The Beholder
There are many creatures in the multiverse that inspire fear, but few do so as completely and efficiently as the Beholder. A floating, massive, singular eye, ringed with smaller, malevolent eyes on writhing stalks, the Beholder is as intelligent as it is paranoid, spending its life plotting the destruction of everything it perceives as a threat—which is essentially everything that isn't itself.
But for all their magical prowess and overwhelming egotism, Beholders are, at their core, still biological creatures. They have muscle, they have fat, they have cartilage and bone (or something close to it), and that means—with enough patience and fortitude—they can be eaten.
Of course, the first challenge in eating a Beholder is killing the thing. This is not a creature that goes down easily. Even if you manage to get the drop on it, its disintegration ray is capable of turning a fully armored warrior into fine dust before they can lift a sword. Its telekinetic abilities can hurl you from one side of a cavern to the other. And if, by some miracle, you manage to bring it down? Well, then you have to make extra, extra sure—because Beholders are notoriously difficult to truly kill.
However, for those daring enough to prepare it, the Beholder offers a surprisingly complex and rewarding culinary experience. Many would recoil from the idea of consuming such a terrifying creature, but others believe that a well-prepared Beholder can elevate a chef to the stuff of legends. It's eat or be eaten after all, and sometimes turnabout is fair play.
Butchering and Processing
Butchering a Beholder is an art in itself, given its anatomy is unlike most creatures. When I tell you to chop up a Basilisk, anyone who’s slaughtered enough cows and big lizards can extrapolate what to do, or at least take some good guesses. The Beholder on the other hand is just so...foreign from anything you normally eat that you’ll probably need to make up the butchering process as you go. And worse yet, sometimes the details can wildly differ from one Beholder to another. They’re far from a common quarry, so I doubt you’ll get much practice in the meantime, so do your best with the rare chance you have. That being said, compared to fighting it, butchering it is the easy part.
Its spherical, levitating form presents little in the way of traditional musculature. The bulk of its mass is made up of dense, leathery flesh and its iconic eye stalks of course. But careful attention is needed during the butchering process. At all times, make sure to handle it delicately to preserve the most valuable components - the eyes stalks, eye jelly and the bones.
There are two general types of Beholders, what some Monster Hunters colloquially call either “stone faces” or “flesh bags”, referring to how the body of the Beholder reacts after death. All Beholders seize up after death, like many living things do, but Stone Faces literally harden the entire body into a rock-like texture which you may need a Masonry Kit or a pickaxe to take apart. Flesh Bags on the other hand contain a body of more malleable meat. The skin will still harden into a rugged hide and it is by no means easy to cut up, but at least the meat can be harvested.
While some Monster Hunters swear that they can tell whether a Beholder will be a Stone Face or a Flesh Bag before it dies, we have not yet found any academic proof one way or another, so you’ll need to roll the dice. Sadly, if it turns out to be a Stone Face, there isn’t really any meat to be harvested. You can still hack the stone body apart to acquire the central eye, and harvest each smaller eye from the various stalks, but the rest of the body isn’t good eats.
Instead, let’s discuss the butchering process for Flesh Bags. First, lay the Beholder on a secure, well-prepped surface, ensuring that the spherical form is stabilized. The first step is to remove the stalks. Sever each stalk carefully where it meets the central body, ensuring you don’t damage the attached eye in the process.
Next, the central eye must be harvested. This dense, massive organ is encased in a fragile membrane, filled with a soft, viscous eye jelly that is prized for its ethereal texture and subtle bitterness. Use a sharp blade to cut gently around the base of the central eye and separate the membrane from the leathery skin. Once freed, the eye can be stored for both culinary and alchemical purposes.
Once the central eye is harvested, the tongue can be removed. While not as prized as the eye stalks or central eye, it is a hidden culinary gem. It is coiled within the creature’s maw, and is incredibly long and muscular, similar to cow tongue. Carefully use a sharp blade to cut around the base of the tongue, then peel it away from the connective tissues that attach it to the jaw. Due to its size, it is commonly cut into sections for transport after harvesting.
