A Taste of Zzoup

Fallen London
1

Some time ago, in Fallen London, I recall coming across the recipe for Zzoup, though I cannot recall precisely where. It is given simply as:

With a bit of tinkering, I have now replicated this dish, as below:

A Recipe for Zzoup:
(Serves 2-3)

3x Medium Onions
1tbsp Butter
1tsp Sea Salt
1tsp Paprika
1tsp Rose Water
1tbsp Plain Flour
1 litre / 1.5 pints Pork Stock
250g / 9oz Dried Porcini Mushrooms
Dried Rose Petals (to garnish)

Prepare your mushrooms for cooking by reconstituting them in a bowl of boiling water. Simply add the mushrooms to the bowl and pour over water until covered (they will probably float, so fill the bowl to about 2/3 full. Should be around 400ml / 2 cups of water). Cover the bowl and leave the mushrooms for 20-30 minutes. After this time, drain the mushrooms (to avoid sediment it is better to remove the mushrooms from the now brown water, instead of directly draining the bowl) and set aside.

Chop the onions and add them to a casserole dish or other deep vessel with a fitting lid with the butter. Stir together and cover with the lid, then ‘sweat’ the onions for 15-20 minutes on a low heat. This will help break them down and soften them.

When softened, remove the lid and stir in the paprika, rose water, salt and flour. Pour over the pork stock (I used Knorr pork stock cubes as pork is a difficult stock to find in most supermarkets, at least in the UK), add the mushrooms and stir together.

Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat back to low. Cover with the lid and leave the soup simmering for 30 minutes.

Once simmered, you may wish to blend the solid elements of the soup or serve as is (I blended it). To blend; simply remove the onions and mushrooms with a slotted spoon and blend in a blender until a consistent paste is formed. Pour the paste back into the soup pot and scrape out the remainder from the jug or vessel. Stir together until the mixture is homogeneous.

If you desire, serve garnished with rose petals.


I found the taste to be mostly smoky, but quite filling.  While hot, the strongest flavours are the pork and mushrooms, and the overall impression of taste is quite salty.  As the soup cools, the subtler taste of the rose water begins to become apparent.
[i]edited by Armand D'Alterac on 12/30/2016[/i]
2

Oh yes, I used Porcini instead of Chanterelle simply because they’re easier to get hold of and have a very strong, earthy taste to them. The results would probably be subtly different with Chanterelle mushrooms.

3

Mmm, this looks really good. Any suggestions on what to serve with zzoup?

4

Wow, it’s so cool you recreated a recipe from the game! And I like your idea of blending the solid ingredients because, while I like the taste, I dislike the texture of both mushrooms and onions. Blending them would totally solve that problem. And I must say that your recipe looks far tastier than the in-game text for the can of Zzoup implies :P

5

Well, there’s always fried bats. (Picture’s hidden because it’s a bit. Gross.)

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Otherwise, a good, hearty bread always goes well with soup. Perhaps something wholegrain.
edited by Armand D’Alterac on 12/30/2016

6

Bravo! That sounds oddly intriguing, rose is not normally a flavor I associate with heat – though earthy goes with both heat and rose in my palate.

7

Interesting little recipe. I might try it sometime.

1 Thing I would recommend differently though: Add in the rosewater at around 10-5 minutes before the soup is finished. It only needs to be heated up and slightly meshed with the soup’s flavor. Like with any herb, the flavor is delicate and is lost if cooked too long.
edited by Addis Rook on 12/31/2016

8

I recommend Smoked Paprika for that touch of brimstone, if you can get your hands on them.

9

Glorious zzoup! So my engineer’s mate’s complaint about it tasting of sulfur is unfounded? I guess he’s been spending too much time with his head stuck in a vent-pipe. Either that or he’s fermenting bootleg mushroom-wine in the back of the hold.

It’s even the very exact same color as it appears on its icon in Sunless Sea! Brilliant! I wonder if the recipe is based on something a member of the Failbetter team has actually eaten or made. I’ll have to note that question down for the next dev stream.

