Planeswalkers! Feast your way through Magic: The Gathering with this first-ever official cookbook inspired by the beloved game.
Featuring more than 70 recipes inspired by Magic: The Gathering, this cookbook takes readers on a journey through the beloved game with easy-to-follow recipes. With beautiful full-color photography as well as art from the game, Magic: The Gathering: The Official Cookbook is a must-have for foodies and fans alike.
Publication Date: November 28, 2023
Publisher: Insight Editions
Game Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Co-Author: Jenna Helland
Number of Pages: 232
Number of Recipes: 85
Where to buy: Your Favorite Local Bookstore, Amazon
My Contributions: Recipe Selection, Recipe Development, and Photography
My Process
Magic: The Gathering is a giant series that I’ve never jumped into because of the cost of entry and because none of my friends played when I was growing up. It wasn’t until college that I met several people who were really into the series. Many of them had binders full of cards and I’d just like looking at all the pretty art. At one point, I played a game of Commander with a random deck a friend had, but I can’t even remember who the commander was cause this was over a decade ago now. I did find it a bit chaotic but going into a big match and having a basic understanding of the game made for a fun one shot. One thing I’ve always enjoyed from the series is the beautiful card art. The many artists that work on these cards are just incredible, right now I am in love with the Basking Capybara card that just came out in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set. I just want a print of that to hang on my wall.
When I was approached about this project, I was extremely interested in coming up with recipes for the vast multiverse of the series but knew I would need an expert’s hand with understanding all the lore. That is where Jenna came in and what an incredible person she was to work with. Right away, she helped confirm the direction I wanted to approach for the project with each of the color types, iconic Planeswalkers that we had to include, and of course which realms we would be covering. It was during this process that I realized how much content there was to pull from. There is a lot of content!
The most important thing for this project was making sure that each of the realms felt unique and when the readers saw the collection of recipes, they could tell which realm we would be talking about. This idea was the thing that kept coming up while talking with the individuals from Wizards of the Coast. When we finalized our recipe list, I tried to make sure that everything was selected for a reason and had some connection to the world. Either from a small story, a note about a specific planeswalker, or even just information about cities and markets that exist. All of this was used in order to come up with the recipe list. There was a lot of back and forth to get this finalized. This project is by far the one that had the most feedback and in the end I think it helped create a great product.
After our list was done, I got to working and making sure that each realm felt unique enough from one another. I also wanted to make sure that any specific card references included touches of the color type from that card. Once everything was approved, I started running with the project. There were some bumps and adjustments that needed to be made but I do appreciate how much this project pushed me. I learned a lot of new things during this project and overall I think it has made me an even stronger cook and photographer!
Are there Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, etc recipes in the book?
Yes, each recipe lists any dietary notes that might apply to those items. There is also a note about adjusting the recipes in the book to adapt them to your dietary needs. As I always say, feel free to adapt recipes to make them work for you.
My Favorite Recipes
The recipes in this book are some of my favorites that I’ve come up with. I’ve found myself cooking many of them on a regular basis. Whenever I get a copy of my books, I place sticky notes on each of the recipes that I will likely remake. This cookbook might be my most marked book! Every other week or so, I find myself adding at least one recipe from this book for my weekly cooking plans. So if you are a fan of my previous works, I think you’ll really enjoy the recipe lineup in this one.
The recipe I’ve remade the most is Niko’s “Perfect Target” Lamb (pg 152). I love an excuse to cook a lamb dish and this is one of the easiest ones to put together. You toss a ton of ingredients, one of those being a lot of garlic, into a food processor to make the sauce for the dish. Then toss everything together, place in a little package, and bake. It is utter perfection, super simple, and makes lots of leftovers. I love this dish.
When I’m feeling fancy (and when I can get a tomahawk steak on sale) I will immediately make Orzhov’s Splendor (pg 24). Sometimes all you need is a large piece of meat to call it a day. For Jeff and I, this ends up being 2 full meals each with some sides. It is a really extravagant dish and I save it for when we are in the mood to be fancy or celebrating! Releasing a new book is a cause for celebration, right?
A few other main courses that I love to make are Geralf’s Franken-Chicken (pg 88), Endless Shanks of the Dead (pg 92), Imperial Ramen (pg 128), and Adventurer’s Poutine (pg 162). These all take a little bit of extra prep time but the results are so worth it. I’ve been a bit busy with other work but have been trying to find time to remake the Imperial Ramen. With the weather finally getting a bit colder, maybe now would be the perfect time.
I love panaderias (Mexican bakeries). One of my favorite pan dulces are conchas and I’ve been working on my own recipe for a few years now and I’m really excited to share the Three Sun Conchas (pg 206). When I read up on Ixalan and learned about the Sun Empire I felt this would be a treat that is enjoyed on the streets of all of their major cities. I also wanted to make sure to highlight the major colors of the kingdom with the cookie top on the conchas. I’m really happy with how these turned out.
Whenever I go to a coffee shop for breakfast, one of my go to options is a chocolate croissant. I’ve been looking for reasons to attempt these and the “All the Time in the World” Croissants (pg 44) allowed me. I really wanted to call out Teferi’s time magic and felt that croissants would be right up his alley. The precision and patience needed for these could easily be handled by him. If I had his abilities I would probably make croissants on a daily basis.
Finally, desserts tend to be something I don’t find myself remaking too often but Avacyn’s Birthday Cake (pg 100) and Stoneforger Pavlova (pg 164) are two that have made their way on my table again. Jeff has requested the Stoneforger Pavlova several times now. The combination of curd, meringue, whipped cream, and fresh fruit are so wonderful that I’m willing to make the extra effort to put it all together.
