Feature: Serving Up Aloy of Food with the Official Horizon Cookbook

There's a surprising number of cookbooks based on popular video games. Drawing inspiration from some of the biggest and best series in the medium, these instructional tomes extend their world-building into reality. These 4D experiences can transport your tastebuds to the frosty Norse landscapes of God of War, Stardew Valley's sleepy village lifestyle, and even the (less appetising) radioactive wastes of Fallout.

Today, though, we're putting the focus on Guerrilla Games' post-post apocalyptic action RPG, Horizon. The official cookbook — Tastes of the Seven Tribes, by Victoria Rosenthal and Rick Barba — is available now, and I'm here to tell you about it, but also to put it through its paces.

Yes, I'm bringing you along as I attempt to make a handful of recipes from the book. While I can't show you everything (the cookbook contains 65 food and drink recipes), I've picked out a few that appeal to me and that I thought would be fun to tackle. Before we get to the making, though, let's talk about the book itself.

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The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes

The first thing to say about Tastes of the Seven Tribes is that, while it is first and foremost a cookbook, it also tells the tale of the Oseram chef, Milduf Boarbroiler. Fans may recall this character from Horizon Forbidden West, working in the tavern in Chainscrape. Framed as a sort of journal, the book chronicles Milduf's travels, the simple premise being that he visits each of the world's tribes to sample their different cuisines.

It's a clever way to structure the cookbook, too; sections represent a handful of recipes from each of the clans, and the collections do all somewhat stand apart from one another. The seafaring Quen rely heavily on seafood, as you might imagine; the Utaru people cook up a range of vegetarian dishes, with tofu (sorry, beanweed) being the main protein; and it's big, hearty, meaty meals for the Oseram.

Flavour text (no pun intended) accompanies each recipe, again giving you a bit of backstory on Milduf's situation as he traverses the land. It's a nice touch that, even if you never make a single meal from the book, fans are getting a little more Horizon lore to chew on (pun intended). It should also be noted that nearly all the recipes included are consumable items found within the games, allowing you to make manifest many of the meals Aloy can eat in Forbidden West.

The whole thing is very nicely presented, too. The hardcover cookbook is full of attractive photography and original artwork, and each recipe is laid out clearly. A difficulty indicator and other key info (yield, cooking time, dietary information, etc.) can help you decide what to make at a glance, as well.

All in all, then, the book itself is a great item for Horizon die-hards, with its culinary lore that further fleshes out each tribe. It comes down to the recipes themselves, then. Again, it'd be nice to try them all, but Milduf I am not, so we'll just be exploring a few here.

Beanweed Bites (Utaru)

This was the simplest of the recipes I chose to follow, and that's no real surprise. As mentioned in the book, the Utaru people typically serve up sharing platters with many dishes, and Beanweed Bites is just one of those. Essentially, this is fried tofu tossed with garlic and a punchy mix of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (sadly I couldn't find this), various spices, and rice vinegar.

I'm usually not a huge fan of tofu, but these bite-sized pieces with their flavoursome coating are tasty little morsels. Obviously this should be served with other things, perhaps in a stir-fry, but it more or less works as a standalone snack too.

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• Would I Make This Again? Yes, but as part of a larger meal
  

Fireclaw Stew (Lowland Clan)

As the name suggests, this is a spicy dish. More of a chilli than a stew to my mind, I had little trouble putting this together, but realised my tolerance for heat may be lower than that of this cookbook's contributors. Even putting in a little less chilli powder than the recipe calls for, and substituting the peppers for less potent ones, this ended up a fraction too hot for my taste.

Leaving that aside, though, this is a very flavourful, hearty main course. The spice blend, which includes paprika, cumin, oregano, and cocoa powder to name a few, lends this lamb stew a powerful punch. To combat the heat, I topped it off with a generous helping of sour cream. I think if I was going to make this again, I'd throw in a few extra veggies and some water to thin it out a bit, but I'd call this a success, all things considered.

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• Would I Make This Again? Yes, with some small adjustments

Honeyloaf (Lowland Clan)

Suggested in the book as a perfect side dish to Fireclaw Stew, I couldn't not make this too. Interestingly enough, this is not a food item found in the games, though it is hinted at via the in-game description for the aforementioned stew. Anyway, this ends up feeling more like a cake than a bread, but its use of cornmeal (I swapped it for polenta) means there's a crunch to its texture.

This is a tasty, slightly sweet counterpart to the powerful Fireclaw Stew, good for dipping and mopping up the sauce. It did feel a little odd to be eating what's essentially a cake alongside a savoury meal, but it actually works pretty nicely. It's not tough to make, though does call for a cast iron skillet in the book. As I didn't have this, I used a circular cake tin lined with parchment paper, which got the job done just fine.

