Gondonian Recipes Through The Ages VOL 1

Gondonian Cuisine

Gondonian cuisine includes foods, eating habits,and cooking methods of various Human cultures dating back to the Fourth Age.During this period,Cereals remained the most important staple with Barley, Oats and Rye eaten by the poorer folk.Wheat was for the governing classes (Nobility).These were consumed as Bread, Porridge, Gruel and Pasta by all of society's members. Beans and Vegetables were important supplements to the Cereal-based diet of the lower class.

Meat was more expensive and therefore more prestigious. Game (Venison from Deer,Boar,and Pheasant) , meat acquired from hunting, was common only on the nobility's tables.Most butcher's meats were Pork,Chicken and other domestic fowl .Beef,which was far too expensive and less common for the masses because it required greater investment in land was eaten only by the Noble classes.Cod and Herring were mainstays of most coastal regions and among the northern populations of Amoria and Azuria; Dried, Smoked or Salted,they made their way far inland,but a wide variety of other saltwater and freshwater fish was also eaten.

Slow transportation and food preservation techniques (based on drying, salting, smoking and pickling)made long-distance trade of many foods very expensive.Because of this, the nobility's food was more prone to foreign influence than the cuisine of the poor; it was dependent on exotic spices and expensive imports from the Pelosi and Elosi Elves,and from the Thentian Empire and other countries from across the Narrow Sea.

A more refined way of cooking developed in the late Fourth Age that set the standard among the nobility all over Kelldoria.Common seasonings and spiced or sweet-sour flavours were introduced,these included Fruit juices,wine and vinegar combined with spices such as black pepper, saffron and ginger.These, along with the widespread use of sugar or honey, gave many dishes a sweet-sour flavor.The Elosi Elves introduced Almond Nuts which were very popular as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces,also added to milk became a very refreshing drink.

Purpose

This book was created by the best scholars in each area of food preparation,cooking and flavouring for future generations to continue to enjoy the culinary pleasures of their ancestors.Members from the Hunters,Fisheries,Farmers,Livestock and Spicers Guilds were invited to participate in the creation of the Book.

Document Structure

Publication Status

This Book was written to be publicly accessible to anyone who enjoys the culinary arts.Atleast 500 copies were written,but only the Nobility could readily afford a copy.Today,maybe a handful of books survive in the Realms and to purchase one would cost several thousand Gold Crowns(Gondonian Currency).

Type

Manual, Culinary

Medium

Paper

Location

The Capital City of Dun Gondalin