Once the previous pieces are removed, many adventurers stop there and leave the rest of the body to rot. But I hate waste, so let’s get every bit we can out of the Flesh Bag, even if it takes a little elbow grease. The next step is skinning the creature, which is a gargantuan task of its own. The Beholder’s hide is thick, rubbery, and strangely oily? Its hard to get a solid grip, but the hide is also as strong as steel as many adventurers who have found one can tell you. This hide further hardens upon death, becoming almost brittle. As such, it does not come off in one piece, but instead must be hacked and chipped away. Since we removed the central eye first, your best bet is to start there and move from the eye socket down through the rest of the body. Mason’s Tools are a great help for this task.
Once skinned, the main body of the Flesh Bag is composed of dense muscle tissue, layered with striations of shimmering fat that render down beautifully when cooked. It is important to note that there is not actually much meat on a Beholder. While they are large in size, most of their mass is made up of their eye, tongue, and internal organs. Basically all of the Beholder meat, is face meat, which is firm, slightly elastic, and incredibly rich, requiring long cooking times to tenderize properly. The best cuts include the cheek meat which is incredibly tender when braised, and the crown fat, a layer of marbled, almost buttery fat that renders into an unctuous cooking oil used for deep-frying or fat poaching. Most chefs prefer aging the Beholder’s meat for a few days before cooking, as this helps mellow out some of its more “arcane” flavors, which can be overpoweringly metallic when eaten fresh.
Finally, the Beholder’s bones are invaluable. While they are closer to a network of lightweight cartilage while the monster is alive, they become hard as stone when it dies. While they look to be the same as any other creature’s bones, they are much more porous and easy to pulverize, with hollow divots throughout the bones. These calcified remnants form the creature’s structural frame and can be used in several ways. They are intensely flavorful and make an excellent base for stocks, lending an intense, otherworldly depth of flavor to any dish. Additionally, the bones are often ground into fine powder which can be used for both spices, and alchemical purposes. Some lineages even elect to roast them as is and crunch them into dust, using them as something to chew on over long trips, assuming you get to make a trip back from the Beholder’s lair...
Once the primary components have been harvested, the remainder of the Beholder can be sold to arcane practitioners or preserved for non-culinary or trophy purposes. Every last bit can be put to use if you find the right buyer, and if you spend the time to fell one of these, you deserve the windfall!
Culinary Uses
A creature as utterly alien as the Beholder was never meant to be eaten—at least, not by anything that values its own sanity. Its unnatural physiology, arcane-infused tissues, and complete lack of conventional musculature mean that its flavor is as much a challenge as its preparation. When prepared by an amateur chef, the first bite of Beholder meat is jarring, a maelstrom of flavors, and strange metallic undertones that seem to shift across the palate with every bite.
However, those who have mastered its preparation know that beneath its initial assault on the senses, the Beholder offers one of the most complex and rewarding flavor profiles found in any monster. Each part of its body presents a different culinary challenge and with proper treatment, these bizarre parts can be transformed into dishes that many gourmands strive to experience at least once in their lives.
Let’s start with the most prized and unpredictable part of the Beholder, the central eye. While one might expect it to be soft and gelatinous, its actually dense, and almost mineral-like, closer in texture to a polished gemstone than an organic organ. This is true in both Stone Faces and Flesh Bags. It is commonly crushed and pulverised into a fine powder, transforming it into a highly sought-after seasoning that carries entirely unique properties based on the Beholder’s own psyche.
No two Beholder eyes are alike. Each embodies the paranoia, arrogance, and madness of its former owner, meaning the flavor, effects and even color of the eye powder vary wildly. Some yield deep, savory richness, while others impart bitter and acrid sharpness. The most valuable specimens carry floral, almost transcendent aromatics, lending an elusive, ever-shifting complexity that cannot be replicated by any other ingredient. But these eyes aren’t just sought after for taste. The powder of the central eye can impart many of the same emotions or delusions the Beholder experienced. Some individuals even seek out Beholder eye powder to attempt garnering the same knowledge the Beholder had in life, yielded by hallucinations brought on by the ingredient. Others just enjoy a trippy meal.
Beyond its solid core, the eye is encased in a fragile membrane, filled with a soft, viscous eye jelly that is equally coveted. This jelly has a delicate, ethereal texture, somewhere between custard and a fine butter emulsion, and carries a subtle, lingering bitterness that deepens many dishes. Some chefs preserve the jelly to create aged ferments or blend it into rich sauces, but it is most commonly used to balance the intense flavors of the grated eye core.
Next is the eye stalks, all the little tendrils of dense arcane-charged cartilage that surround the monster. Texturally, they are somewhere between eel and squid, with a chewy outer layer that gives way to soft, gelatinous tissue once cooked down low and slow.
