Fallout meals: fallout the vault dweller's official cookbook - Flip eBook Pages 1-50 | AnyFlip
I wanted to try out some meals and keep it somewhat in-world, Sole-Survivor style, so I opted for finding three bush-pot, one-pot style meals. One-pot meals reduce loss of resources and ensure maximum nutrition retention, which is a good lesson for any lone survivor. I used my big cast iron cook pot for a good rustic authentic feel. I settled on Cabbage soup, Pork and Beans and a game-meat stew.
First up was the Cabbage soup, not a glamorous start for sure, but wholesome and easy. This one called for:, Onion, Shallot, Butter, Celery, Carrot, Green cabbage, Purple cabbage, Vegetable broth, Red potatoes, Tomatoes, Parsley. just some salt and pepper to season.
The recipe was very easy to follow, the steps simple and efficient and after a couple of hours slow cooking, it was ready and delicious. I threw in some thinly sliced dried salami to increase the protein a bit, something my Hungarian ancestors would no doubt approve of. We ate it with some crusty bread rolls and it made for a filling, warming couple of meals for the whole family. Even the fussy eaters ate it, with some reservation.
The batch size made enough for a couple of nights worth of meals and whilst a robust meal, repeat reheatings made it a bit sloppy by night three. It could do with more meat, though the recipe didn't call for any.
Id heartily recommend hearty cabbage soup for any Vaultie that finds themselves with a sack of looted veggies and mouths to feed.
Second meal from the book was a more seemingly traditional survivor / frontiersman meal the redoubtable Pork n beans that any good cowboy would recognize. The recipe called for ingredients easily salvaged from suburban wastelands or the dusty back storerooms of long abandoned roadside diners, with the possible exception of bacon and onion.
The full list is here: Bacon, Onion, Jalapeño, Garlic, Ketchup, Brown sugar, Honey, Cider vinegar, Ginger, Mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Lima beans, Canned pork n beans. Not too bad of a shopping/scavenge list. I opted for canned Lima/butter beans, but dried beans in a sack would work just as well if take just a bit longer with a soak first.
In place of sliced bacon I used a small picnic ham and cubed it to add a meatier bulk to the dish, to make up for the light meat content of the Cabbage soup. I skimped on the Jalapeño as a concession to delicate palates but the recipe was very flavorsome even with only very simple seasonings. The flavors came through in the cooking and long simmering blended it all together nicely.
Eminently suited to a big cast iron pot, from the browning of the ham/bacon and the onions to the caramelisation of the honey and ketchup. I purposefully let it thicken up quite a bit as I didn't want to serve it with rice, but if you did ,leaving it a bit runny would be an easy enough variation.
I like to think that goat would make a good stand in for something like a white-tail deer, though hopefully someone who's eaten both can let me know. Though I suppose either would be a good choice for a RadStag. I could have gone with venison from our local butcher, or even kangaroo but I thought goat would be a more in-keeping with the theme of the meal and everyone in the Vault loves goat. 
After toasting the spices to release their aromatics the goat gets browned then spiced, before the wet ingredients (coconut milk and canned tomatoes) go in. Then it slow simmers till the meat is tender and falling off the bones tender. (beware small sharp bones).I served it with plain white rice, and a sprinkle of coriander as garnish. It was delicious and well received. I accompanied mine with Mexican cola as we didn't make any Nuka Cola. (but there is a recipe for that!!!)
So, all told, three solid recipes, well documented, well laid out and adequately instructed. The cookbook itself makes a tremendous addition to any fan's library, both thematically and also in the context of an actual cookbook. Tall, hardback, glossy pictures and crisp printing.
I'd have liked a bit more loot and salvage type content, but food health and safety obviously need to take precedence to avoid litigation. Be sure to grab a hard-copy before the EMP wipes out all the PDF servers!
