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This is a special guest post from the players in my Dragon Heist campaign, as requested by the participants in the Alexandrian Hangout Club. I’ve been running the campaign in a series of weekend intensives (generally playing Friday-Sunday), and when the Hangout Club members heard what the players had done for one of these weekends they demanded more details. I offer it here because I think it could be useful to other groups who have opened their own tavern.

A NOTE FROM EDANA’S PLAYER

We were now running a tavern and my character wanted it to feature really good food, to set it apart from the other tavern on the alley which had terrible food. I had the idea that each of the things on our menu could reflect our individual (and varied) backgrounds. I asked the other players what their characters’ favorite meals were and we made that our menu. That’s how we ended up with:

Pirate Stew – a shrimp and sausage gumbo served over rice
Sun Skewers – chicken, tomato, pepper and lemon skewers with lemon potatoes and pita bread
Ardeep Roast – wild boar barded with bacon, pears roasted with walnuts and bleu cheese and mashed potatoes
Il Timpano – delectable pasta pie served with fresh baked bread and greens
Soup du Jour – this was my inside joke about my character, who has a background of taking on new personas every couple of decades or so

The Il Timpano was something of a joke; since we are playing in weekend-long intensives I had cooked some simple meals that we could all share instead of ordering food all weekend. Beforehand I had sent out a poll for what meals people wanted, and left a write-in option. One of the players has been obsessed with Il Timpano ever since watching the episode of Binging with the Babish featuring the dish:

I think was just trolling me by writing it in. So when I asked him his characters favorite meal, of course that was it.

Since we were planning a second weekend, I secretly thought that maybe I could do a thing where I cooked our menu. It was a bit intimidating, but I’ve trying to take on cooking challenges, and this would for sure be one. I spent the month between sessions studying several versions of the recipes, picked the base recipes to follow (though there was certainly some improvisation as it went) and made my plan.

Friday dinner – Il Timpano
Saturday lunch – Shrimp gumbo
Saturday dinner – Kabobs and lemon potatoes
Sunday dinner – Roasted boar and pears

THE MENU

THE RECIPES

For the Il Timpano the Binging with the Babish recipe was used for the timpano dough and layering, and I used his ragu recipe, too. I used storebought pasta for the inside, and our local butcher makes some excellent meatballs.

For the Shrimp Gumbo I used this recipe as the base, but for the okra I fried it in a pan for a few minutes and added it in close to the end, to try and keep it from getting slimy. I also probably used a lot less than the full pound.

For the Kabobs, I used Mediterranean-style chicken kebabs for the marinade, but I used cherry tomatoes and yellow bell peppers for the veggies. They’d have been better grilled, but oven-roasted was fine. The lemon potatoes were excellent, and I recommend the recipe.

For the Roast Boar, there wasn’t a recipe to follow, it was mostly about finding the boar and then using the right technique. I found several places online that sell wild boar, and ended up going with D’Artagnan. I ordered two of these mini roasts, wrapped them in bacon and roasted them in the oven until they reached 145 degrees. Boar is a lean meat, so the bacon keeps them juicy as they cook. For the pears, all that is needed is to cut them in half, scoop out the core, sprinkle on bleu cheese and walnut pieces and roast for about 20 minutes. I had a recipe for them that was more involved, but by the end of the weekend I was running out of steam and this simple approach returned amazing results. The mashed potatoes were also pretty basic – boiled red potatoes with cream and butter.

Special Thanks to Sarah, Peter, Heather, Chris, and Erik.

A Night in Trollskull Manor – Part 2: Setting Up Trollskull Manor A Night in Trollskull Manor – Part 3: Patron Tables & Events A Night in Trollskull Manor – Part 4: Patron Topics & Agendas