When eaten raw – which I do not recommend – the stalks carry an overpowering metallic sharpness, a result of the residual magical essence left in their tissue. Some claim that consuming a raw stalk grants temporary visions or prophetic dreams, even more intense than those hallucinations achieved from consuming the grated eye powder. If you decide to consume them in that manner, expect to wake up vomiting with a new and inexplicable fear of mirrors.
The real hidden gem of the Beholder though is the tongue. It is by far the easiest cut to work with, specifically because it behaves in a way that is the least foreign to many chefs. If you can cook beef tongue, you can cook Beholder tongue. When prepared correctly it is rich, meaty, and deeply satisfying. I highly recommend this cut if you ever get the chance to consume it, and it is commonly discarded after the corpse is sold to the party’s resident arcanist, so it's not too difficult to get your hands on if you have the right connections.
The bones on the other hand are extremely hard to get your hands on due to their importance in many alchemical applications. But if you can, they can be roasted over an open flame to enhance their deep, savory aroma and burn away any lingering arcane residues. The result is a crackling, fragrant shell, reminiscent of charred marrow bones, but with an intensely smoky, and almost electric undertone.
From this point, they can be simmered into a light broth. It will not be anywhere near as gelatinous and viscous as many other bone broths, but the liquid does take on the flavor of the bones well. You can also grind the roasted bones into a fine power, which is then used as a complex seasoning agent which lends the unpredictable flavor of Beholder to a variety of dishes.
For certain orcish and Underdark cultures, the bones themselves are a delicacy, eaten as-is. Rather than grinding them down, warriors roast whole Beholder bones over open flame, crack them apart, and chew on the resulting charred shards, relishing the intensely rich, marrow flavor and the strange, lingering aftertaste. To these groups, consuming Beholder bone is also believed to heighten a warrior's ability to sense danger, but in actuality it just seems to heighten their paranoia.
Finally, the flesh of the beast is more akin to sinewy connective tissue than plump fatty meat. Unlike standard cuts of meat in other creatures, it lacks a true muscle structure and is instead composed of thick layers of leathery connective tissue and cartilage-like fibers. Many chefs forego cooking with the flesh altogether, and many who do just consign it to sausage meat.
However there is a crown jewel of the flesh, and the best cut of flesh is without a doubt the cheek. Unlike the rest of the leathery flesh, the cheek muscles are softer, richer and laced with delicate strands of connective tissue that melt down beautifully when slow-cooked.
The crown fat is another prize on the Beholder, found just above the central eye socket. This fat is dense, marbled, and perfect for either rendering down to imbue the slightly bitter and smoky flavors of the Beholder to many dishes, or for chilling, then grinding with meat into sausages or forcemeat.
Now you might have noticed I have not mentioned the consumption of any of the organs of the Beholder, and this is not due to forgetfulness. These are the forbidden cuts. The internal organs of a Beholder should NEVER be eaten. Unlike most creatures whose livers, hearts, and stomachs can be used for everything from sausages to pates, a Beholder’s internal anatomy is a swirling cauldron of malignant magic. Even in death, they remain highly reactive and incredibly dangerous to anything that consumes them. This isn’t a natural toxin, and can not be dispelled by any purification spells, as the danger comes from the intense concentration of magic that is still present. Those who have attempted to cook these organs have found themselves plagued with hallucinations and paranoia, and usually death follows shortly after.
But there is one thing worse that can happen than death. A Beholder’s sense of self is so overwhelmingly powerful and so ferociously egotistical, that even in death, its mind refuses to be extinguished. The brain acts as a repository of its identity, a vessel of its unwavering paranoia, genius and narcissism. Any creature foolish enough to consume it does not simply gain its memories – they risk being completely overwritten by the Beholder’s psyche itself. At best, their sense of self is torn in two as their mind is unraveled and they die in a fit of madness. At worst, their own psyche ceases to exist and their mind is completely overwritten by that of the Beholder, becoming nothing but a vessel for the fallen creature’s will.
Eye Powder Flavors
Let’s go more in depth on the star of the show, the eyes. Beholder Eye Powder in particular. In addition to being an amazing, if unpredictable, ingredient, it is commonly the star of many recipes which aim to highlight the intense flavor it imparts. Some eyes produce a deeply savory seasoning, similar to dried seaweed or aged parmesan. Other are much more bitter with a metallic or electric after taste. And the rarest specimens not only taste floral, but have residual magical effects, such as creating illusions, delusions, and even imparting temporary minor magical abilities on those that consume them, such as basic telekinesis or telepathy. What’s even more interesting is that these abilities are not always abilities that the Beholder itself had in life.
