Welcome back to this week’s custom menu for the Fellowship of Fans weekly Rings of Power After Party!
Every Thursday you can join the Discord at 10 pm EST/7 pm PST for a two hour long live-chat before the next episode! Then visit the Fellowship of Fans YouTube to join the 3 hour long After Party on Sunday at 2:30 pm EST/11:30 am PST for panel discussions, live guests, fan art, and more!
This week we’re packing our Hobbits rucksacks with hand pies perfect for a Small Adventure! I chose these recipes specifically because they’re all historic, working class, English traveling food. The heavy pastry dough is designed to hold its shape during hours of being tossed around in a bag. When you break for Elevenses, each hand pie can be gobbled up cold in a few bites, giving you a healthy balance of flavors for your second Hobbit meal of the day. One of each is enough to take off the edge between Second Breakfast and Luncheon without leaving you too stuffed to enjoy your afternoon meals.
If your small adventure is only taking you as far as your living room, feel free to substitute lighter (and easier) premade store-bought pie crusts.
For dessert I offer a historic English Porter Cake, which, as the name suggests, was eaten by Porters. This was the working man’s answer to what was then an expensive, fancy, and oh so trendy Fruit Cake, but made with ingredients a Porter’s household would have on hand. Instead of wasting a good brandy by pouring it over your pudding, a working class cook simply pulled out a pint good, dark, malty beer. Instead of fresh or candied fruits, she’d throw in a cup of whatever dried fruits she had on hand.
While this is delicious hot and fresh out of the oven, it’s even better after the flavors have had a couple days to play nicely together. Wrap it up in foil or, if you’re feeling extra Hobbity, wrap it in cheesecloth and leave it in a bread box for a couple of days before cutting yourself a slice. The alcohol and fat act as a preservative, helping keep the cake fresh at room temperature for up to a week. However, since it smells better every day, good luck making it last that long.
Click the links below to be taken to a full length recipe taken from the pages of An Unexpected Cookbook.
Middle Earth Traveling Meal:
Make a tray of all three hand pies for you and your fellow adventurers to snack on during the next Rings of Power Watch Party! Share photos on Twitter for a chance to be featured on the stream!
Need more Hobbity goodness in your life?
Preview even more recipes from An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery, available now!
Sample recipes from all seven chapters of An Unexpected Cookbook:
Breakfast – Poached Pears Stuffed with Frumenty
Second Breakfast – Beef and Mushroom Stuffed Hand Pies
Elevenses – Shire Seed Cake
Luncheon – Stewed Hare with Root Vegetables and Dumplings
Afternoon Tea – Shortbread
Supper – Stuffed Roasted Mushrooms
Dinner – Boxty on the Griddle with Bacon
Need more? Buy your own copy of An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery from Amazon.com.