Imperial Stew

"Bah! Waiter, what is this... this peasant bowl of slop? Was I perhaps hexed into looking like a dirty pig? I asked for the Imperial Stew, the well-renowned meal forged in the heart of my dear old country... What? How dare you say this is the original recipe?! It... It cannot simply be just... just this!"

— Mal ne'Lanus, New Medeean noble

Born during the Continent-wide rule of the Old Medeean Empire, the Imperial Stew is a staple of noble and imperial cuisine, a reinterpretation of the banal stew that combines the best ingredients from all over the world in order to create the perfect meal. No matter the struggles of the day, a warm bowl of stew can ease your nerves and strengthen your body, the perfect food for important people that have a lot of work to do and a lot of stress to endure.

... Or so the surviving bits propaganda say. In reality, the Imperial Stew is just mildly better than its many regional counterparts, an improvement that does not justify the logistical nightmare that is simply obtaining the required ingredients. In spite of this, the meal remains to this day a "rare delicacy" that should be tasted at least once. Or, perhaps, it is thanks to the imperial powers (who had interest in spreading the recipe and making it popular) that people crave and gloat about eating Imperial Stew, centuries after the decline of the old country.

Where to Eat the Stew

The stew is pretty hard to come by because it requires specific ingredients from many regions of the Meridian; and as conflicts persist across the Continent even to this day, acquiring the ingredients is near impossible for most of the people. However, ever since the Exarhi Plane opened its portals to the main kingdoms of Continent, it is much easier to encounter this meal in the fancy restaurants of Exarhi City. While cooking the Imperial Stew is now at the very least achievable, it is still considered a rare meal; on the flipside, since Exalted cooks have access to a larger variety of ingredients, herbs and spices, many restaurants will serve slightly modified versions of the stew, each chef adding their own little twist to the original recipe.

Still, you have probably tasted a stew almost completely similar to the famous Imperial Stew; even if gathering all the required items is difficult, if the cook can still include a few of them and replace the missing ingredients with local variants, the end product will resemble the Imperial Stew very much. For those who don't care about achieving perfection, this method makes the stew infinitely more accessible and allows even the less fortunate to eat the "delicacy" every day.

"Chef, I... I, uh, I was thinking, maybe we can use some of... Some of that goat cheese and, you know... Add a little to the stew to-"
"Shut the fuck up before I kick you out of my kitchen, boy."

Appearance and Taste

The Imperial Stew looks... exactly like any other beef stew: a dense brown liquid in which you can find chunks of beef, carrots and potatoes floating around. The taste is ever so slightly better than "normal" stew, but not by much, no matter how many people insist on its superiority.

Chefs recommend serving the stew alongside a few slices of freshly-baked wheat bread, or with Tigerborn rice.

How to Cook the Imperial Stew (Original Medeean Recipe)

Ingredients

• Beef from the rocky hills of the Taj'huld Dwavern clans, 2 kg
• Beef broth from the same location, 650 ml
• Carrots from the Tigerborn Gardens of the North, 500 g
• Potatoes from the treacherous Lands of the Edge, 600 g
• Tomato paste from the so-desired red fruit of Ugh'Aloda, 2 spoons
• White flour from the wheat of the Sun-Blessed Plains, 45 g
• Onions grown by the Tooth-Carvers, 350 g
• Pestari garlic, 5 to 10 clovers (up to taste)
• Berkhuna herbs from the Darkwood elven clans, up to taste
• Oil obtained from Ixalashi sheep fat, 5 spoons
• Medeean vinegar, aged at least five years, 3 spoons
• Unsullied water, 650 ml

Recipe

Before cooking: Cut the beef, carrots and potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Cut the onions into very thin pieces. Mix 1-2 smashed garlic clovers with thinly-chopped Berkhuna herbs and a drizzle of oil. Keep the beef submerged in salt for 24 hours. Light the fire of a Medeean oven 1 hour before starting cooking.

1. Brown the meat in three batches in a Dwavern pot with the goat oil, adding seasoning in-between each batch. Sear each batch for 5-7 minutes.
2. Remove the meat and add the onions, garlic, vinegar and remaining oil to the pot, then cook for 5 minutes. Scrap the brown bits with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the tomato paste and the seared meat back into the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, slowly adding flour.
4. Add the broth and water to the pot, and move the pot to the oven. Leave for 2 hours.
5. Remove the pot. Add the potatoes and carrots into the pot, then cook for 1 more hour.