So, depending on whether you're just any average reader or my liver doctor, I'm either basing my review primarily on the snacks and non-alcoholic beverages or entirely on them. Well, at least as far as sampling / trying out the recipes. There are actually a lot of other considerations when it comes to recipe books, outside of the recipes themselves.
For example, when I review a cookbook or recipe book of any sort, one of the things I look for is a well-written and useful index. When you first flip through a recipe book, it's a process of discovery. However, when you start trying to find "that really good pasta recipe, whatever it was called" or "a recipe that I can use these leftover radishes in"... then you need a good index. I am very happy to report that Dungeons & Dragons: Puncheons & Flagons isn't merely an amazing name, but also has one of the best, most functional indices I've seen in a cookbook (fantasy-themed or not) to date. You know the name of the dish? It's in the index. You know it uses random vegetables? There is literally an entry under "V" for "Vegetables." Looking for a drink recipe that is Whiskey-based? You can find it under Whiskey. But you will also notice that Whiskey (and other main liquors) have their own page number associated. That's because the Chapters are themed around specific taverns, which, in turn, are known for a certain spirit and, as such, each chapter has drinks based around a particular type of alcohol. There's a chapter on Gin drinks, one on Whiskey drinks, one on Vodka drinks, one on Rum, one on Tequila, one on Brandy, one on Wine and one on Beer, Mead and Cider. Then there's one that's more of a Shipwreck*, of sorts, with drinks featuring anything from Sake or Amaretto to Mezcal and Campari. This chapter (Exquisite Rarities from One-Eyed Jax in Luskan) is where you'll find the more exotic alcohols.
The final chapter has non-alcholic drinks from The Hissing Stones in Baldur's Gate, a popular public bath house known for its neutrality and a zero-tolerance for intoxication. However, they have a variety of delicious refreshments to enjoy while relaxing... This is where I shall begin my Culinary Fantasy... in The Hissing Stones...
The first drink I made from this book was Baldurian Tonic. It takes a bit of doing, as you first have to brew some Earl Grey tea and then reduce it to a syrup, but I was amazed at how delightfully refreshing this one is. I made the recipe as written**, which is enough for two servings... and the Earl Grey syrup can be refrigerated for up to a week. As it turned out, the biggest issue with trying to keep this around for a while is trying not to drink all of it. I barely managed to avoid finishing the second serving before Psibabe got a chance to taste it. This will be a frequent treat going forward, but it does contain sugar, so I will have to be mindful** of that.
Ah, Mintwater. Such a simple sounding drink. As Puncheons and Flagons reveals in the flavor text, Merilyn Allaryr has catalogued a vast variety of drinks by the name. However, while those are available in the tome she's compiled, the book in hand has only the one default version that's on the menu at The Hissing Stones. When I made this drink and gave Psibabe a sip, she wasn't a fan, suffering flashbacks of trauma from being lost in the wilderness as a child and adopted by a pack of wild health food stores ...or something like that, at any rate. Personally, I found this particular Mintwater recipe to have a light, bright taste and to be very refreshing, but it has a murky opacity that I wasn't expecting from a drink with "water" in the name. Additionally, I found that, in making this drink, I had a certain intimacy in the process of making it, specifically when I had to repeatedly press the solids lightly through the strainer (with my finger). Basically, this is a drink I would make for myself, but wouldn't want someone else to make for me.
For a more tropical flair, we turn to Lathander's Bounty. I was intrigued when I saw this drink, and more so when I read the ingredients, as it reminded me of a (Mango) Lassi, one of my favorite dessert drinks, that I discovered at an Indian restaurant. When I made one for myself, however, it was fruity, refreshing and tasty... but missed the mark on the Lassi flavor I was expecting. While less exotic than a Lassi, Lathander's Bounty is an interesting drink, straddling the line between smoothie and mocktail. It's not often that a single drink will include yogurt and sparkling water, but this drink balances them well, providing a thicker mouthfeel than most mocktails, but with an effervescence from the Club Soda. I can envision being served one of these by the pool in The Hissing Stones, during a much deserved reprieve before hitting the road again on the next harrowing adventure. Now that I'm thinking about it... why aren't spa days incorporated into D&D games? I mean... for the player characters and the players?