The flavor of the eye powder made from the central eye is always the most potent, and the most unpredictable. But the powder made from the smaller eyes seem to follow a general pattern depending on what magic that eye stalk could create. There have been outliers and exceptions, but for the most part, you can expect the following:
Death Ray eyes have a flavor profile of charred bones, smoked soy, and black garlic. Intensely savory, smoky, and best used in sauce for braising meats or intense marinades and dipping sauces.
Disintegration Ray eyes taste chalky and mineralic. The same flavor as wood ash and powdered limestone, or dried and pulverised bone marrow. It leaves a tingling sensation in your mouth, and while the flavor itself is not very sought after, it is highly sought after by some of the best cheese makers in the creation of intense dry-aged cheeses. Some meat mongers also utilize it in their spice rubs for tendering purposes.
Fear Ray eyes taste like mustard and fermented citrus peel. This is a very abrasive powder with a puckering, palate-shocking intensity. It does well in pickling brines, acidic sauces and bold vinaigrettes. Some chefs even pair it with fresh fruit to end a meal.
Charm Ray eyes are sweet and highly aromatic, tasting like elderflower and roses. These are by far the most prized eyes for chefs, and treasured for use in fine pastries, delicate glazes, and infused liqueurs. If you encounter a Central Eye with a similar flavor profile, it is a transcendent experience, said to not only taste amazing, but to impart the very nostalgia of one’s first love into the meal. Some kings have even been driven mad when their supply of Charm Ray eyes run out and they need their fix of what they loved and lost.
Sleep Ray eyes are mild, earthy, and comforting, tasting of toasted grains and warm spices. They are commonly used in breads, teas and porridges, and some even have mild sedative effects, helping any afflicted with insomnia.
Slow Ray eyes taste of savory, deeply aged soybeans and dry aged meats. This powder imparts an intense fermented funk that is potent but luxurious. It leaves a lingering depth on the tongue, like the fat of a well-cured ham. Many use it in fermentations of both meat and vegetables, as well in soup stocks.
Telekinetic Ray eyes taste of pepper, light citrus and tingling mint. This powder has a strange, shifting nature, at times numbing and cooling, at others slightly spicy, and it seems to evolve as you consume the dish. This is the favorite powder of Jaina Calabra, the Mad Chef of Pyra, well known for her usage of the ingredients in various experimental cuisine that she serves to the kingdom’s high profile patrons.
Paralyzing Ray eyes are bitter and distinctly metallic. They taste of menthol and chicory, and fae folk describe the taste as the same unsettling feeling as touching cold iron, so never serve food made with this powder at a fae banquet. But, some do quite enjoy the flavor profile in a variety of drinks, specifically those consumed at the end of a rich, hearty meal to aid in digestion.
Petrification Ray eyes taste of ground mushroom dust and dried clay, some describe it as the same smell that you encounter after the first rain in a dusty area. It is incredibly mild and does not impart much flavor on the dish, which makes it very useful in increasing the depth and savoriness of meats and broths without changing their flavor profile.
Enervation Ray eyes are sharp, tart, and electrically bitter. They drain the palate of moisture and leave behind an acrid bitterness, like that of burnt grapefruit zest or over-steeped coffee. This powder is not for everyone, but I have seen it used in certain mixed drinks and even intense sauces to contrast with sweeter confections.
Each powder has its place in the kitchen for the right chef, and each is sought after for different reasons, so make sure to treasure them if you have them.
Non-Culinary Applications
Now let’s address the elephant in the room. Many mages, alchemists, and arcane scholars consider monster cooks to be completely insane—not for the risks they take in preparing magical creatures, but for the sheer waste of valuable arcane components that could be used for spells, potions, and magical research. To them, using a Beholder’s remains for cooking is akin to melting down a platinum crown to make a frying pan—a tragic misuse of highly potent magical material. And, to be fair, they do have a point—a well-butchered Beholder corpse can be sold for a small fortune to the right buyer. But where’s the fun in that?
Still, for those who would rather trade a Beholder’s corpse for gold rather than roast its eye stalks, here are some of the most valuable non-culinary applications of its remains.