There are so many other recipes I really enjoy from this book. If I keep going, we will be here forever. I’m really excited for everyone to get their hands on what might be one of my personal favorite recipe collections so far.
Most Difficult Recipe
There are three recipes in this book that I would consider the most difficult to put together: the Imperial Ramen (pg 128), “All the Time in the World” Croissants (pg 44), and Kaito’s Mochi (pg 140), which I will talk about in the next section. The ramen and croissants are both difficult in their own way. Ramen’s difficulty comes from all the individual elements needed to come together, from the broth base taking several hours to cook to finding the perfect balance of the tare and oil to pair with the broth. Be patient with this one and be willing to adjust amounts that go into the final bowl.
The croissants require a ton of patience and I highly recommend you do not rush this process. If you are hoping to get those laminated layers, it is important that you keep your dough cold while working with it. Any moment you think your butter is getting too warm, throw that dough back in the refrigerator to relax. I also highly recommend that if you decide to double the recipe to make two different doughs. It will be much easier to handle and I’ve found that while one dough is resting you can work on the other one.
Recipe That Gave Me The Most Trouble
When Kaito’s Mochi (pg 140) was requested to be in the book, I knew which recipe was going to require a lot of work. Mochi is a tricky recipe and it took a handful of attempts until I got something that I was happy with. The part I had the hardest time with was making sure the mochi wasn’t too thick while not ripping it with the filling. All of this has to be balanced while working with an extremely sticky dough. This is a recipe you have to remain calm while making and might have to retry a few times before it comes together.
Beginners: Where to Start?
It is always my goal with these projects to make sure that there are a good number of recipes that would be perfect for the beginner home cook. There are several excellent recipes for someone who is just starting their culinary adventures. Here are a few options to get you started.
To start your day, some good options include Skemfar’s Bounty (pg 108), Jumpstart Energy Bowls (pg 184), and Jade Toast (pg 210). Skemfar’s Bounty is a smoked fish dip that can be prepared ahead of time. You can use this on top of any bread if you aren’t feeling like making the “Bough and Shadow” Bread (pg106). The Jumpstart Energy Bowls are also a great dish to put together. The granola recipe here can also be enjoyed on its own if you aren’t feeling like yogurt. Finally, the Jade Toast is bread, beans, salsa, and eggs. Such a great combination that will leave you very filled.
For some lighter snacks Trostani’s Three Bean Salad (pg 22), Ooze-Infused Biscuits (pg 56), and Xenagos’s Divine Dip (pg 148) are great. Each of these don’t take too long to put together. These are also great items to put together for those potluck holiday parties that are approaching soon.
For the entrees, the Necromancer’s Pasta (pg 42), Geralf’s Franken-Chicken (pg 88), and Gisa’s “Raise ‘em Right” Chicken (pg 90) are all great starting points. I personally think roast chicken is one of the best starting recipes for someone who is new to cooking. These two recipes will introduce you to two different preparation methods. I’d recommend trying them both to see which you prefer. Pasta dishes are also a nice easy way to put something together. One note with the Necromancer’s Pasta, as mentioned in the book, any mushrooms can be used. I do highly recommend trying to find the combination used in the book, but feel free to make it your own!
Drinks are a great way to start in the kitchen. Many in the book are straightforward and each doesn’t require too much effort to put together. The Niv-Fizzit (pg 26), Black Lotus Tea (pg 59), and Happily Ever After (pg 81) are all great options for starting. Only the Niv-Fizzit really requires any cooking in order to make the syrup.
I find that a lot of beginners really like to try their hands at baking first. This is always surprising because I think baking can be a bit trickier than cooking. Many times, there really isn’t much room for wiggling too far away from the base recipe. With that warning in mind, the Blueberry Scones (pg 66) and Thumbprint Cookies (pg 67) are probably the easiest baked goods in the book. Scones don’t require too much work to put together. The Thumbprint Cookies do require a little bit of shaping in order to get them to look right. Also, if you don’t want to make your own jam, just buy some and use that instead.
Thank You
Thank you to Insight Editions and Wizards of the Coast for giving me the opportunity to work on this project and create these delicious recipes inspired by the many planes of Magic. Huge shout out to Justin for managing this giant project and making sure we created the best product we could.
Thank you to my co-author Jenna Helland for helping me understand Magic and pointing me in the right direction for what recipes to attach where. She was such an amazing resource and did an amazing job with all the lore text in the book.
Thank you to my husband, Jeff, for all the help he provides with these projects. You are always pushing me to improve my recipes and writing. He gets the benefit of tasting all the recipes. Getting his thoughts on the recipes is super helpful. Kanji (my corgi) also deserves a shout out. During the whole process, he is always keeping an eye on me in the kitchen as I work. He is rewarded occasionally with a piece of carrot or banana. Such a spoiled pooch.
Thank you to my agent, Kate McKean. You continue to make my life so much easier with each of these projects and I’m happy for all the work you do! Without you, I would be getting confused reading all the contract legal speak.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me as I’ve been working on all these projects. I’m grateful that my family is always so excited to see what I’m cooking up, my friends for grabbing extra leftovers I demand they take off my hands, and for everyone who cooks any of the recipes I have written. It really means a lot to me and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Here are many more delicious meals!
Review and Coverage
Coming Soon
Errata
Between the quick timelines and large amount of writing and content, errors in the cookbooks can sneak through to print. I’ve started compiling a list for those that have been pointed out to me so far. If you find any other errors in any book, please feel free to reach out to me so they can be added to these lists and adjusted in future prints.
Coming Soon