We’ve all been there. We’re playing a game when the game decides to trigger our nascent appetite by suddenly producing a ridiculously yummy-looking bit of food. ARGH. Give us the food. Nao.

Valheim has that sort of appeal to me. I mean, except for the aspic (ewwww, no.) If I don’t have snacks on hand, I’ll get hungry just playing the game. It’s like walking into a grocery store and you haven’t eaten anything. Suddenly your cart is full, your bank account is empty, and only Odin knows what sins you’re going to commit with that whipped cream and strawberries.

But what if you want to bring that videogame culinary sprite into the real world? This is what we’re going to explore in today’s Videogame Vittles, specifically Honey Glazed Chicken.

In Valheim, we know that Honey Glazed Chicken requires honey (duh), a chicken (in parts), and mushrooms. You next take the marinated mass, bake it in an oven, and then you have one of the best foods in the game. So how can we turn that into an actual recipe?

First, chicken is chicken, aka The Delightful Yardbird. For extra verisimilitude, get a whole chicken and butcher it. Otherwise, use your favorite cut (mine is thighs, but pinwheels are more “authentic” to the videogame sprite) and make sure you have about 4 lbs. of it (if it’s got bones) or 3 lbs. (if it’s mostly boneless, like breasts or deboned thighs). Next, we’ll need some honey (about 1/4 cup per pound of chicken). If you can get crystallized honey, use that – it's much stickier and will create a good crust on the chicken while it's baking. Finally, the mushrooms. This one is a bit of a mystery. Did they stuff a whole bird with mushrooms? The image isn’t clear. Logically, it's either that or perhaps dried mushroom powder used in a marinade with something like yogurt (yes, Vikings had yogurt-like food: it’s called skyr and is thick like Greek yogurt. Look it up.) Finally, add spices. You might not think it, but the various Scandinavian countries had a wide range of spices to work with, so we’re going to add a bit of cumin, coriander, salt, onion, and garlic.

Using what we guessed, we get a recipe that’s something like this:

For the Chicken Marinade

• 1 1/2 cups of yogurt

• 1 tbsp. of powdered coriander

• 1 tbsp. of powdered cumin

• 1 tbsp. of powdered garlic

• 1 tbsp. of powdered onion

• 1 tbsp. of salt

• 4 tbsp. of vinegar (apple cider is best)

The Rest of the Meal

• 4 lbs. of bone-in chicken (3 lbs. otherwise)

• 1 bundle of cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish

For the Marinade

1. Mix the coriander, cumin, garlic, onion, and salt together with the vinegar.

2. Mix the vinegar-spice mixture with the yogurt and whisk until smooth and uniform in texture.

3. Wait at least 30 minutes, leaving mixture on the counter to come to room temperature.

4. Place chicken in a plastic bag or container and let marinate for an hour. You can also put it in the fridge and let it set for a day before you intend to cook it, but the flavor will be sharper.

For the Chicken

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Remove the chicken from the container and wipe off excess marinade with your fingers; put the excess aside for the glaze.

3. Place chicken skin-side down in an oven-safe dish or platter. If you have a baking rack, use that for extra-crispy chicken.

4. Cook chicken at 400°F for 20 minutes skin-side down, then flip over to skin-side up for 20 minutes.

5. Add the mushrooms to the chicken by placing them under the chicken or on top of it. Cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add the glaze via brush or simply spooning it on.

7. Cook for an additional 30 minutes on 350°F. (maybe longer for chicken with bones)

8. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 15 minutes.

9. Garnish with extra glaze and cilantros!

For the glaze

1. 1 cup of honey.

2. 1 lb. of Cremini mushrooms.

3. Combine the honey and as much water as it takes to loosen it from the measuring cup's sides into a bowl.

4. Add the leftover marinade and combine the two till smooth.

The first recipe is simple enough. There is nothing there you cannot reasonably get at your friendly local grocery store. But what could we do to change it and (hopefully) make it better? The answer comes from the Philippines. Chicken adobo is one of the best things in the world, but it’s so simple. So what could we take from that dish to this one? First, we change the cooking method from oven-baking to braising in a pan on the stove. Keep the marinade the same, but instead of glazing it as a secondary action, we put the honey right into the marinade so it’s in yogurt, spices, and honey. Then we up the vinegar a bit and use chicken stock to braise the meat directly in the pan. We’ll also add a few peppercorns, for a tiny bit of spice to go with the sweetness of the honey.

For the Chicken Marinade

• 1 cup of honey

• 1 1/2 cups of yogurt

• 1 tbsp of black peppercorns, whole

• 1 tbsp of powdered coriander

• 1 tbsp of powdered cumin

• 1 tbsp of powdered garlic

• 1 tbsp of powdered onion

• 1 tbsp of salt

• 1/2 cup of vinegar (apple cider is best)

The Rest of the Meal

• 2 lb. of cremini mushrooms

• 4 lbs. of bone-in chicken (3 lbs. otherwise)

• 4 cups of chicken broth (3 cups for the pan and 1 cup for the corn starch slurry)

• 2 tbsp of cornstarch

• 1 bundle of cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish

For the Marinade

1. Mix the coriander, cumin, garlic, onion, and salt together with the vinegar.

2. Mix the vinegar-spice mixture with the yogurt and honey, then whisk until smooth and uniform in texture.

3. Place chicken in a plastic bag or container and let marinate on the counter for an hour. You can also put it in the fridge and let it set for a day before you intend to cook it, but the flavor will be sharper.

For the Chicken

1. Remove the chicken from the container and wipe off excess marinade with your fingers; put the excess aside for the glaze.

2. Put oil in a wide pan on medium-high heat and sear skin-side down before flipping after 8-10 minutes and searing the bottom.

3. Put 3 cups of broth into the pan, turn to medium and leave uncovered to braise, turning every 8-10 minutes and cooking for at least 30 minutes (maybe longer for chicken with bones).

4. Add the mushrooms to the pan and let them soak up excess liquid.

5. Mix the reserved cup of chicken broth with the corn-starch to create a slurry, then mix in the rest of the marinade before adding it to the pan. The liquid should quickly thicken and create a glaze on the chicken and mushrooms.

6. Remove from stove and let rest for at least 15 minutes.

7. Garnish with cilantros!

This has been a fun exercise in “what-if thinking” combined with gastronomic practicality. The truth is, meat and honey just go together and especially with chicken. Another thing to consider is that “Vikings” had access to all sorts of spices and foods, thanks to sailing far and wide. Consider that they reached the Mediterranean and traded with those they found there. You could have any number of rare or strange ingredients pop up.

So what about scaling up the recipe? Maybe you’ve got plenty of hungry mouths to feed. In general, for the first recipe you need about 1/4 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of yogurt per pound of chicken. The spices should add 1/4 tbsp per pound of chicken, but keep the vinegar the same so it doesn’t overpower everything. In the alternate recipe, though, you actually don’t want that. Add proportional amounts of vinegar (about 2 tbsp per pound of chicken) and consider throwing some in the pan to braise along with the chicken broth. You could also add further modern spices depending on your tastes. I tried cinnamon (which was really good) and red pepper flakes for heat. You could even add some chili crisp on top after it’s cooked because, by Odin’s beard, chili crisp goes good on everything. You can also mix up the sweetener[s] or combine others. Molasses goes well with honey and doesn’t really overpower it. You can also sub out the mushrooms for other types; shitake would be very good. Or just use mushroom powder in the marinade itself, instead of whole mushrooms.

If you try this recipe, send us pics at @hapticservers and tell us what you thought. What other Valheim food or potion (i.e., mixed drink) should we cover next?