“Although Knallzog and the Hassid Caliphate built their cities above ground, unlike the Kingdom Down Under, the dwarven inhabitants of said nations still adhered to their traditional roots in many other ways. One of those ways was the use of underground cultivation and animal husbandry to supplement their diet. This plays quite a big role especially in regions where the soil quality at the topside was on the poor side, and the locals had to get their food through other means.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainswrought, Professor of Socioeconomy at the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 512 FP.
After the interesting dish with the egg was finished – even the young prince polished his portion off and had a small cup of the liquor, which was nothing strange as dwarven children were raised on ale since infancy – a pair of servants brought in the main course. The food was set on a long platter set on their shoulders, and Aideen saw why it needed two dwarves to transport.
Set atop the large, long stone platter was a whole Ground Wyrm, which looked as if it had been roasted whole. The Ground Wyrm was a worm-like creature with hard scales, no eyes, and toothy, circular mouths. They were underground predators and typically subsisted on any animal that strayed into their territory, be it above or under the ground. Once dwarves moved in, however, the predators quickly found themselves the prey instead.
The creatures were not commonly seen on the dinner table amongst the other races as it was difficult to capture them, but since the dwarves always expanded underground, it was inevitable for them to run into the creatures during their expansions. While they were at it, they caught the creatures and some even raised them in underground ranches where the wyrms were fattened up for their meat.
From the size and girth of the specimen on the plate, which was around two meters long and nearly as thick around as Aideen’s waist, she guessed it to be a wild-caught wyrm rather than a ranched one. Ranched wyrms tended to have more bloated, shorter figures since they were raised in captivity and never had to work for their meals.
For that reason their meat were fattier but less flavorful compared to the priced wild-caught specimens, and of course the king’s table would have nothing but the best in cases like these.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The chef from before took out a pair of knives that looked more like machetes and skillfully removed the hard scales from the wyrm’s skin. Once the beast had been descaled, the chef then used the knives to slice large ring-shaped portions of the beast’s cooked flesh and plated them, with a generous ladle of a creamy mushroom sauce poured over it.
Since the king invited them to enjoy the dish, Aideen’s group did not hesitate and cut into the cooked flesh of the wyrm with their knives, slicing out a bite-sized portion that they brought to their mouths.
When they bit into it, the wyrm flesh was quite unlike most things they had eaten before. The skin had a nearly rubbery texture to it, but once bitten through easily crumbled to further chewing, while the flesh inside had a texture more akin to cartilage, yet with a savory, earthy flavor to it. Together they made for a pleasant melange of textures and flavor in the mouth, which was further enriched by the mushroom sauce, full of more earthy flavors from the mushrooms it contained.
It was a chewy, crunchy yet meaty and savory experience, quite different from any meat they had eaten before. Even the ranched wyrms couldn’t compare, as those had softer, less textured meat and skin that was more akin to cowhide than the wild-caught ones, with far less noticeable flavor profile to the meat itself.
To say that it differed greatly from many human cuisines was a no-brainer, as in most human cooking meat was cooked until it was tender and easy to eat. Dwarves were notorious for having stronger jaws and teeth, though, as well as a liking for food that made them feel like they were eating something instead of too-soft ones, so it was a difference from the base principles itself.
After the main dish the servants then brought out a large bowl of what appeared to be roots and odd-looking fruits, which they mixed together with a dressing that was made out of oil and vinegar before serving. The roots had a clean taste and a crisp texture, while the fruit-like things were closer to raw potato in terms of texture, but had a sweet, earthy flavor to them. The oil and vinegar brought out the natural tastes of the ingredients and helped cleanse their palates before they washed it all down with mugs of strong ale.
Since the king invited her group to stay the night – apparently his Queen wanted to talk more with Aideen the following day – they didn’t reject the invitation and made themselves comfortable in the rooms they were ushered to by the servants. Each of the guest rooms in the mansion could easily house a family of four or more, so the group split into two rooms as usual.
Clearly the guest rooms were also outfitted for non-dwarven guests, as they had soft beds filled with soft feathers that felt like sleeping in clouds, while the pillows were filled with more of the precious down. It was the sort of luxury that dwarves typically didn’t care for, as they favored sleeping on harder beds and pillows, but clearly they took into consideration that none of Aideen’s group were dwarven and adjusted accordingly.
The group had a pleasant, comfortable sleep in the king's mansion under the mountain. Normally one would think that a building set under the mountain like that would be stuffy and uncomfortable, but the dwarves had lived underground for centuries, and good ventilation was one of the first things they built on their underground cities.