If you’re looking to dominate the food chain in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, then you’re going to need to impress a multitude of people and creatures alike. But if we’re talking in a literal sense, there is only one inhabitant in Seliana that you really need to please: Grammeowster Chef. The babushka-wearing resident Felyne cook is in charge of all your meals with her team of adorable helpers. The mentor to Meowscular Chef, she has come out of retirement just to help out in Hoarfrost Reach — filling up many a hunter’s belly with warm stews, crusty bread, and quite a bit of alcohol.
The food in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne gives stats aplenty, but gone is the gym-rat mantra of Mewoscular Chef. No, here it’s about eating up so you’ll be nice and strong and have a good night’s rest. Those are Grammeowster Chef’s orders (or well, it’s implied, she’s a grandmother after all). The food in Seliana is robust and hearty, the sort of stick-to-your-ribs meals that come in handy when climbing mountains and battling monsters in the snow.
If you’re looking to re-create the dish that this darling grandmother cooks up in the cutscene, well, you’re in luck. While there is a Monster Hunter cookbook, it’s only in Japanese, and it was published before the DLC. Thankfully I am not totally hopeless in the kitchen, and have thus devised recipes to cook up a seriously delicious meal.
From watching the cutscene about 74 times and examining the ingredients in the game itself, I’ve devised a meal containing the following: pot roast, potato au gratin, cream of mushroom soup, sausages, cheese, bread, and ale.
Grammeowster’s Roast
- 3 lb chuck roast
- 3 large carrots cut into large chunks
- 3 red potatoes, halved
- Large onion, chopped into large chunks
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 head of broccoli cut into florets
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 ½ cups of red wine
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Sprig of rosemary
- A lot of salt and pepper
The roast is the star of this dish, and the first thing you’ll want to do is massage salt and pepper into it tenderly. Look, Grammeowster did it, and we must follow the master. After you’ve done that, sear the sucker on all sides in a dutch oven. Three to five minutes on each side, depending on the size of your roast, will do it. Remove roast and saute the garlic for a hot second before deglazing the pan with the beef broth and then the wine. Plop the roast back in and add your vegetables except for the broccoli. Pour the Worcestershire sauce over top of the roast and add the rosemary. Cover and pop in a 350 degree oven for three hours. Add the broccoli for the last 20 minutes.
The roast is the most time consuming part of this meal, but the gratin will take awhile as well. Despite the fancy-sounding name, potato au gratin isn’t anything particularly revolutionary. It’s thinly sliced potatoes layered with a cream, butter, and cheese. Also sprinkle in some finely chopped rosemary on each layer. Repeat until you fill up your casserole dish nearly to the top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour and 15 minutes covered with foil. When finished, take off the foil and then add a copious amount of cheese of your choice. Place back in the oven for 15 minutes, or turn on the broiler and watch it bubble. Do not get sprayed in the face like the Palicos. Pro tip: Use a mandolin for the potatoes, or patience and a knife — but really, just use a mandolin.
The Chef’s Choice recipe in Iceborne calls for an Exquisite Shroomcap, and so I used that as inspiration for the soup. From the cutscene it simply looks like a cream-based soup, and thus, cream of mushroom soup. Because Monster Hunter is fantasy-esque, I opted for a Medieval recipe. The Cream of Mushroom soup recipe from The Medieval Vegetarian worked quite well, yielding a creamy, yet earthy and filling dish. However, instead of dried basil, I used rosemary to tie it in with the roast and gratin [Editor’s Note: This recipe appears to have been removed].
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For the two alarmingly large sausage links in the dish, look for something smoked — or else smoke it yourself — to give it that cooked-in-a-hearth flavor. Grilling it will also do this. I opted for turkey sausage, which was a mistake as they just tasted too healthy. Go with pork. Don’t be me.
For cheeses, there are two options. Gruyère would be delicious with a fresh baguette, and would be perfect for a cold winter’s night. Brie is also a nice choice, though based on the cutscene, it seems that Grammeowster went with a hard cheese.
If you’ve timed everything correctly, things will be coming out all at once, so be prepared. The roast should fall away because it’s so succulent and soft, and all the vegetables cooked until fork tender. With the gratin bubbling, the soup wafting, and cheese and bread awaiting your attack, there’s just the drink to deal with. Choose an ale that will have a creamy foamy top, or just pour it really badly to get that effect.
Whatever you choose, you’ve made a very pretty spread of food that Grammeowster would be proud of. The cheese should stretch and be ooey gooey (the technical term), and the roast will be so satisfying your XP will get one hell of a boost. More than anything, however, it’s fun to try and recreate food that only the characters you play get a chance at eating. It just all looks so good. Thankfully, it tastes good in real life too.
Now go hunt some monsters.