The central eye of a Beholder is one of the most potent antimagic components in existence. In life, it can even nullify magic from the most powerful spellcasters, and in death, some of this power lingers. Properly preserved, the eye becomes a focal point for counterspell magic, used in the crafting of antimagic wands which create powerful runes of magic suppression. The lenses can also be crafted into arcane lenses, which allow the caster to see through illusions, detect magical auras, or even dispel minor enchantments simply by looking at them. And finally, some warriors love armor that has been crafted with wards enchanted using components from the eye, which nullify minor magical threats and allow them to charge into melee range against spellslingers.
The beholder eye powder that I treasure so much for cooking can apparently also be used in a variety of alchemical processes, ranging from love potions to lethal poisons and hallucinogenic substances, but those all sound a lot less fun than cooking with them.
The eye stalks are prized as magic amplifiers, perfect for wand-making and spell research. They are prized as Wand Cores, and many mages spend decades tracking down weapons with true Beholder cores. Artificers also graft them onto magical artifacts, allowing them to store and release spells after certain conditions are met. From what I have heard, this is a field of research with many potential applications for spellcasters.
And finally, Beholder Bones are highly prized for the creation of advanced constructs and golems. Artificial beings utilizing Beholder bones are light-weight and have higher magic resistance, making them highly sought after as dungeon guardians by many mad mages. The bones are also an important catalyst for enhancing potion stability, making them a valuable binding agent in high-grade elixirs.
Whether you use the remains for your own magical devices, sell them for a pretty penny, or make a good meal is up to you, but whatever you do, don’t leave the Beholder to rot on the floor after you kill it.
Recipes
While many things I have said so far about the Beholder may make you wonder who exactly would even want to eat this thing, it is actually a status symbol in certain elite circles. Beholder meat is notoriously difficult to cook and inconsistent from one beast to the other, and even the residual magic within the body makes cooking it as much of an experiment as a meal. But this unpredictability has allowed the kingdom’s top chefs to compete in refining its flavors and preserving its many “interesting properties”. Don’t expect to see Beholder meat on the menu in your local tavern though.
Due to this inconsistency in flavor and preparation, it would be hard for me to create any one size fit all recipes for you to recreate in your kitchen. Instead, I will highlight two recipes that I have had that turned out incredibly well, and what the chefs did to make the meat shine.
Jaina Calabra’s Levitating Eye Stalk Confit
Jaina Calabra, the Mad Chef of Pyra, is notorious for her use of unpredictable, highly volatile ingredients. She is best known for her experimental cuisine, blending culinary artistry with arcane-infused foods that test the limits of sanity. Her most infamous dish? Levitating Eye Stalk Confit, a slow-poached Beholder dish rumored to create an out-of-body experience for those who consume it.
To make it, she slow poached the eye stalks in the crown fat of the Beholder, and cooked them with telekinetic eye ray powder, peppercorns, and fermented citrus peel. Interestingly, after the dish was completed, she injected tiusium, the same lighter-than-air gas that makes a Beholder float, back into the eye stalks, just enough to make them slightly levitate above the plate in an unnerving manner.
This entire dish was unctuous and addicting, but completely disorienting in the way she always loves to compose her plates. And the diners who reported mild hallucinations were just outliers anyways.
Lord Gaspar Veyne’s “Beholder Cheek and Dumplings in Bone Broth”
Lord Gaspar Veyne is one of the few noble chefs who dares to serve Beholder meat regularly. His approach is the opposite of Jaina’s: he refines and tempers the wild, arcane flavors of the creature, transforming them into elegant, structured dishes. His most famous creation is Beholder Cheek & Bone Broth Dumplings, a deeply savory dish that showcases the best elements of the Beholder while neutralizing its more hazardous traits.
To make this, he first braised the Beholder cheek meat for 48 hours in enchanted clay pots, infused with sleep ray powder, fermented feywild mushrooms, and black garlic to enhance the depth and counter any metallic overtones the meat may have.
Then, the Beholder’s porous bones are roasted and cooked in water with a range of aromatics to turn into a thick, velvety broth.
Finally, the meat is served in the broth along with some rye dumplings. Unlike most Beholder dishes which embrace their chaotic nature, this dish tames the madness and refines the most powerful element of the creature’s flavor into a truly rustic and therapeutic homestyle dish.
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Fantastic Beasts and How To Eat Them
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