Þakkhörbus grótlek

Short description

A dish full of the grótlek, doused in honey.

Annual rites play a significant role in many cultures. Same is true for the Skaura Orohlen, who celebrate harvest season, if not big, as they stick mostly to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle despite being sedentary, with some small festivities and sacrifices. An outstanding element of their celebrations is the so called þakkhörbus grótlek (thanks for the harvest-semolina dumplings), not because it plays a big role in the rites, but rather because of its distinction of being the only sweet dish of Skaura Orohlen cuisine. All other sweet foods are directly harvested of collected, like fruit or honey. As Skaura Orohlen cuisine has a tendency to try to incorporate alchemical principles, is is made up entirely of ingredients connected to fertility, either of plants, animals or the very soil. Yet it has no alchemical properties.

Production and ingredients

The main ingredient of þakkhörbus grótlek is spelt semolina or wheat semolina, depending on what is available. his alone makes it a special meal, as the only grain that reliably grows where the Skaura Orohlen live is rye. Having þakkhörbus grótlek is thus a symbol for a mild weathered and agriculturally successful year.

To make one dish full of þakkhörbus grótlek, one needs the following ingredients:
8 big spoons of semolina
2 big spoons of ground nuts
2 yellows of chicken eggs
2 big spoons of cottage cheese
2 big spoons of milk
2 big spoons of honey

The ingredients before mixing.

All these ingredients are mixed in a bowl and are set to rest for some time, so the juices of the wet ingredients can soak into the semolina and nuts. After sitting untouched, one finds the dough that formed easy to form with the hands. Small sticks, no thicker than a finger are formed and tossed into a bath of hot milk over a fire to set for quite some time. The skin that forms on the milk is removed every now and then as to not sully the grótlek. When the sticks are set by their milky bath, they are fished out of the pot and put on a dish. There they get liberally covered with honey.

Role in culture and society

The þakkhörbus grótlek are prepared in almost every settlement of the Skaura Orohlen. There is no fixed time for when they are prepared, as they are part of each settlements individual thanksgiving, harvest, end-summer or mushroom heydey festivities. But in any case they are part of one settlement-specific festivity. They are often prepared in great numbers and eaten as snacks over the course of the day. Thanks to their sweet taste they are especially popular with children and the elderly.

As the Skaura Orohlen like to sing comunally on many occasions, there is also a wide variety of songs dedicated to þakkhörbus grótlek and they are part of even more songs on other, season-related topics.