[quote=Armand D’Alterac]Well, there’s always fried bats. (Picture’s hidden because it’s a bit. Gross.)[/quote]I dunno, I think it’d need to be something more substantial. Zee-bat always leaves me a bit… peckish…

10

[quote=Armand D’Alterac]Some time ago, in Fallen London, I recall coming across the recipe for Zzoup, though I cannot recall precisely where. It is given simply as:

With a bit of tinkering, I have now replicated this dish, as below:

A Recipe for Zzoup:
(Serves 2-3)

3x Medium Onions
1tbsp Butter
1tsp Sea Salt
1tsp Paprika
1tsp Rose Water
1tbsp Plain Flour
1 litre / 1.5 pints Pork Stock
250g / 9oz Dried Porcini Mushrooms
Dried Rose Petals (to garnish)

Prepare your mushrooms for cooking by reconstituting them in a bowl of boiling water. Simply add the mushrooms to the bowl and pour over water until covered (they will probably float, so fill the bowl to about 2/3 full. Should be around 400ml / 2 cups of water). Cover the bowl and leave the mushrooms for 20-30 minutes. After this time, drain the mushrooms (to avoid sediment it is better to remove the mushrooms from the now brown water, instead of directly draining the bowl) and set aside.

Chop the onions and add them to a casserole dish or other deep vessel with a fitting lid with the butter. Stir together and cover with the lid, then ‘sweat’ the onions for 15-20 minutes on a low heat. This will help break them down and soften them.

When softened, remove the lid and stir in the paprika, rose water, salt and flour. Pour over the pork stock (I used Knorr pork stock cubes as pork is a difficult stock to find in most supermarkets, at least in the UK), add the mushrooms and stir together.

Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat back to low. Cover with the lid and leave the soup simmering for 30 minutes.

Once simmered, you may wish to blend the solid elements of the soup or serve as is (I blended it). To blend; simply remove the onions and mushrooms with a slotted spoon and blend in a blender until a consistent paste is formed. Pour the paste back into the soup pot and scrape out the remainder from the jug or vessel. Stir together until the mixture is homogeneous.

If you desire, serve garnished with rose petals.


I found the taste to be mostly smoky, but quite filling.  While hot, the strongest flavours are the pork and mushrooms, and the overall impression of taste is quite salty.  As the soup cools, the subtler taste of the rose water begins to become apparent.
[i]edited by Armand D'Alterac on 12/30/2016[/i][/quote]

Well done!

Pork stock is difficult to find in US markets also, at least near me (I live within 25 miles of Philadelphia).
11

You’d need something to cut the sweetness and the fattiness, I would imagine, if you were making it yourself. No carrots but herbs like sage maybe or rosemary and definitely wine.

12

I don’t see any tears of a hanged man used in this recipe. Clearly, you were not serious in recreating this dish.

I will strive to recreate the recipe with the clearly vital missing ingredient upon finding an (un)willing source.
edited by Blaine Davidson on 3/9/2017

13

[quote=Blaine Davidson]I don’t see any tears of a hanged man used in this recipe. Clearly, you were not serious in recreating this dish.

I will strive to recreate the recipe with the clearly vital missing ingredient upon finding an (un)willing source.
edited by Blaine Davidson on 3/9/2017[/quote]

Redaction of recipes, particularly foreign and historical ones, is a difficult business at best. Proportions often must be guessed at, substitutions made. M. D’Alterac apparently felt that, as salt was present, the extra bit provided by tears would not be missed. However, M. Davidson, I would relish seeing another redaction of this most infamous recipe. By all means, try to devise a more faithful version!
edited by cathyr19355 on 3/9/2017

14

This website says that chanterelles are seasonal mushrooms and quite special in taste; &quotReally fresh chanterelles smell like apricots, sweet, nutty, and a little peppery.&quot Chowhound

They are supposedly available from farmers’ markets and the like.

This web discussion claims that porcini mushrooms are not a bad substitute if you can’t get chanterelles, however. Chowhound

A hanged man’s tears will be hard to come by, since even in the U.S. where capital punishment is still practiced it is done privately and not by hanging. Perhaps the intrepid cook should substitute his/her own tears, obtained via the use of some of the onions previously mentioned.
edited by cathyr19355 on 3/9/2017

15

Porcini and chanterelles are very different and not to be confused. Porcini have a very meaty taste and combine very well with other ingredients. Chanterelles are best cooked alone; they have a pretty strong and very distinctive taste.
Both are available at Borough Market in London – now where would that be in the Neath?
edited by Meradine Heidenreich on 3/10/2017

16

I think the Bazaar landed on it.

Actually, since Failbetter’s offices are about five minutes away from the aforementioned market, the Bazaar is probably on top of that location as well…