Review by C.J. Bunce
Sea of Thieves is a first-person shared world action-adventure game pirate adventure, allowing players to sail a legendary world alone or with a crew of up to four players, rooted in that oft-cited early roleplaying game Oregon Trail—live or die by your actions and your wits. Well, Ahoy there, matey! Microsoft has partnered with Titan Books for its latest tie-in to the game (check out my review of Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire here and Tales from the Sea of Thieves here). I’ve reviewed many cookbooks this past year at borg, but I’ll wager Sea of Thieves: The Cookbook could be your next favorite go-to cookbook. Unlike many genre tie-ins, this cookbook offers affordable dishes anyone can make–it doesn’t require hard to find ingredients, or high-end expensive ingredients.
I tried one of the dishes–the Coconut Shrimp–and will be adding it to my own menu going forward. Take a look inside Sea of Thieves: The Cookbook:
New to Sea of Thieves? Inspired by a world fleshed out in popular fiction by Robert Louis Stevenson and popularized most recently in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, anyone young and old will love this world full of all the tropes of pirate lore. Released in March 2018, the game’s greatest appeal is its visuals, opting for a cartoon-like palette versus a photo-real world, and its cooperative gameplay. The story plays into that, as it leans away from serious seafaring storytelling, such as found in the detailed ship descriptions of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, or the serious drama and romance of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower books. This is much closer in tone and lighthearted nature to Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the kid adventure The Goonies, Netflix’s recent adventure for kids Finding ‘Ohana, and Ray Harryhausen’s mythology fantasies.
We’re in a place right now where there are cookbooks for every palette and interest. This book covers a nice range–featuring fish, other meat, vegetarian, vegan, desserts, and drinks, via offerings like Tina’s Vegan House Chili, grilled “Kraken” tentacles, The Unicorn’s House Roast, The Port Merrick Breakfast, Captain Briggsy’s Beans and Plantains (shown above), Coconut Rice, and Broken Tusk Curry.
The book has a nice focus on Mediterranean and Island ingredients with coconut as a recurring ingredient. The enticing photos will quickly have you want to try the Grilled Mango and Coconut Ice Cream, Port Merrick Banana Cream Pie, Ashen Lava Cake, and Devil’s Shroud Cake (shown above).
Writer Kayce Baker includes a good balance of the worldbuilding components that will draw you into the locations, the setting, and characters behind these meals. But Baker also doesn’t go overboard–recipes are the priority here. The Coconut Shrimp was a breeze to make in less than 2 hours including prep. The coating was so good I made the shrimp as well as chicken strips. It turned out exactly like it was shown in the photograph, and tasted amazing.
And you can always try the drinks on for size, too.
These will certainly hit the spot over the record-hot summer.
It’s one of the best franchise tie-in cookbooks we’ve tried out, and one of the best cookbooks of 2024. Get your copy of Sea of Thieves: The Cookbook now here at Amazon, published by Titan Books.
