Minecraft Recipes: Hoglins, Husks, and TNTea

If you’re always looking for a reason to throw a party or try a new recipe, or maybe you’re playing Minecraft and want to whip something up, then Minecraft. The Official Cookbook is just for you.

Read here for more about the project

Minecraft-inspired recipes

Everyone can find a dish to their taste here – something light and vegan or hearty and meaty instead. Moreover, if you’re the kind of weirdo who eats lilac blossoms in the hope that it will bring you good luck, in this book you’ll find out about other flowers you can cook with, such as Flower Forest Greens.

The recipes are grouped not only by types of dishes (starters, main courses, desserts and drinks) but also by types of players, so there is something delicious for a fighter, a builder, an explorer, and an advancement hunter. For example, Hoglins and Lava, Plains Kebabs, Suspicious Stew, Mooshroom Burger, Husk Tamales, Golden Apple Pie, The Cake, also Creeper Cleanse, Potion of Night Vision, TNTea, and tons of other fascinating recipes, which will fill your kitchen with the true Minecraft atmosphere.

The book itself will certainly become your helpful assistant, as it contains tables for converting units of measurement and even some tips for survival in the kitchen. There are “Player’s Notes” at the end of the book: a few blank pages for your own culinary notes and remarks.

The entire cookbook is pretty good-looking, with large, bright images and glossy paper which is pleasant to the touch. The recipes are described clearly and concisely, so it’s a pure pleasure to read and cook!

Moreover, it’s one of the few cookbooks that offer non-alcoholic drinks, which was great to find out for my son and me.

It is worth noting that some recipes contain rather exotic ingredients, such as ube, a purple yam. I once saw yams in one of the local supermarkets, but it seemed to have been a one-off event, as the “strange potato” has not found enough fans in our area yet. The dish requires the ube variety because it gives the dish a purple colour (Nether Portal Rolls recipe). However, as the author advises, recipes can be adapted to suit your needs: you can replace ingredients and change their quantity. Maybe we should try replacing the ube with some beetroot juice dyed pumpkin or potatoes. 😉

The Kitchen of Translation

If you think that translating cookery books is easy, you’d be partially right. As in any other specialised literature, you need to be familiar with the terminology and processes so that the description of cooking does not seem like some kind of demonic ritual.

Since Minecraft has a Ukrainian localization, of course, we used the terminology that was already available. However, later the publishing house decided to adapt some terms, so husk (“хаск”) became «висушень» and mooshroom (“муушрум”) became «муухомор». But it sounds even more engaging, doesn’t it?

There were also some controversies. For example, what is the role of breadcrumbs in patties? Are they added to the minced meat or are patties coated in breadcrumbs before frying? Maybe both? Actually, a comment with own patties recipe won. Everyone immediately made it up and decided to come around for patties and Baked Potatoe Bites.

In general, it was quite fun and fascinating to translate the Minecraft cookbook. So grab all the necessary kitchen utensils, such as a grater, a skillet, a measuring spoon, a rolling pin, and a diamond sword, and let’s go get the A Balanced Diet advancement!

by Sofia Shul

Translated by Solomia Kotiai and Yurii Bisyk

March 12, 2024