Finale

 I'm sitting here at a loss for words, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs.  This is it!  The end of this journey!  Can you believe it's been a bit over two years and a hundred plus posts?  What a wild trip it has been.  Do you have a favorite monster that we ate?  A favorite side story?  I know I have mine.  I've actually started to re-read Dungeon Meshi and it's fun to sit and remember cooking the dishes as they come up! But don't think I'm just here to say "farewell", DMMs. Oh no.  I have one last dish to make for you!  Can you believe it? We may be out of the dungeon but we are still in the kitchen!

"You sullen slippery slush." I can hear you shouting into a bottle, sealing it and throwing the bottle into the sea. "Why aren't you starting with a picture of the dish like you always do?"  Okay, okay. You got me.  I am changing things up this last time just for narrative fun.  Hey, it's my blog!  I can type the way I want!  How do we get to this mystery dish?  Simple.  We have to first wake someone up.

Falin!  Alive and about 90% less dragon.  Big shock, the gang did not fail and Falin has been saved.  I really hope that's not too much of a spoiler, DMMs.  You know I pride myself on avoid those in the story write up.  Dungeon Meshi is not a dark manga so it wasn't going to throw a curve in the last chapter.  With Falin up an about everyone celebrates the way I'm very familiar with.  By shoving food at her!

Keen minded DMMs will remember that I've mentioned how the best way to celebrate or mourn anything is by shoving food at the person.  Have you bought that wedding/funeral freezer pie?  I'm telling you, have one on hand!  Thankfully Senshi is on the job and stops a newly awaken Falin from diving right into the rich foods.  Nope.  He knows she needs something easy for the digestion.  What better to serve that purpose than the humble Mush?

Mush, DMMs!  We are ending this journey with Mush!  Gotta admit, I had to research what Mush even is.  Sure, I've heard it talked about in popular fictions involving orphans. But I've never encountered it personally.  I was surprised to find it is super old and super American!  Mush at its heart is boiled cornmeal.  That's it!  I know a form of Mush can be found way back in the 1600's when colonist called it Hasty Pudding.  The dish goes back long before that because it uses the greatest of American ingredients.  Maize!

Ah, corn. The undisputed King of American cuisine.  It's in everything, DMMs.  Try as you might, you cannot fully escape corn in North America.  Indigenous peoples of North and Central America have been cooking with this grain since we started remembering time.  Mush being nothing more than adding cornmeal to boiling water means it was one of the earlier dishes we discovered.  So what is cornmeal?  Simple, dried corn that has been milled.  What?  Did you expect it to be more complicated than that?

Crush that corn, DMMs!  Crush it into a power and that's cornmeal.  People could do this at home or take their corn to a Miller.  Hey!  That's a last name!  Good chance your family CRUSHED things if your last name is Miller.  Never forget that and get back to your crushing roots.  So we have our cornmeal.  What do we do with it?  Let's get cooking!

Check it out, DMMs!  Both enriched AND degerminated!  That means it is shelf stable!  Cornmeal is good to have in a kitchen even if you aren't cooking with it.  I like to use it to dust a pizza stone rather than flour.  It's always the start of cornbread or corn muffins!  To make Mush we just need water but I'm adding just a little milk to make if fluffier.  Start by bringing a cup of water to a boil.

Throw in a pinch of salt and add a fourth cup of cornmeal and a fourth cup of milk. Trust me, that may not sound like a lot but cornmeal is a thirsty grain.  It will expand as it soaks up the liquids!

Stir this molten goop, DMMs!  Keep stirring as it thickens.  You'll know it's thickened because the Mush will take on a more pudding feeling and will become stiffer to stir.  Just trust your spoon, DMMs!

This takes about two or three minutes.  Once it is thick turn the heat down to LOW and cover the pot for five minutes.  That's it!  Once the time is up then you have your Mush!

MUSH!  Now there is a reason Senshi served this to Falin.  It is a bit flavorless.  Perfect for people recovering from surgery or resurrection.  Even though it is made with cornmeal it doesn't have an overwhelming corn flavor.  As you see above Senshi put in carrots and an egg.  Not bad and I have heard of savory Mushes.  I had mine for breakfast which is the norm, apparently.  So I treated it like oatmeal and added maple syrup, cardamon and a bit of vanilla.  Not bad!  It sort of reminded me of grits.  If I ever try this again I may go full grits and add cheese!  My taste buds won't know what hit them.

And that's it, DMMs!  For real, this journey has come to a close.  I am humbled that dozens of people took the time out of their day to read my borderline incomprehensible ramblings.  As you can no doubt tell, I'm not much of a cook and even less a food photographer.  This has been a real labor of love on my end.  I'm sure by now you understand how important food is to me.  There's nothing I love more than to cook for someone else.  If I've inspired anyone to give cooking a try then this has all been worth it.  Or if they've been inspired to read Dungeon Meshi I guess that's good too!  Don't be sad, DMMs.  There are plenty of other dungeons out there for you to explore. As for me, I'm not sure what comes next.  I know it's going to be hard to not mentally write instructions while I cook.  I may keep doing it as a way to focus, to be honest!  So I'll be thinking of you DMMs anytime I'm in the kitchen.  But no matter where your travels take you just remember to take the time to enjoy a good meal.  Hope to share a table with you some day!