As I mentioned above, there are some snack recipes in Puncheons and Flagons. Each chapter ends on a snack recipe, so, since each chapter is based on the menu at a specific tavern (or spa), you have ten different snack/sweet recipes, coming from each of the aforementioned establishments. And, should you want a list of them in one place, the index has that under "Snacks".
The first snack I tried making was Dragonberries. These are spicy and crunchy, intended to please hungry dragon wyrmlings, when almost nothing was on hand, save a good amount of chickpeas. I'm a fan of garbanzo beans and have had snacks that were similar to how this sounds, so I was excited to check out this recipe. All in all, it wasn't overly difficult to make. On Psibabe's recommendation, I slightly altered how I made them, mixing the oil and dry spices separately before tossing the chickpeas in this flavored oil mixture. They came out tasty, but it was a bit difficult to know when to take them out so that they were crunchy, but not yet burnt. In the end, mine weren't quite as crispy as I'd hoped, so I ended up sticking them back in the oven (with it off) so the residual heat could finish getting moisture out of them. (That did the trick perfectly, by the way.) This is a snack I can see tweaking over time to get just right, but I can see this being a frequent special snack. It might be good mixed with some popcorn or as part of a Chex mix of some sort. Even so, per the recipe, it's pretty good, too.
Although I had originally planned to try out Flumphcakes as part of a Saturday brunch (which I would still recommend), J.R.Nip was going out of town on a trip on a Friday, so I made a batch as a going-away brunch-time snack. He, Psibabe and I all tried them - and enjoyed them quite a bit, and the three of us had our fill, which one would expect based on the fact that the recipe claims to be enough for four to six servings. But, it certainly didn't seem like six servings. I would say expect it to be a bit fewer than indicated by the recipe, unless you're making other things to go with them - and not just a little bit of toppings. That being said, the flavor was tasty, but they weren't as thick and fluffy as I was thinking they might be (based on the name). Probably as a result, I was able to pick them up and eat them by hand, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Also, while they had a touch of sweetness to them and were flavorful enough to eat them on their own, the sweetness was far from overpowering - nearly neutral, making them very versatile. I tried some in a more traditional pancake style, topped with mixes of honey, Greek yogurt, cinnamon/sugar and fruit. I also tried savory and spicy toppings, including Sriracha and Hoisin sauces and a Tzatziki sauce. When I tried the fruit with Greek yogurt, it was actually frozen raspberries and I ate them while they were still cold, leading me to think Flumphcakes might also be good in ice cream-based desserts.
And then there is Luiric Rarebit. Mmmmm.... Beer cheese on toast. Through various unfortunate mishaps, I have had missed and ruined opportunities to get my fix of beer cheese on multiple occasions, as of late. That has left me with a certain "je ne sais queso"*** that needed to be addressed with some urgency. So, as you might imagine, upon reading this recipe, I was quite intrigued. Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, this ended up being almost the last recipe I tried for this review. However, this was an absolute winner. The deep rich flavor of the dark ale with the earthy flavors of Dijon Mustard and a good bread combined to exceed my expectations, tasting like I just had a delightful warm and comforting snack at an old English pub, at the table nearest the hearth. I will definitely be making this one again.
After making a few of the snacks and a couple of the non-alcoholic drinks with lengthy ingredient lists and more elaborate instructions, I started skimming through some of the drinks to look for one or two that might be easy to whip up quickly... Something I could scale back to get the taste, without imbibing much alcohol. That's when I read the ingredients of Night Watch and realized I had to give it a shot. It actually includes orange juice, making it the first place I've seen the suggestion of putting orange juice in the same drink as coffee (...which is something I do every day when I make my coffee). The mix of earthy coffee and bright citrus flavors stand out in this drink, but there are additional dark, rich notes beneath. Given the mix of liquors and liqueurs, I wouldn't recommend using this to stay up for a late night of studying or driving, but it might help get you to the end of a party or, if you're playing D&D, may cause the end of your party... (And, as always, when under the influence of alcohol or illusion spells, avoid operating heavy constructs.)
