food photography – Feed the Horde

Boralus Brined Chicken Sandwich

Posted on September 6, 2019September 1, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

So one thing I’ve noticed in all my travels is that frying bird flesh is pretty universal, but there are so many different ways to actually do it. In Boralus, there’s an open air tavern that sells fried bird on a bun. It doesn’t sound exciting, but the second I bit into this, I knew it was something special. I couldn’t figure out what it was. The meat? The seasoning? A different kind of bird?

After the requisite two hours of buttering up, I asked the cook what made it so special. I asked if maybe it was seagull meat? He laughed and told me that there’s only one way to cook seagull:

Catch and pluck a seagull
Boil it for six hours in seawater
Dump the seawater and boil again in fresh water and milk
Dump the water/milk mix and boil again in salted ale
Throw the entire pot out, bird and all because you’ll never get that wretched stink back out again

Point taken. But, in exchange for being the butt of the joke, he did eventually part with the recipe.

Hint- it’s not seagull

Stormsong Valley Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

Summer is finally starting to wind down! Finally. I don’t know about you, but it’s been as hot as Hellfire Peninsula in Stormwind lately. So of course, when you get out of the hot sun after working all day, you don’t want a hot meal. No no, you need something to help you cool down. That’s why I love a good, cold pasta salad.

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Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Easy Summer Salsa

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

Miss Jean, a druid and an avid gardener, got me hyped up last winter to try and grow my own veggies. I planted a few different types of tomato plants, some little cherry tomatoes, some big ol’ slicing tomatoes, and some felberries, which are sorta similar to tomato but they taste a bit like tingling.

At first it was great! Every day there were a few cherry tomatoes, or a felberry. And then all at once EVERYTHING came into season at the same time. I realized that even with cooking for the Keg, putting some in the chicken pasta salads (tune in next week!) a lot of these tomatoes were going to go bad if I didn’t figure something out. I’m not a fan of most tomato sauces (I know, I’m weird) but there is one thing I can’t get enough of.

Salsa.

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Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Zandalari Crawfish Fondue

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

Let me tell you something about Zandalar. The place is gorgeous. It’s hot. All the animals are huge and you are very small. Among the huge animals are the crawfish. You ever see a Zandalari crawfish? They’re crazy big, big enough to snip-snip off parts that you’d like to keep on.

That’s why I like to grind them up and serve them in a cheese sauce. Boo-yah, top of the food chain!

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World of Warcraft

Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

Posted on June 12, 2019June 13, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

When I was living on the streets, food was hard to come by. I would go days without eating, and even when I did get a chance, more often than not it was scavenged from rubbish bins. A memory I’ve held very close was my first cheeseburger. I remember the sauce running down my chin, the cheese and grease exploding with flavor in my mouth, the crunch of the onion, the sourness of the pickle. It was so foreign to me, fluffy buns and thick crumbly meat. I hadn’t eaten much Human food before that and elves don’t really have anything quite like it.

The only pain is that it’s a bit hard to take on the go. While making the Pandaren egg rolls, I was stricken with an amazing idea. All the deliciousness of a cheeseburger in the convenient package of an egg roll.

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Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Pandaren Month! Crab Rangoons

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

This one has a bit of an odd story behind it. My birthday was a few weeks ago, and I decided to head to Gadgetzan in Tanaris as part of the celebrations. While there, I came decided to wander through a few shops. I came across a very nice Goblin and we got to chatting. He was very interested in my little project here, and asked to sponsor it. I told him I wasn’t really comfortable without knowing his products a bit better so he gave me a free sample.

After the exchange (there were the usual customs fees, brokerage fees, a currency exchange fee to move from Stormwind gold to Bilgewater gold, and of course, a small fee for mismatched coins, as I had a few Ironforge coins mixed in) I was given a rather interesting can of Duskwood Style Dusky Crab Lumps, courtesy of Kwality Katch.

Kwality Katch! It says ‘Kwality’ right in the name

hmm…

Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Pandaren Month! Klaxxi Sweet and Sour

Posted on May 25, 2019May 25, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

Man, where do I even start with this one? It’s a massive favorite in the non-Pandaren nations. I remember being able to find this even in Orgrimmar, and sometimes you get lucky and find a cart in Dalaran. Noodles are of course, the go-to, but there’s something divine about the crunchy, sweet, savory, little bit tart stickiness of a dish like this.

When I lived in Halfhill, the old Pandaren that used to let me rent a room from them told me the story about how when their ancestors began to set up their farms and breweries from the West, the insectoid Klaxxi were beginning to spread in from the East. Wars raged and fire burned and crops were destroyed and overall, there was terror.

One Pandaren in particular was desperate for peace. And he realized that when he worked a long hard day, he was rather cranky before he got his supper. So, he thought, perhaps it was the same with the angry Klaxxi. He’d seen the nectar they ate, and decided, well that simply couldn’t be sustaining enough. So he came up with a dish — a perfect blend of everything he thought a hard working creature needed. Protein for strength, vegetables for health, fruit and sweetness for the disposition. And with it, he offered up an offering, that Bug and Bear could sit together in peace and the commonality of food.

Did it work?

Peace of cake

Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Pandaren Month! Faux Pho

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

I actually had a dream about this last night. No joke. It wasn’t one of those coherent dreams — I was cooking this and then the noodles came to life and ran away and I was really upset because I thought we were friends, ya know? and then the roof came off and I was actually in the Cathedral but there was no roof? You know. Weird dreams that make no sense.

Lately, this has been my favorite dish. Pho is warm, soothing, it’s amazing for when you’re sick or have sore muscles, and with this recipe, it’s really easy to make. Once you try this out, you’ll want this every week.

Sluuuuurp!

Meal of the Week, World of Warcraft

Pandaren Month! Serpent’s Spine Eggrolls

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Action Jaxkol

I think it’s fair to say I stand by everything I make. If I ever plan a dish to share with you guys and it turns out sub-par, I scrap it until I can perfect it.

I honestly thought this was going to be one of those projects. Boy was I wrong.

Eggrolls have always been elusive to me. Crunchy outside, savory inside, deliciously filled, folded like some complex origami. It intimidated me. But when it was suggested that I make them for Pandaren month, I decided to give it my best.

It was not hard. I should not have waited. And everyone needs to try this.

When I made my first batch of 12 (the yield for this recipe), I decided to let them cool while I cleaned up and did the dishes. There was only one other person around at the time, I told them they could try one if they’d liked. Do you want to know how many I got to sample?

One. I had one. And only because I took it in the kitchen with me while I worked. I returned to a very full Alexi and an empty plate. Apparently once he had taken a bite of the first one, he simply couldn’t help himself. I’m a bit cranky about that… Because my reaction was the same. The moment I bit into that crunchy, flavorful goodness, I needed more.

And someone had eaten them all…

sigh