The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook Hardcover – 19 Mar. 2019

This was the first book in the series that I picked up and is probably the most inspirational of the lot. Seeing as the Elder Scrolls series of games has its own menu of dishes, it was exciting to see how the author has adapted some of the better known fantastical recipes to the real world.The selected dishes are well themed to fit what might be a "Viking" dinner table, and many are quite easily modifiable if you are missing out an ingredient or don't want to use something (I am intolerant to shellfish, but easily took out the scallops in some dishes and don't feel like I lost anything).If anything this book taught me several things:1. The joy of grinding your own spices, as many dishes call for the same mixtures and recommend that you prepare them in advance. This way I discovered what fresh herbs and spices really smell and taste like beyond just shaking a glass jar over something. So you really get a feeling for what you are adding to the dish.2. Infusing alcohol: the later part of the book has you making your own mead or liqueur (Skooma!) so as mentioned above you will be using your spices to infusing them. Something you'll get a feel for by actually knowing what they taste like and seeing in stages what they add to the overall product.3. Baking. I was useless at baking prior to this book, because it is more of a science than an art, requiring exact measurements or things go very wrong. A significant portion of this book is given over to bread, cakes, and tarts, so baking is essential. But because it is themed along something it was a joy to learn and make something special.Beyond all this, the recipes also get you to introduce ingredients that you may commonly ignore in the kitchen, such as leeks or cabbage, which are now staples of my home diet in ways they never were before; and my cupboards are now filled with spices that I know how to use in everyday cooking.My main gripe with the book is that the main course section is actually rather short, with much of the pages set aside for the aforementioned sections on baking, spices and alcohol. But seeing as nearly every dish has a strong theme, I can forgive the author for not simply "padding" the menu with common dishes and giving them fantastical names in an attempt to fill space.While it may not be a cook book that you return to for every meal, you know that each time you use it you will likely be making something that really stands out.

The recipes are nicely varied and fun to make. Had to improvise on some herbs and spices but I’m assuming they’re more difficult for me to find because I’m in the UK. There’s room to be creative with these dishes though, so go ahead and tweak them to your tastes. The book also has what seems to be quite an extensive allergen information list at the back if you’re worried about dietary requirements.It details how difficult each recipe is to make, and if you’re a beginner they’re not so unusual that you can’t find some video tutorials for the techniques mentioned.All in all, contains some really fun dishes and is a great conversation piece for your kitchen if you’re on the nerdy side like me.Cheers!

I have made a few of the recipes in this and they are absolutely lovely! Even bought some in to work to share with my colleagues, my manager said it was "right on", although it did not save my job in the following months... I can only assume she wanted a sweet roll, not a honey nut treat lol

Fantastic quality and the recipes are actually rather good the swamp shrimp(rich,sweet,spicy Chinese style shrimp)has been copied into our regular meals folder an we made an extra batch of the sauce to keep in the fridge. I would definitely recommend this book even if you've no interest in the game. These are good healthy meals,tasty deserts ..I've yet to make the drinks but Dandylion an burdock!!! A childhood fave wonder what it'll be like as a creamed tea :o best book I've brought for years:)

There's no doubting Chealsea Monroe-Cassel's abilities as a chef and an author. It's no easy feat taking fantasy dishes from make-believe ingredients, and translating them into tangable and tasty treats, yet she's done this time and time again. You'll hear no complaints from me in regards to the foodstuffs one can create, each with varying levels of difficulty, preparation and type of meal. Plus Monroe-Cassel has taken on feedback from previous books, providing a table comparing measurements depending on where you are in the globe. No longer do readers have to keep resorting to the internet to see the difference between Metric and Imperial (Damned Imperials. S'wits, the lot of 'em!). A complaint I have had with other books is the amount of difficult dishes, but thanks to the Elder Scrolls' more "realistic" approach to fantasy, there's far more dishes for novices. More advanced cooks, or those who want something truly magical, would be better off with Hearthstone's or WoW's book.It'd be an outstanding book on its own, I dare say five stars, but what makes me knock a star down is the uninspired writing and use of the Elder Scrolls license.If a lack of lore or nervous use of Tamriel isn't going to put you off from the book, then I can fully recommend it. At the end of the day, it serves its purpose. But what makes The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook so underwhelming to a fan such as myself is it paints a very weak picture of the series - now 25 years old - and looks like it's cashing in on the name. Every recipe has to reference Skyrim in some way, which would be fine if this were a traveller's guide of the zone, and having to substitute certain ingredients with the native flavour. One of my favourite foods in the series, S'jirra's Famous Potato Bread, is a Cyrodiilic dish and one that is made and sold exclusively by a single Khajiit. Somehow it's a common dish in Skyrim. Should Morrowind be referenced, it will likely be things that were more prominent in the Dragonborn DLC than the plethora of content that can be found in the 2004 game or its location in the MMO. Anything beyond the 3 most popular games contains frustratingly little, as though the scraps of lore are obliged to be small. For a licensed cookbook, there's a noticeable lack of flavour. Not even the flavours experienced in TESIV: Oblivion's "Red Kitchen Reader". *shivers*Conclusion: It's a cracking cookbook that's hard not to recommend for the recipes alone, but the fluff is woeful when compared to other licensed cookbooks such as World of Warcraft's or A Feast of Ice & Fire. None of my complaints are directed toward the author, rather the lack of direction Monroe-Cassel was given by Bethesda.

I bought this cookbook as a birthday present. It was exactly as described. I bought the Used cookbook, as I’m a lover of reusing. It was in excellent condition, no faults and cheaper.