Bonepaste Soup
Bonepaste Soup is a calcium-rich dwarven slurry made from long-boiled bones, mineral-rich water, root mash, and lichen paste. Traditionally served during cold-season forge shifts, building projects, or long sieges, it is so thick that if cooled, it can hold bricks together or plug cave leaks.
Notoriously heavy and slightly chalky, Bonepaste is eaten hot, fast, and with big wooden spoons. And if you let it sit? You can stand a hammer in it.
“Feeds your belly, fills your cracks.”
Manufacturing process
“If your ladle stands upright, it’s ready.”
Instructions
- Boil the Bones
Place bones in a heavy stone pot. Add mineral water. Simmer for 8–12 hours, stirring occasionally. The broth should become opaque white and start to thicken. You’re not done until the marrow slides out and the bones crumble slightly when pinched. - Mash in the Bulk
Add deeproots, onion, salt, and lichen paste. Simmer another 2 hours. Stir aggressively with a paddle — not a spoon. A spoon will break. - Add Lime & Thicken
Once root veg is soft, mash directly into the broth. Stir in powdered lime. Simmer until mixture becomes viscous — it should move like wet clay and leave trails when stirred. - Final Texture Check
If a spoon stands upright in the pot and slowly tilts over within 10 seconds, it’s done. If not — boil it down. If you’ve made soup you can pour, you’ve failed. Eat it with a chisel.
Significance
Cultural Notes
- Tavern Joke: “You want a kiss? Eat Bonepaste first. If they still lean in, marry them.”
- Healer’s Use: Believed to restore strength to shattered bones — literally and symbolically.
- Not for Outsiders: Humans once tried to market it as a “protein slurry.” The vomiting lasted three days.
Item type
Consumable, Food / Drink
Raw materials & Components
Ingredients (Serves 6 dwarves… or reinforces 1m² of wall)
- 2 kg (4.5 lbs) marrow-heavy bones
(cave-hog knuckles, stone-goat spines, or drake ribs if you’re fancy) - 1.5 liters mineral water (hard as possible — chalk flecks preferred)
- 1 cup ground lichen paste (preferably stone-moss or ironbloom lichen)
- 3 large deeproots, peeled and diced (or rutabaga/turnip)
- 1 cave onion, minced
- 1 tsp forge-salt
- 1 tbsp powdered lime (yes, actual lime — for texture and calcium!)
- Optional: Crushed ashworm chitin or powdered stonebread for density
Optional Uses
- Emergency Grout: Apply between cracked bricks. It hardens overnight in dry tunnels.
- Plaster Substitute: Spread on interior stone walls. Sand down once set.
- Siege Barrier Mix-in: Combine with gravel for quick bunker fill.
- Weapon Repair: Rumored to have been used to reset axe-heads in the field.
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