It’s been a while since I have covered Twilight Princess, but I find myself coming back to it this week because I’m feeling particularly nostalgic for one crucial moment in Link’s story. For a story so closely tied to a personal motive for our Hero of Twilight, that being saving the children of Ordon Village and Ilia, the kingdom of Hyrule is shown to be truly vast and harsh in the game. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Link travels many long, weary nights between the twilight veil and the World of Light.
For a farmhand and goatherd, the long stretches of time alone in the wilderness, or making oneself marginally comfortable in the inns and taverns of Hyrule Castle Town and Kakariko Village, would be strenuous. Not to mention lonely, save for the belittling presence of the imp that hitches a ride in Link’s shadow. We see happy moments for Link when he saves the children in Kakariko Village from the Bulblins, or rescues Colin from King Bulblin atop the Bridge of Eldin. One moment of relief, of familiarity in this crazy confluence of worlds Link has been thrust into that is often overlooked, lies well outside of Hyrule Kingdom.
In the isolated and barren mountains of the Peak Province, a mansion stands in ruin. While the mansion itself holds little significance to Link, beyond it being the resting place of one of the Fused Shadows, it does hold a piece of home for the Hero. Core to the player’s advancement throughout the Snowpeak Ruins is a recipe, one for Yeto’s Superb Soup. This same soup invigorates the yeti’s wife, who in turn unlocks the boss room.
While the acquisition of each ingredient is a series of bait-and-switches that grow progressively less comedic for the player and Midna alike, it echoes with Link’s home each time. Yeto may start with a rudimentary stock of tubers (turnips, potatoes, or both) and Reekfish, but even this would be an easy feat in Ordon Village, with its small vegetable patches and running water that Link fishes in at the start of the game. Of course, an Ordon Catfish is no Reekfish, but it would still make a decent fish stock.
The next ingredient is one Link has likely smashed many of in a search for the mystical rupees that sometimes find themselves within vegetation in Hyrule: an Ordon Pumpkin. It calls Link back to his home, as this rapidly-growing pumpkin is prized by his village to balance their diets of goat and goat-related products. Not the first, nor the last, pumpkin that the Hero encounters across all the games, this tough and hardy squash is just the flavor Yeto is looking for to improve his Simple Soup – making it Good Soup, even.
The final ingredient is one Link likely knows by touch, smell, taste, and look – though I’m unsure if cheese makes a sound and, if it does, I’d rather not know. The Ordon Goat Cheese is a core food to the diet of any villager from Ordon Province. It’s not just Link that recognizes its value either. Yeto, in his eternal wisdom, throws the wheel into the pot whole to improve his Good Soup into the Superb Soup which acts as a perfect alternative to the Red Potion of Twilight Princess. I’d certainly call it Superb, and Link would probably agree that a taste of home is priceless on this harrowing quest.
Yeto’s Superb Soup was a dish that, for many years, I always wondered how the flavors would pair. About a year ago, I took a chance at making Yeto’s soup. I was not just curious to play around in the kitchen – I always find joy in that. I also wanted to understand a fraction of the Hero of Twilight’s world, and if that would be through the food, then so be it.
Within the Yeti’s kitchen we find evidence of a number of ingredients that are used in the soup. Barrels and crates fill one corner of the kitchen, evidently full of some varieties of tubers – turnips, potatoes, or something similar. Of course, the Reekfish that Link tracks through the mountains to find Yeto is a very important ingredient, and half of it lies outside the pot in Yeto’s kitchen. Seemingly the yeti only uses the head and half the fish. The other ingredients we have given to us are the Ordon Pumpkin and Ordon Goat Cheese. So some vegetables, fish stock, salmon, pumpkin, and goat cheese later and I had done it! It was delicious, truly worth the title of Superb Soup – and it got me through college as an inexpensive and delicious meal I could make in sizable batches and reheat throughout the week.
Now I, admittedly, am not classically trained. While I know my way around a knife and pot, and can read a recipe quite well, I am not one who often makes my own. Technically skilled, but not the makings of a chef here. So if you, too, want to attempt this iconic recipe from the games, I would love to point you in the direction of Cucco’s Kitchen on YouTube, whose recipe I use to this day.
