Cuisine of the Southern Nomads
Overview
The cuisine of the nomadic tribes native to the Southern Threshold is varied, a thousand tribes each with their own traditions, resources, and spirits to dictate what they can eat. There are, however, a number of common elements.
The cuisine of the tribes tends to be based on consumption of lamb and mutton, from the small herds of sheep that follow in the wake of tribal cavalry. Closely related to their mounts, these animals are supplemented by the blood and milk of the animals they ride, and by the meat of those too old or injured to continue… each tribe tends to feel connected to a specific riding beast, and while eating their own beasts is seen as a necessity, eating the beasts favoured by rival tribes is celebrated as the finest of cuisine. Meat tends to be smoke-grilled, dried, or slow-cooked. Horse tribes such as the Delzahn or the now-destroyed D’Hennish favour the meat of camels and austrechs, camel tribes such as the Diriyya favour the meat of austrech and horse, the Austrech riding tribes favour the meat of horse and camel… and all delight in consuming Simhata, with the dread tribes who ride such beasts indiscriminate in their devouring of other riding beasts.
Fresh dairy is a part of these tribal diets, the milk of their favoured animals (even the crop milk of austrechs) is consumed fresh as milk and cream (bowls of warm cream are a traditional breakfast dish, provided even to those tribal people who have settled away from traditional herds by many street stalls in Chiaroscuro) or transformed into yoghurt, a regular part of the diet.
Along with meat and dairy, bread is a staple, derived from wild grains or captured caravans making their way into the desert from the fertile coastal lands.
Though no longer nomadic, the Delzahn of Chiaroscuro draw their culinary origins from such roots, and while they have made their dishes richer and more varied in ingredients the Cuisine of the Southern Nomads remains the Cuisine of Chiaroscuro.
Notable Dishes
Polo – A dish of the Chiaroscuro Delzahn, which uses rice (available through trade with the Blessed Isle and The Lap). The rice is cooked with mutton-bone broth into a pilaf along with shreds of yellow and orange carrot, green peppers, and caramelized onions (the colours said to be reminiscent of Chiaroscuro’s glass towers), taking on a flavour that is buttery and meaty. When served, the rice is topped with a hunk of slow-cooked mutton, or lamb at the tables of the wealthy. The streets of Chiaroscuro are home to numerous street vendors tending enormous black pots over charcoal braziers, serving up polo and spiced tea. Fresh colourful fresh vegetables, rice, and massive cookware are not found commonly amongst the desert nomads, and many are confused on encountering Chiaroscuro Delzahn who consider it a traditional dish.
Ephemeral Loaves – ‘Ephemeral Loaf’ is a poetic term used by foreigners and city folk to describe what the Southern nomads know simply as ‘bread’. For the nomadic tribes, bread is something eaten fresh the day it is made, as transporting loaves is more difficult than the ingredients to make them. Before camp is broken, small clay ovens are fired and dough is mixed, flattened against a curved base, edges curled in and surfaces punched with decorative patterns using metal tools. These patterns can be simple or complex, often indicating particular tribes or bakers. The bread is then topped with a sprinkle of salt, black onion seeds, sesame seeds, or diced garlic, and slapped for a few minutes against the hot inner wall of the oven, emerging crisped outside but soft within. The bread is eaten fresh, through the rest of the day, and is named Ephemeral for the fact that by the next morning it will have hardened into something solid and inedible.
Mutton Roast – A dish for feasting, a mutton roast involves the preparation of a whole sheep or sometimes goat, slathered in a marinade of yoghurt and spices, including saffron, and then cooked whole in a hole dug into the ground, or amongst the Chiaroscuro Delzahn a large oven. The hole/oven is sealed for two hours to allow the sheep to cook, and then pulled out. The skin has crisped in the animal’s own fat, taking a crunchy consistency, while the meat remains juicy and tender enough to be torn with fingers or chopsticks. It is eaten served atop Ephemeral Loaves, traditionally at the end of the day when the bread has started to harden and the juices from the meat soak in and keep it from becoming too hard to eat for the day’s final meal.
Meat Skewers – One of the most common meat preparations in the cuisines of Southern tribes are hunks of meat, run through with a metal skewer interspersed with hunks of fat to keep them juicy as they are grilled over charcoal. The skewers are spiced as they cook, with salt, hot peppers, and cumin, and usually served on their own or atop a round of Ephemeral Bread. There is hardly a city across the South which has not adapted some variation of the meat skewer into its street food, and variations are seen even further afield such as in the Cuisine of the River Province. In Chiaroscuro, it has become common to include chunks of sweet fruit on the skewers to keep the meat moist and balance the spices.