Okay, while the flavor of the Night Watch was rich and intriguing, it didn't keep me up at all, but I woke with a bit of a headache, which may or may not have been related. At any rate, I found myself thumbing through the book for another recipe to try (without alcohol) and decided to look at some of the more flavorful Vodka-based drinks, with the intention of simply omitting the Vodka to arrive at a non-alcoholic version. It was this approach that lead me to making a virgin Hordelander. This had an intriguing flavor that felt like I was getting a drink in some culture which was completely alien to me. Much like Lathander's Bounty, the Hordelander features both Greek Yogurt and Soda Water, which is a rare combination. However, Hordelander includes salt and pepper as well as mint, creating a savory, tangy beverage that, despite not containing cucumber, reminded me a bit of the flavor of Tzatziki sauce, giving me a sense of Greek leanings. On one hand, I can see this drink embellishing gameplay during a meeting with a warrior tribe on some remote grassland plain... on the other hand, I can see the non-alcoholic version fitting in well as a seasonal drink at The Hissing Stones
The final recipe of my sampling selections is Rumtack - a glazed rum cake perfect for celebrating a successful adventure at seas with pirate encounters or for winding down at the end of the day in the dockside inn & tavern of your choice. Rumtack is a play on a classic rum cake, but also has chocolatey notes, which plays nicely with the various spices, both in the rum and the ingredients list. I will say that this one takes a while to make. There's a variety of ingredients to measure and prepare, then a butter mix to melt, a flour mix to thoroughly mix, then you've got a cook time of about an hour, the last ten minutes of which you'll need to make a glaze. Then, you add some glaze and let it cool for 30 minutes, then add some more and wait another 30 minutes... then take it out of the bundt pan and top with the remaining glaze. Psibabe jokingly referred to this as a Gilligan's Island cake... because it's a three-hour tour...
And, among the alcoholic drinks, Captain's Fancy caught my attention, but I haven't made it, yet. The story behind this one is that Laraelra "The Captain" Thundreth, a widely respected wizard in Baldur's Gate and the proprietress of The Low Lantern will, on occasion, leave the care of the bar to her staff and retire for a long night of research and study in her quarters, ordering a hot buttered rum with whipped cream and cinnamon. This drink is sort of on a "secret menu", as you can order it, but only if you know to ask for it by name. Since Psibabe is an avid reader (and since we've somewhat recently renovated a corner to be a reading nook and place of solitude for her to curl up with a good book)... such a relaxing, warm, comforting drink sounded appropriate. However, as mentioned above, we are trying to be kind to our livers, these days, so after some discussion with our resident disembodied alchemist, Dr. Tourmaline****, we devised a plan to simmer the rum to greatly reduce its alcohol content, while retaining its rich, spiced flavor. I will be holding off on this one until the weather turns a little cooler, but I feel like it will be a perfect drink for right around Halloween.
As for the rest of the cocktails - those I didn't actually attempt - I discussed them with C.T.****, our resident cocktail expert (or as he prefers, "Spirit Guide") to see what cocktails they most closely approximated. In previous fantasy cocktail books, such as Düngeonmeister: A Drink Master's Guide, I have tried to find the closest matches, so that I could create a "Drink/Flavor Cross Reference Addendum" to inform the reader that some cocktail that was given a fantasy name for inclusion in a book is actually the exact same thing as some well-known drink, allowing a reader to better compare the included recipes and find a recipe based on requests for commonly known drinks. I felt that the index should have probably had the common name for the drink, with a "See also" for the fantasy name. Or something. In Dungeons & Dragons: Puncheons & Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book, however, in addition to the index being absolutely amazing, the cocktails are unique enough that they generally don't have a specific drink that they are copies of, each one having - minimally - an interesting ingredient or two to change the flavor profile in some interesting way - and in more extreme cases, seeming to be inspired by two or three different drinks, with similarities across multiple, but avoiding being close to any given drink. This means that the drink recipes are unique and novel (so you're highly unlikely to have the same drinks in other recipe books) and means that there's no need to try to provide a mapping from commonly known drinks to the ones included in the book, because they're not really close enough to need to be mapped. These drinks are a journey of discovery across Faerun. A fantasy pub crawl, if you will. Find recipes that interest you and try them out. Perhaps share them at the gaming table... These are all unique enough to stand on their own and to bear their own name.
