The Witcher Official Cookbook Will Help You Slay Your Monstrous Hunger

As I’ve mentioned before, but I am a big fan of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It is one of my top five favorite video games of all time, and I will never not sing its praises. So when I found out that CD Projekt Red, the company that developed the game, was collaborating on an official Witcher cookbook, I was beyond excited. A book combining cooking and geekery? Perfect. Take my money.

The Witcher Official Cookbook: Provisions, Fare, and Culinary Tales from Travels across the Continent was published in the US in November 2023 by Ten Speed Press. It is gorgeous. Boasting over 70 recipes, a foreword by Andrzej Sapkowski, and full-color photographs showcasing both the food and the general vibe of The Witcher (seriously, the sets they created for these photos are just wow!), the cookbook is not just a feast for the stomach but also for the eyes. The introductions to the recipes are written from the perspective of a traveler visiting different areas and locations within the world of The Witcher. As an additional fun touch, all the recipes from Kaer Morhen, the Wolf Witcher School, have annotations as if someone were editing and commenting on the recipes. I love this kind of thing and I totally ate it up (pun fully intended).

An easy recipe, the Redanian Fish Stew tasted amazing.

The recipes in The Witcher Official Cookbook are all heavily inspired by foods that appear in the video games and the books, which are in turn inspired by foods from various areas of Europe. They are mostly pretty rustic, folk-y types of recipes, so they are fairly easy to make, but they might also take some time. I will also note that there are a number of ingredients that might be hard for some folks to find (juniper berries are one, although I found some at a nearby Hy-Vee). In any case, the recipes included in this book were well chosen and fit the intention and the story of the cookbook.

I picked four recipes to try for this review: Redanian Fish Stew, Kaer Trolde Ham and Apple Sandwiches, Tretogor Cabbage Rolls, and Corvo Bianco Lemonade.

Redanian Fish Stew: This was a super easy recipe, fairly quick, and it turned out great! I was actually a little surprised how flavorful it was because of how simple it seemed. We made it with salmon, but I wonder how it would be with some good old Minnesotan walleye.

Kaer Trolde Ham and Apple Sandwiches: These were pretty involved for sandwiches, but they tasted great. If you have some time and don’t mind a bit of effort, they are worth it. I’ve had apple and cheese sandwiches before, but I really liked how this recipe has you sauté the apple slices first; it made eating the sandwich a bit easier.

We served our Tretogor Cabbage Rolls with cherry pierogis.

Tretogor Cabbage Rolls: I love cabbage rolls, though I still haven’t managed to crack the family recipe (“There is no recipe—I just make them!” doesn’t help, Grandma!). I did really like this recipe; I might try to add some herbs or spices next time. Cabbage rolls are a process, so be warned! It took us nearly three hours to make them. If you have the time, they’re worth it!

Corvo Bianco Lemonade: There are a few beverage recipes in the cookbook (some alcoholic, others not), so I decided to try one. Sparkling juice was on sale after New Year’s, so I actually made this with a bottle of sparkling white grape juice. The added bit of fizz was very pleasant. I have a problem with lemonade being too sweet sometimes, and feeling too sticky to be refreshing, but since this is mix of grape and lemon juice you don’t really need to add extra sugar. It’s perfect.

All four of the recipes we tried were amazing, and I have a bunch more marked to try for later. Overall, I think this cookbook is fantastic. Not only does it contain really good food, it is also beautiful and a fun little dip into the world of The Witcher. I highly recommend it for any geeks who like cooking.

Have you tried out any recipes from The Witcher Official Cookbook? Do you have any recommendations for other geeky cookery? Go ahead and add a comment below, and good luck on the Path!