Bread Skewers – Another common preparation seen amongst Southern tribes and city street carts is the bread skewer, where hunks of bread are liberally spread with melted butter along with a spice mixture including salt, chilis, cumin, and black pepper, then quickly toasted on a charcoal grill so they are crunchy on the outside but still soft within.
Glowing Stones – Glowing Stones is a dish which does not, directly, contain stones. Rather it is a dish prepared when chunks of on-bone meat and sometimes vegetables such as onions are placed into a container along with a number of smooth stones that have been heated in a fire. The heat from the stones cooks the contents over the course of a few hours, after which it is removed and served. As part of serving, the stones are tossed to diners, who pass them from hand to hand, a tradition believed to keep fingers and joints nimble. Amongst nomads, the stomach of a large riding animal is the traditional vessel for Glowing Stones, but in the city of Chiaroscuro the use of metal jugs has become common.
Stoned Pig – Stoned Pig is a relative of the Glowing Stone cooking technique and the Mutton Roast: it does not use a true pig, which can surprise many foreigners. Rather a Whistling Pig, a type of rodent native to the South, is hunted and its stomach stuffed with vegetables, spices, and hot stones, and then the whole thing thrown onto a fire. The flames burn away the marmot’s fur as the heat from outside and within cooks the meat. This dish has fallen out of favour with the Chiaroscuro Delzahn.
Mince Crescents – Mince crescents are crescent or pyramid-shaped parcels of crisp pastry, found in innumerable variations across the Southern Threshold. Those consumed in Chiaroscuro and amongst the Southern nomads use fatty mutton or lamb, minced, with wilted onions and cumin, while in Harbourhead, Varangia, and Paragon the same dish most commonly uses minced beef, and that variation has been adapted as the Curried Beef Crescent that is a standard dish of Dynastic Dim Sum cuisine.
Black-Eye Soup – A soup of broth, mushrooms, coriander, and black-eyed peas, with occasional tiny meatballs, this dish is common amongst the lower economic rungs of Chiaroscuro, though rarely seen amongst the nomadic tribes as soup is a difficult dish for those travelling the Southern desert.
Offal Fry – In the deserts of the South, waste can mean death for a tribe, and the offal fry is a dish which makes use of parts less favoured in cuisines such as the Cuisine of the River Province or Paragon. Lungs, livers, kidneys, and heads are cooked together, eaten steaming hot. The dish is not pretty, and its aromas can be powerful and off-putting... while few nomads allow this to deter them, in Chiaroscuro offal fry is traditionally cooked as a street food only after the Unconquered Sun has set for the day.
Blood Sausage – Blood Sausage, a staple for travelling nomads, is made from stretches of intestine stuffed with blood, cooked grains or meal, and spices. These are usually fried in a griddle and then sliced into bite-sized pieces, eaten topped with vinegar and pickled vegetables.
Beigne – Beigne are a fried dough snack common amongst the Southern tribes and also as a street food in the cities of that direction. They consist primarily of butter, salt, water, and flour, with city versions adding eggs and cane sugar for a sweeter treat. The D’Hennish were well known for their delectable beigne, which used mutton fat in place of butter, but that recipe has long been lost to Creation.
Aaruul - Snacks made from dried milk curds, with a disctinctive tangy, almost musky flavour, beloved as treats by many nomadic children. Amongst the Chiaroscuro Delzahn, aaruul has fallen out of favour, children and adults alike preferring sugarcane sweets imported from Arjuf Dominion.
Notable Beverages
Spiced Tea – Common across the South, spiced tea varies by region and by tribe. It is traditionally black fermented tea, to which have been added one or more flavourings from amongst flower petals, fennel seeds, cinnamon, and saffron.
Saltmilk Tea – Saltmilk tea is a traditional beverage amongst desert nomads. Green or partly-fermented tea is brewed thick, and then mixed with salt, along with milk and/or butter. Many who hold to the traditions of Tea Ceremony dismiss such a mixture as a violation of the purity of tea, and so this beverage remains unpopular within the Realm.
Kefir – An alcoholic beverage derived from fermented milk, with the milk of horse mares particularly prized for this purpose. The milk is placed in a sealed animal stomach along with kefir ‘grains’, soft cheese-like cultures similar in appearance to cauliflower florets. The stomachs are hung from saddles or doorframes, where they are regularly jostled over the course of one or more days, producing a bubbly, slightly sour, and mildly alcoholic beverage beloved amongst Southern nomads and the residents of Chiaroscuro alike.
Arkhi – Arkhi is a more potent alcoholic beverage than Kefir, from which it is derived through process of bladder-distillation. The techniques for production of the finest Arkhi are little known save to a few Austrech-riding tribes resident on the mountain slopes of the South’s desert ranges, whose liquor is much sought-after by trader and raider alike.
