now to my fave minecraft worldbuilding topic

what can you cook? what's edible? what's possible with enough imagination?

I'd like to start with things that are present in-game (vanilla), first, the foods and drinks (ingredients too), having a loaf of bread with a nice mushroom stew seasoned with dandelions for breakfast is an option taken straight from the game

now let's say that I take the apples, wheat, milk, sugar and eggs to make an apple pie, that isn't in the game, but it's something possible to craft

in an extend things like salt can exist because the presence of sea water, same as things like bacon (pigs), cheese (milk) and so on

what if I throw the existing leaves in hot water to make tea?

or since all the dyes have an organic source can I make a rainbow cake?

how you cook things must be important too I imagine, maybe steak cooked in the smoker tastes way better than cooked with a fire aspect sword

re-reading Kabu atm and im like damn... that sounds like some good soup.... so here I am to ask if you have any soup recipe recommendations!

I feel like my toxic trait might be taking this at face value, even though I know Itachi poisons himself and eats dirt in Kabu LMAO.

Here are my soup suggestions, although I am not sure what quantities or temperatures I really use since I'm more of a home cook than a person who meticulously documents these things. There's lots of other soups to make as well. This is just what I cook at home.

roast pumpkin, garlic and onions until they're soft and then get the flesh from the skins of these veggies and process them with just enough water til they're smooth and then put it on a saucepan and add cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. then you can just heat it through on the stove so everything's the right temperature to eat.

roasting a bunch of tomatoes and garlic (keep the skin on) in the oven and then adding vegetable stock and a little cream and pureeing it on the stove top. you can add chillies to this and it works well also

chop up some brown onion, cloves of garlic, carrot(s) and celery, put them in a big pot and cook them on low with some butter and pancetta or bacon, ideally not the smoked kind. Cover it with stock and a tin of tomatoes. Add some other vegetables you like at a time relative to how long they need to cook (eg., potatoes must be earlier, but zucchini later, you know) add beans—tinned beans can go in late, dried need to go in early. I think most people serve this with conchiglie pasta, the one in shell shapes. but like. sky's the limit. use macaroni or risoni, what does it matter. if you have coeliac disease use rice.

basically any combination of onion, garlic, carrots and celery cut up very finely and cooked very low in oil or butter for a while will make a good base for. soup. bolognaise. you know. I do this often and then the next step is "add stuff I like" and "cook it until it's cooked".

onion, garlic and bacon also a great soup base. you can saute this in fats like rice bran oil or butter (or use the fat rendered from the bacon) and then just add stock, tinned pureed tomatoes and a heap of chilli and cook it down until it is thick and eat it with cheese. although. this isn't like. health food.

yesterday evening I had leek, carrot, potato, garlic and parsnip soup with lots of black pepper. you have to wash leeks after you cut them up instead of before, sometimes, to get all the dirt out of the layers. you can just saute them, add everything else, add water and a stock cube and puree this too (when everything is tender, obviously). This is a very mild soup, though. If you think potato and leek soup tastes like nothing you won't like this either.

more pureed soup: try 2 carrot, 1 leek and 1 medium potato with a lot of fresh ginger and chicken stock. The carrots are sweet so it has a nice ginger-sweet taste

I like to make sliced red onion, birds eye chillies (or similar medium-hot ones, I guess—habaneros work too), rice noodles, roughly chopped coriander leaves and 2 baby pak choy (like leeks, you have to make sure these are well cleaned because dirt gets between the leafy layers) with a broth that's 1:1 stock (any stock) and water + dash of fish sauce, little bit of vinegar, some sliced ginger. you can add rice noodles and a poached egg.

if you have a tin of coconut milk you can add some of that to the soup above with some lime zest instead of vinegar. the fish sauce kind of subs in for shrimp paste you'd usually use in that kind of coconutty soup. you need to taste it to make sure the coconut/savoury/chilli/acid is working in your favour though.

cook off some diced onion, garlic, carrot and celery in oil at very low heat with some stirring to make sure it won't catch on the bottom, then add a lamb shank, some bay leaves, 2 large potatoes cut into roughly even chunks, and a tin of tomatoes, cover all with water, salt to taste, cover pot and simmer on low until the meat falls off the bone (hours). potato chunks need to be large enough to retain some integrity by the time the meat is done, so if they're smaller or you like smaller chunks add them later. make sure you fish the bony bits and the bay leaves out before you eat it though. you can do this with cheaper, tougher cuts of other red meat that need long cooking. if they don't have the bones and joints in you can add stock

this takes ages, but if you have a slow cooker and a roast chicken or bony bits of a roast you've carved the meat off you can just add veggies for flavour, like, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, parsley, peppercorns or whatever other herbs you personally like, cover with water, salt, and leave it covered and plugged in while you're at work or something (obviously don't do this with your oven or a burner if you're going to be out. but that's what slow cookers are good for i guess) and then when you come back you can strain everything out with a colander and have litres your own very good broth for adding to everything so you can just slice up whatever vegetables you like and make whatever fast soup going forward. It freezes well for a few months. It's good value for getting the most out of the meats you eat, if you eat them. you can get something like this out, bring it to a boil, add thinly sliced vegetables and rice noodles and have dinner on the table in like 10 minutes.

I like going to the supermarket and seeing what pre-sliced vegetables they give you in packages. I struggle managing energy. There's a package of finely cut up veggies that my local supermarket stocks. It's 400g carrot, celery, leek, turnip, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower and parsley. If you rinse it, dump it in a pot, cover it with water, add a stock cube and then bring it to a boil before lowering it to a simmer for, like, 10–15 minutes, you can use a stick blender and add pepper and it's easy and you didn't have to think about anything. adding cream or a chopped potato will make it more filling.

laziest option that still feels like cooking: miso paste, simmering water, rice noodles, fresh chopped chilli. I'm sure it's not how you're meant to use miso paste but they sell it to me at the grocery store anyway.