What is Heroes’ Feast?

After many many years, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has printed a new recipe book called Heroes’ Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook.  Written by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Michael Witner, with recipes from Adam Reid. This book is a gorgeous collection of recipes set in the D&D multiverse.  It’s full of tiny in-roads and references to many different settings, including Dragonlance (DL).   I’m amused that this book is named after a 6th level conjuration spell of the same name.  

What’s in the book?

This cookbook contains 79 recipes broken down to  19 Human, 13 Elven, 12 Dwarven, 11 Halfling, 11 uncommon, and a 13 drink recipe sections.   Overall, I’m not exactly liking that the book is split into races.  And that’s because each section, split by race, is still a very diverse set of foods that serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  It gets a little hard to find Gully Dwarf Homestyle Porridge unless you know it’s a dwarf section.  However, the book has a marvelous index containing regions, food type, etc.  Each recipe has a color picture of the food you’re making.  I feel any non-gamer will still look at this book and drool over the close intimate photos of food.

What’s in the Barnes and Noble exclusive book?

So fair warning, there are two different versions of this book.   The Barnes and Noble exclusive edition of the book is sold specifically in those bookstores.  It contains a foldout map of Faerun, the setting for Forgotten Realms (FR).

Personally, I would have preferred 4 maps, one to DL, Greyhawk (GH), and Ebberon (EB).  But that’s fine.  My apologies for giving everyone a partial picture of the map.  If I did a full scan of the map, it would kill the exclusiveness of the Barnes and Noble edition.  

What is Dragonlance-specific?

The book really makes an effort to include Dragonlance references, and give thanks to Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Joe Maganiello writes how he loves Otik’s Spiced Potatoes from Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home.   There are all sorts of references to the Inn.  The book has a snapshot of the Inn’s menu.  And they’re all in stl pieces!  Nice touch. The menu has references to every Leaves book and History of the Dragonlance Saga, including Kender Kiffles and Irlymeyer’s Dragonfire Punch.  Otik Sandath writes a brief welcome to his inn.  

There is a reference to tinker gnomes, Minoi, being exclusively on Krynn.   

We have:

• Otik’s Skillet-Fried Spiced Potatoes… 29
• Qualinesti Vegetable Stew…76
• Gully Dwarf Homestyle Porridge…101
• Par-Salian’s Tea … 183
• Dwarven Mulled Wine … 185

Which recipes have we tried?

So, I went with the obvious choice of Otik’s potatoes.  The “original” found in Leaves is much simpler.  The Feast’s recipe says to microwave the potatoes to cook them before adding the other ingredients. Then fry the onions and take them out.  Then fry the warm potatoes, adding the spices, and then add the cooked onions.  The recipe in Heroes’ Feast adds a little more punch, with paprika and garlic powder. Frankly, I thought the Feast’s potatoes were hotter and lighter than Leave’s potatoes.

And that’s a debate on the technique of cooking.  Leave’s potatoes are simpler.  You cook it all on one skillet. As a person familiar with restaurant/inn cooking, you want quick and fast. 

I’ve also tried Par-Salian’s Tea, with and without ginger.  It calls for a lemon, ginger as desired, honey as desired, boiled water and mint. Honestly, I would have boiled the lemon juice, and honey, and poured over some ice from your Ray of Frost, and have a nice lemonade then tea. 

Also, if anyone wants to try out any recipes, let me know. I’d love to add it in. Reserve your recipe, and we’ll splice it into the review.

What looks awesome?

The book looks really snazzy.  We have all sorts of celebrities like Joe, Freddie Prinze Jr, D.B. Weiss, and many other actors known for playing D&D.  This book is so colorful, I think the non-DL fans will also get a kick out of this book.  IF there is a critique, it’s that this book is written for Earth people.  There are references that throw me out of the fantasy world set in the books. 

Take for example, Otik’s Skillet-Fried Spiced Potatoes.  The instructions call for us to put the potatoes in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave until the edges soften. My immediate thought was, “I live on Krynn, what the bloody abyss is a microwave?”   Now Margaret did tell me “The gnomes invented the microwave. I leave it to the group to tell us why no one with any sense of self-preservation would go near it.”  That really helps. However things like this are everywhere.  We have ingredients like Japanese and Chinese Eggplant, Worchestershire sauce, Apples (Jonagold, Cortland, Empire), Cheeses (Asiano, Jarlsburg, Gruyere), and Kalhua.  It’s all forgivable, but suspension of disbelief is dispelled.  

No Kender recipes?

No. Unfortunately I did not find a kender recipe.  That would have been nice.    

Final Thoughts

This book is gorgeous.  I feel every recipe is a labor of love.  I feel this book captures and honors those recipes we’ve already seen in Leaves, More Leave, and Lost Leaves, and History of the Dragonlance Saga.  The Inn of the Last Home is a love letter to all of us in DL.   This book is like a Player’s Handbook for rewarding each other with good eating when we play together. 

So, I can’t recommend this book. However, I believe in free will, so I recommend you at least check it out for yourself, for the sake of the people who put their effort into this book.