. The process of boiling the roots in milk creates a creamy, sweet, and tender result. Far and away the best turnip preparation we have ever tasted, this recipe will not disappoint!
A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook Page 5