Cave Fisher

Encountering this monster in the caverns it lurks can be a truly terrifying experience. Encountering this monster on a plate at the dinner table will be one of the most enjoyable moments of your life. For such an exquisitely delicious monster, it is a true shame that none of the races have found a good method of cultivating them consistently. But maybe such a surplus would spoil the magical experience. Ambrosia wouldn’t be the same on tap.

These large arachnids prowl deep caverns and the underdark, using their filament almost as a “fishing line”, snaring in their prey, whom they then reel in quickly and incapacitate. They are incredibly stealthy and difficult to track down, as they are adept at stalking their prey unnoticed, and retreating to the shadows as soon as they are sensed. However, should you be lucky enough to find one, and kill it, you are in for a tasty treat.

Culinarily, they are best known for their meat. It has a taste similar to that of crab that had been simmered in a strong, intense wine. It is a universally appreciated flavor, tasty and inviting enough for the less adventurous eaters, and full of enough complexity to engage the more avid culinarians. This meat could be prepared in a number of ways, ranging from sliced up and laid in vinegar then eaten almost raw, to grilled over coals. The most common method is simmering the fleshy meat in some sort of light stock until just barely cooked. This is done so as not to overpower the natural taste of the meat, because it really doesn’t need much help from other flavors. However, as aforementioned, you really can’t go wrong with how you cook it. It could just as well be grilled, fried, or added to a soup. One of the ways nobles enjoyed it best is poached in butter and served with toasted bread, creating an incredibly rich dish that you will need to take a nap after eating.

However we’ve only discussed the meat so far and that is only scratching the surface of this beautiful creature’s applications. To consume the meat and throw the rest of the carcass away would be a cardinal sin. A cave fisher is a bountiful box of treasure for any chef lucky enough to get their hands on one. The fleshy organs of the head are arguably the best part. When cooking the meat with the shell on, the juices that accumulate in the head form an almost buttery consistency that is pure flavor. It is very common for these head organs to be slurped down from the shell after being cooked in liquid. I have also seen them removed during preparation and then poached in butter or sautéed off with spices until they have a spreadable consistency, at which point they are spread over any manner of food, like a pâté.

The shell itself is also incredibly useful. It can be cooked into stocks to give an incredible depth of flavor, close to that of lobster but with less of the seafood flavor. I’ve also heard of Dwarven cooks baking the shells, then crushing them up into a fine powder for a multitude of uses, ranging from creating quick stocks, to being mixed with breadcrumbs when frying meats. In some Dwarven holds, it is a staple flavoring ingredient that you can expect to see in kitchens along with salt.

Finally, the most interesting use of the cave fisher. Cave fisher blood contains ample psychedelic properties. Some tribes use this blood for their seers to conduct vision rituals. However, not just shamans enjoy the feeling of a little mental mischief. This blood can be used to concoct certain spirits, which are just as popular as they are rare. While many races have attempted this, none have mastered it as much as those artisans of firewater, the Dwarves. Once again the Dwarves know what they’re doing with cave fishers, but a lot of that may be a matter of proximity to the cavern dwelling buggers, and therefore experience working with them.

Creating spirits based on cave fisher blood is rather interesting. In contrast to the fermentation process of things like grain, time is not used to concentrate the mind altering effects of the starting ingredients, it is used rather to dilute them. The fresher the blood, the more intense, and after draining the corpse, this intensity only lessens. Time is also useful for giving a more palatable flavor to the incredibly potent blood, as taken straight, it can be quite difficult to swallow. Of course, certain rowdy Dwarves will drink the blood straight from the corpse in poorly thought out displays of power and confidence. These displays show exactly why cave fisher blood is usually allowed time to sit first. Consuming the blood raw, at best, is regretted the next morning. And at worse, can cause lasting damage to the organs, and even blindness.

Cave fisher eggs also have these psychedelic properties, and can fetch a pretty penny in large cities from those who would like to engage in that style of revelry. A large upside to the eggs compared to the blood is that the eggs hold their intensity for much longer periods of time than the blood does. A single sip from one of these eggs, even weeks after harvesting, is enough for a human to become quite intoxicated and hallucinate for hours. Consuming the entirety can be fatal. Alter your perception of reality with caution.

Example Dish - Cave Fisher Bisque

Start by sautéing diced onions, carrots, and celery in butter until softened. Add minced garlic partway through, so that it starts to brown as the vegetables become soft and translucent. Now add the head and claws of the cave fisher, and just enough water to cover it all. This can be done with meat other than the claws just as well, but we will be using claws in this recipe as they are more tender. The head and claws are boiled in water to create a stock and cook the meat. Once cooked, the shells are removed. The organs of the head are chopped up very finely and mixed with the juices of the head before mixing both in with the stock. Add a few glugs of a light wine if desired for extra fruitiness and complexity. The meat of the claws is set aside to rest. While the soup simmers, the shells are roasted and then pulverized into a powder, and mixed with a little flour or starch. Mix the powder through the bisque to thicken it, and cook off for a few minutes. Finally, serve with large portions of claw meat on top of the dish or shredded and lightly mixed through.