Revisiting Rations, Part 8: Orc

Revisiting Rations, Part 8:  Orc

Did you miss me?  I missed you!  Sorry about the lack of an update last week--between an illness (everyone is fine) and a car accident (everyone is fine), I really didn't have the time or the energy to get around to doing some fun cooking.

Oh!  And I got a new phone as well, so hopefully the pictures look better.

So, this little ration is focusing on those befanged greenskins themselves.  It's important to realize that Orcs, like every other species, need a functioning society to be able to survive.  They can't always be raiding and eating the dead, or else they would have been wiped out a long time ago.  Therefore, I have created a ration that, I think, meets them pretty well.

My inspiration here was to take Texas barbecue and give it a little Indian spin.  Orcs seem like the type to enjoy spicy food, and this is no exception.  Plus, in any sort of warrior society, those too old or injured to fight would, of course, be in charge of cooking.  Orcs love smoked pork, potatoes, rice, and cabbage--all easy to prepare and farm and capable of providing nutrition and (most importantly) calories.

This ration consists of a smoked pork tenderloin with loquat barbecue sauce over safflower-seasoned fried rice, a curried potato salad with cilantro-lime dressing, spinach and cabbage slaw with paneer, blackberry gulab jamun, and beer.

Smoked Pork Loin with Loquat Sauce

Orc Pitmasters have been passing down recipes for generations.  This particular tenderloin was first marinated with papaya and garam masala to tenderize the meat, then it was smoked over mesquite wood for about 6 hours, basting every 90 minutes with a sauce made of pureed loquats, hot peppers, paprika, and more traditional barbecue seasonings.  It's firey and a little sticky and smoked well through.  The fried rice is simple--just old rice fried in butter with safflower and a little garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.

I should mention that there is a loquat tree nearby, so I figured why not use them for something?  It provides a slightly exotic taste here, but you could easily use a standard spicy barbecue sauce.

Curried Potato Salad

Ask any Texan and they'll tell you that barbecue requires potato salad.  This is a little spin on that.  Potatoes are an easy crop to grow, don't require good soil, and, once harvested, will last a long time.  Perfect for Orcs.  Here, they are paired up with some carrots and peas, then sauteed with your typical curry spices until they're nice and tender.  Cilantro and mint was blended with lime juice and a little olive oil to dress the salad.

Yes, Orcs eat salad sometimes.

Slaw with Paneer

Another simple and hardy crop is the humble cabbage.  I've added some spinach for additional nutrition, then made a simple dressing of some mayonnaise, curry powder, safflower, and homemade paneer, plus a little bit extra vinegar for acidity.  It's nice and crunchy and I'm sure the Orcs would enjoy the side effects of a diet high in cabbage.  Hur, hur, hur...

Blackberry Gulab Jamun

This is going to take a bit of introduction.  Gulab jamun is a traditional Indian dessert which bears a lot of similarities to a donut hole, but is very different.  It is made predominantly from milk solids, which you get from boiling milk down over several hours, then rolled into balls and deep-fried.  Sounds like a perfect thing for a Pitmaster to have going while they're preparing the meat.  After the little balls are fried, they are dunked in a syrup containing rosewater and spices.  Here, we have elected to remove the spices and substitute in blackberry, as blackberry cobbler is a very common dessert had with barbecue.

I didn't take a picture of the beer.  Really, that mug doesn't lend itself to photographing due to the black interior.  It's beer.  It's good for you!

How Long Will it Last?

If stored in the syrup, gulab jamun will last for quite a while, and the pork is heavily smoked and should last for the weekend easily.  The acidity of the potato salad likewise means it's going to be fine for a weekend event.  Here, the issue is the slaw, but if you can pack it in an airtight container, you'll be fine.  If not, eat it first, because I wouldn't trust mayonnaise and fresh cheese to last more than a day or so at room temperature.  Still, that's not bad for an "on the go" meal.