Western School Cuisine
The Western School of cooking is one of strong flavours and a close connection with the sea, emerging out of the local cuisines of the West and Southwest as they were adapted to Dynastic dining styles. Rice, and both wine and vinegar derived from it, join seaweed and seafood in bite-sized dishes popular amongst the maritime-influenced Great Houses such as Peleps and Ledaal.
Sashimi Dishes
Sashimi: ‘Sashimi’ is a simple dish consisting of fresh fish, thinly sliced and served raw. The discriminating tasters of the Western School see such raw food consumption as vital to appreciate the true flavour of a fish, and there is a saying that ‘true taste is cooked in the mouth, not in the pan’, based upon the fact that the heat of the mouth will cook the best-cut sashimi as it is being eaten, allowing the flavours of the whole process to reach the taster. Sashimi is a dish to be savoured.
Citrus Sashimi: Viewed by traditionalists as culinary heresy, and by some as a way to cover up fish which is already several days old, these dishes feature the juice of lemons, limes, or oranges poured over the thin fish strips before serving. The acids in the juice begin a ‘cooking’ process in the meat. Many sailors have a tradition of eating this dish before and after long sea voyages.
Blowfish Sashimi: The blowfish is a strange creature, living along the edges of the Wyld and possessed of potent poisons that can fell even the Exalted. If it is not expertly cut, its poison glands will burst and taint its meat… thus, to prepare a blowish meal is to prove oneself a master chef and bladesman, and to consume such a meal requires substantial bravery: many Lintha pirates or bravado-driven Dynastic brotherhoods give eating such a meal an almost ritual significance.
Roe: Halfway between sashimi dish and condiment, roe (the sexual excretions such as eggs or sperm) of fish and sea urchins are highly valued in cooking. To underline the extravagance of a dish, it might be served on a bed of fish eggs, or with a sea urchin roe dipping sauce.
Vinegar-Rice Dishes
Scattered Dish: This style is a sort of salad —rice and rice vinegar and chopped sea fish are mixed together in a large bowl. A vulgar, low-class method common in coastal inns and fishing villages.
Finger Balls: Balls of vinegar-soaked rice squeezed into oval shapes, into which are half-pressed seafood toppings, either longneck clam or shrimp.
Bireme Balls: A variant of finger balls that feature fine ingredients that cannot be easily pressed directly into rice: salmon roe or avocado spiced with hot peppers. These are kept in place by a thin strip of dried seaweed paper wrapped around the middle of the ball, giving it the appearance of a tiny bireme… many more fanciful presenters decorate these with wood and paper sails & oars and serve them on blue-laquered plates in fleet formations. Obviously, this dish brings with it connotations of the Imperial Navy and, of course, House Peleps; the most imaginative Dynasts can order arrangements in specific patterns or tactical formations to carry even more specific signals.
Sliced Rolls: Vinegar-soaked rice, rolled around a central ingredient (typically pickled white radish, fresh tuna, or fresh salmon), and then wrapped in an outer layer of dried seaweed paper.
Cone Rolls: Dried seaweed paper roasted to intensify its crisp texture and then rolled into a cone, stuffed with vinegar-soaked rice and avocado or siaka soaked in butter.
Inside-Out Rolls: A variant of sliced rolls, where slices of cucumber or crab meat are wrapped first in dried seaweed paper, and then in vinegar-soaked rice. Together with sliced rolls, these are sometimes used to determine support or enmity… if one sees one’s rival or the leader of an opposing faction eating one type, one can show one’s leaning by choosing the same or opposite type.
Lettuce-Wrap Rolls: An inland variant of sliced rolls, featuring pickled mountain burdock or ginger-marinated beef, wrapped in vinegar-soaked rice and then surrounded by an outer wrapping of lettuce leaves. This dish ostensibly seeks to replace the strong, salty taste of seaweed with the light, cooling flavour of lettuce, but its roots are political: first devised by House Tepet chefs at a feast where a dispute with House Peleps was looming, it has been widely adopted by House V’neef as a signature dish of sorts.
Other Dishes
The Conqueror says Goodbye to his Concubine: One of the Sevenfold Resplendent Dishes.
Condiments
Fish Sauce: A salty black sauce formed from fermented sardines, whose strong flavour decreases if it is included in a cooked dish. Amongst many Dynastic diners, the fishy flavour is seen as overpowering and confusing the rest of the meal, which has led to the use of soy sauce blended with a small quantity of fish sauce instead of the straight version.
Pickled Ginger: A sour side-dish used to clear the palette between samplings of different dishes.
Mastixa Seeds: One of the Fivefold Flavours of the Enflamed Palette. Touted as the most painfully hot substance to come out of the West. The heat of the Mastixa is delayed, bursting through the mouth and down the throat several seconds after it has been consumed.
