Guide to throwing the ultimate Game of Thrones viewing party
By Corey Smith
Food and Drink
At our house, we refer to our parties as feasts, because the food is such a huge part of what happens. There are two trains of thought concerning food and drink: going medieval style, which is our choice, or modeling food off characters or moments from the show. A perfect example of the latter are the Ned’s-Head-on-a-stick cake pops that show up at many Game of Thrones parties. We have none of that in my House.
Image: Not Your Momma’s Cookie
We always aim for a general medieval time frame regarding our food, meaning lots of plainly spiced meats. You also want to tie the food into the show. For instance, we serve whole chickens at each feast, with a place card labeling them “The Hound’s Chickens.” Add in an actual quote from the Hound’s epic rant on the subject of chickens on a place card, and your rotisserie chicken from the grocery store gets taken to a whole new level.
Other ideas for the main courses include King Robert’s Boar, Stannis’ Baratheon’s Flaming Stag, House Tully Trout, Arya’s Rabbit Stew, or Cersei’s Venison Stew. (Bonus points if you killed any of the above animals personally.)
For sides, we generally keep in simple. We might have roasted potatoes and carrots, dubbed Wildling Vegetables, along with fresh-baked beer bread, and Sansa’s Lemoncakes for dessert. This year, a local brewery Adelberts is preparing the beer bread for us, but there are simple kits available at all major grocery stores. After the bread is done, sprinkle some flour on it, to give it that home-baked look. And no Game of Thrones party would be complete without bread and salt at your door, to assure to assure your guests they will not be murdered during dinner.
Last but not least, copious amounts of alcohol are always appreciated by your guests. As with the food, you can’t just get any old alcohol. There were no appletinis in Westeros, so choose your adult beverages wisely. Ales and red wines were prevalent in medieval times, and ales are one of the most common beers, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding plenty of good ones wherever you shop. If you want to get more creative, mead and hippocras can be added to your cup, but those can be slightly harder to find.