~ Seared Wildowart Tail ~
The secluded bogs of northeastern Avaleer hide many flavorful ingredients, including jumberberries and, of course, giant snail’s slime, but denizens of the swamps often say their favorite snack to eat is wildowart tails. A curious name, really. It is tied to a legend from the outskirts of a town named White Fen. The people living there believe that a long time ago, a large monster haunted the surrounding bogs. It would hide its scaly body deep in the muddy waters, leaving only its pointed green tail exposed. An unfortunate passerby would be drawn to the tail’s sweet smell, unaware of what was to come next. The name of this frightening being was Wildowart.
Today, there is no such creature living in the bog puddles, but there are countless examples of its tail hiding in the waters. Wildowart tails are a dark green, slimy plant with a tall, thin body. They have a pointed tip at the top and their skin is somewhat rough. These tails don’t smell sweet like in the legend, and if eaten raw, they have a tough texture with almost no flavor. So how is it that so many Avaleans like to eat them? That, of course, is because they know the secrets to cooking such an interesting ingredient.
The first step is to acquire a stalk to cook. This in itself is the real challenge to this ingredient because it must be as fresh as can be. If you just chop off half a wildowart tail out of the water and let it sit, the sap will drain quickly, the slime of its skin will ooze away, and you will be left with a bland husk. The plant almost grows exclusively in the wild and is incredibly hard to transport, so you must go to the swamps themselves to find one.
Fortunately, once you are in the swamp, wildowart tails are fairly common, so you won’t have to search long – the tip of the plant will often be exposed for you to see. Pick a bog puddle and reach your hands deep into the water (careful not to let the bog trout nibble on your fingers) and dig until you reach the base of the wildowart tail where the roots begin. Using a knife, cut at the roots (they aren’t too thick, so it should be easy) to extract the plant without damaging the stalk. Then, take your bucket, fill it with bog water, and place the wildowart tail inside. This will keep the plant alive until you are ready to cook it.
Now that you have gotten a hold of a wildowart tail (one is more than enough for an adult to eat), the question becomes how to cook it. There are many methods and techniques to do so. You could, for instance, wrap chanter bacon around the plant and smoke it, but that takes far too long to do. I’ve seen others carefully wipe the slime off and mix it with spices to create a sweet and spicy rub for meat. From personal experience, this method works best with red swordfish, but regardless, we are going to focus on the most common and simplest of techniques: searing.
Once you have a fire burning hard, take your wildowart tail out of the bucket and chop off the roots and tip. Then, quickly skewer the plant – do not stab it through the very center of the base, though! You lose too much flavor if you damage its narrow core. Pick a side, skewer the wildowart tail slightly off center, and then hold it over the flames. A metal grill can work too, but the plant sticks hard to the metal, and the final steps of preparation become difficult without the skewer, so skewering is far more effective in the long run.
As the plant cooks, turn it every so often to sear both sides evenly. Your aim is to see the exterior of the wildowart tail burn to a golden brown. The sugars will eventually gleam against the flames and a wonderful sweet oder will begin wafting through the air. Remove the plant at that point then and lance the heated tip of the skewer into the ground (if the blackened tip breaks, you either cooked the plant too long, or you are using very cheap wood). As the seared wildowart tail cools for a short while, its sugary exterior will harden completely and intensify in flavor.
And there you have it. Your seared wildowart tail is finished. Traditionally, you can eat them from the skewer as is, but some cooks will go a step further and dice the seared plant into pieces to serve with other food – do not under any circumstance, though, eat them with pungent mushrooms! The combination of flavors is dreadful, to say the least …
Never mock a bright capIt will be the last thing you see