But, since I had such a long chat with C.T.****, I will point out a couple worth mentioning. An Old Fashioned is a well-known drink and an old favorite for many, so it's worth mentioning that fans of the Old Fashioned might quite enjoy Harpell's Reserve, which is a variant on an Old Fashioned, but takes it to the next level with a Cane Sugar Syrup (recipe included) and the use of an Oak infusion spiral $ to infuse a deeper oak barrel aged flavor.
Also, the Necromancer is inspired by the Corpse Reviver family, but with added depth and darker, fruitier tones. From there, it gets more difficult to find a direct match and say something's almost identical... For example, the Loklee is basically a Manhattan, but for the addition of Balsamic Vinegar. However, fans of Balsamic Vinegar will agree that its addition to a cocktail is definitely going to change the flavor profile. So, even the cocktails with "slight" variations in here can be very interesting spins on a classic.
Could there be a better D&D-themed fantasy cookbook? Possibly. At this point, however, I don't know that I would want anyone to put additional effort into improving on this. I would be tickled pink to have more of the same. The writing is great, the recipes are creative and unique, the chapters having recipes grouped by the main spirit and themed around specific taverns and an exhaustively amazing (and amazingly exhaustive) index... what's not to like? The only thing I would have preferred to see added is tips on how to make mocktails (or reduced alcohol versions) out of the alcoholic cocktails, at least when it would be reasonably easy to do so. I think the single chapter for non-alcoholic drinks is great, but allowing for virgin versions of the other drinks would make the recipes more accessible. For that matter, a one-ingredient addition could be suggested for the mocktails and smoothies, to make them alcoholic drinks, should one get a drink to go when leaving The Hissing Stones and want to add a dash of liquid courage on their way to their next adventure... maybe one drink would make a nice cocktail with the addition of 2oz of dark rum and another with 1oz of vodka... something like that.
But, truth told, I have no complaints about this tome of tipples, tastes and treats. The quality is high here, from writing to images, from binding to recipes and from concept and grouping to thorough indexing. Author Andrew Wheeler, Ashley Stoyanov (recipes) , Ray Kachatorian (photographs) and Ten Speed Press have raised the bar on fantasy cookbooks... and I really hope to see attempts to match this. Dungeons & Dragons: Puncheons & Flagons: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cocktail Book would make an excellent gift for any fan of D&D (or fantasy, in general) who enjoys original cocktails or mocktails and snacks. I tend to request books that I will enjoy, so "Highly Recommended" ends up being fairly common; if anything, it's tempered with a description of for whom it's recommended. However, here, I don't think I can overstress how well thought-out and put-together this book is. I highly recommend Puncheons & Flagons for anyone who eats and drinks and is not repulsed by the idea of alcohol or fantasy. It may also not be suitable for those who can't read and have no one who would use this book on their behalf. Outside of that... this is a great book.
* So, as I was growing up, the name for mixing random soft drinks from a soda fountain was referred to as a "Shipwreck." As I understand it, there are many other names for it, such as: kamikaze, graveyard, suicide, or swamp water. There are similar names for alcoholic drinks with the same loose morals, but "Shipwreck" is the term I'm most familiar with. Also, One-Eyed Jax in Luskan has a reputation as a haven for pirates, so I found that to be doubly appropriate.
** Well, I actually cut the calories a bit by using half sugar and half Stevia, instead of the full amount of sugar. In later (but not much later) attempts, I used Stevia instead of sugar, since my caloric budget doesn't have the room to frequently imbibe that much sugar. Finally, in a haste to get my next fix, I used pre-made Sugar-Free Sweet Tea (Milo's - try it if you get the chance) and did away with the step of reducing it to a syrup and found it nearly as good and just as refreshing.
*** -From the French and Spanish: "I don't know cheese"
**** - Dr. Chad Jeepie T(ourmaline)
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