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• Would I Make This Again? Maybe

Meat in the Middle (Oseram)

These sausage rolls are excellent. Using lamb instead of pork, the filling is packed with various herbs and spices, as well as fried shallots and garlic. Combining all of that is straightforward, but forming it into two long cylinders to chill in the fridge was a fiddly process. It wasn't much less fiddly wrapping it in the pastry, but I just about managed it without any real mishaps. After some time in the freezer, you then cut your sausage rolls to shape, brush with egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake.

These were definitely worth making; they came out wonderfully and are super tasty hot or cold. It's not something I'd look to make too often, but if ever I need to answer the call for homemade sausage rolls again, Meat in the Middle is a great recipe.

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• Would I Make This Again? Yes

Mesa Bread (Carja)

This one's definitely for me; not only do I have a big sweet tooth, I also wanted to try my hand at making bread of some kind. The book calls for a stand mixer with a dough hook, but this isn't necessary at all; I was able to create the dough well enough the manual way. I'll say, though, that the dough is very sticky. If I did this again I'd be tempted to put a little more flour in the mix, and make sure my work surface is generously floured up to stop it all from clinging to everything.

Despite the initial stickiness, though, I was very pleased with how it turned out. I didn't quite have the right-sized baking dish for this, so had to use one that was a bit oversized. However, the buns really ballooned up in the oven and filled most of the tray, so it worked out pretty well in the end. The resulting buns are delicious, albeit very sweet. If you like cinnamon, caramel, or both (i.e. me), this treat is well worth the effort.

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• Would I Make This Again? Yes

Stamina Potion

One of the book's beverage recipes is Stamina Potion — a sweet, caffeinated beverage served hot. Making this wasn't particularly difficult, but it was time-consuming; the first step is to make a passion fruit syrup by combining sugar, water, and passion fruit pulp, then leaving it for at least 12 hours. Separating the pulp from all the seeds is certainly a fiddly business.

Still, once it's done, that's most of the work complete. The next day, you put some syrup in a teapot with gyokuro tea leaves (I settled for regular green tea), goji berries (I swapped in dried cherries), orange slices, and hot water. The resulting brew is a mellow, fruity drink that I could certainly see myself having again.

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• Would I Make This Again? Yes

Fire Resist Potion

Unlike the Stamina Potion, Fire Resist Potion is a concoction served cold, and it's quite a lengthy process to get there. It begins in familiar territory by making a syrup, this time using orange peel and juice, mint, and cardamom. Instead of juicing the oranges then adding the peel to the pan, I peeled the oranges, ate the fruit, then had to juice two more. A little wasteful on my part, but at least I got in a healthy snack.

Anyway, once the syrup is done, which takes about an hour itself, you need to add it to a jug along with some strong Earl Grey tea. Once it's cold, you then refrigerate it overnight and serve with ice and orange slices. This fruity iced tea is a little overly sweet but very refreshing, and would be perfect as a pool-side cooler.

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• Would I Make This Again? Maybe, just less sweet

So, what did I learn after taking the Official Horizon Cookbook for a spin? Well, firstly, I'll say that I enjoyed making and consuming all the recipes I tried. Assuming the remaining ones are consistent with that, you're looking at a genuinely good cookbook worthy of a place in your kitchen.

Secondly, despite the good results, trying to make all this over the course of one weekend was a mistake. It was simply too much to tackle, and I should've spread it out more. In my defence, I never expected I'd be reviewing a cookbook on a video game website (how foolish of me), so didn't have any best practices in place. I am very weary, and want to eat the remaining 11 Mesa Bread rolls one after the other.

Thirdly, this experience has me curious to see video game cookbooks for titles that don't prominently feature food. We all know Elena's a pasta whizz, but what else are the Drakes eating in Uncharted? What are WipEout fanatics chowing down on while they watch their favourite motorsport? What's on the menu between bouts in Tekken's King of Iron Fist tournament?

This was a really fun experiment — I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it. I'm now stuffed full of sausage rolls and tofu bites, and feeling just that little step closer to Horizon. If this is the sort of thing Milduf is preparing on a daily basis, maybe I'll take up residence in Chainscrape and help him deal with the leftovers.

Thanks to Insight Editions for sending us a copy of The Official Horizon Cookbook: Tastes of the Seven Tribes. The book is available to purchase now. Will you be cooking up any Horizon meals yourselves? Have you used any other video game cookbooks? Simmer away in the comments section below.