Delicious in Dungeon has been brought to life in exquisitely scrumptious style by the acclaimed Studio Trigger, and its mission to bring together classic dungeon-crawling adventures and the joys of cooking the most unexpected dishes has captured audiences everywhere. Thanks to Senshi, a dwarf with a third eye when it comes to creating meals out of the most unlikely sources (even armor), Laios and his group have managed to survive and make it ever closer to rescuing his sister, Fanlin.
Not only that, the experience has triggered (aha) our imagination about what other mythical creatures could go into a cooking pot, particularly those from the anime’s main inspiration – Dungeons and Dragons. Without further ado, here is our list of 10 DnD monsters we’d love to eat ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ style.
Gelatinous Cube
The first creature on our list is one of the most classic and revered among DnD players, despite its unassuming appearance. The Gelatinous Cube is a slime-type monster that is best known for one particular ability – absorbing anything living that crosses its path and using its gelatinous form to digest it slowly. Afterward, all that’s left is whatever armor or inorganic trinkets the victim may have been wearing (as seen above).
What’s the Dish? – Your first thought with a creature like this would probably be a crude, slimy cold bowl of monster Jell-O, which is something I’d imagine even Laios’ iron stomach couldn’t handle. However, as Senshi would likely do, a Gelatinous Cube would be much better off boiled down into a simmering soup of sorts. With the best spices and the right ‘ingredients’ having already been absorbed into its gelatinous form and not yet fully digested, you’d have yourself the heartiest bowl of stew with relative ease.
Behir
The Behir is another classic and odd-looking beast, serpentine in form with multiple sets of legs like an insect, and wingless despite otherwise resembling a dragon. Coming face-to-face with one of these is not something we’d wish on anyone, given their huge size, dragon scale-like armor, their ability to either slither like a snake or scale walls with their numerous clawed feet and their electrical breath attacks that can be especially lethal in the wrong environment. Chances are a Behir will spot you well before you do, as one could be lurking in the darkest shadows of a dungeon, waiting to ambush you from overhead.
What’s the Dish? – Given its immense size and weight, the Behir is a creature that we’d foresee being able to make a very hearty meal or four out of, with the right culinary intuition. After slaying it, we’d imagine that Senshi could retrieve plenty of meat from a Behir, as well as more than enough intestines to make something quite special. Simply by grinding up the meat and mixing in the right spices and herbs, the intestines can then be used to make casings for it. Then ‘lo and behold, you’ll have yourself a heaping load of Behir sausages, which can be used for all manner of platters and dishes themselves.
Owlbear
Owlbears are a large and curious-looking monster that many players actually find to be adorable, having the four-legged body of a big, furry bear and the alluring face of an owl. However, these unique features give way to a carnivorous creature that’s as fearsome as any other monster in the dungeon. They rely on melee attacks with sharp claws and carry keen senses of sight and smell, which make them as ferocious of a foe as they can be an ally.
What’s the Dish? – A big and burly monster like the Owlbear is known for having a nearly insatiable appetite and thus is one we’d definitely imagine to have plenty of flavorful meat to go around. Given Senshi’s penchant for bread and frying the right types of meats, we’d eagerly imagine a vibrant platter of breaded and seasoned Owlbear cutlets would do the trick for any epic adventurer. Would they taste more like poultry though, or do you think it’s a special type of red meat? Perhaps it’s a mix of both, and Senshi would surely love to flex his culinary skills with that.
Hellsboar
Hellsboars are another ferocious addition from the mystical world of Baldur’s Gate 3, and they’re certainly a hellish take on the classic creature, native to the Nine Hells and typically found in either the game’s Grymforge area or the House of Hope. They’re a beastly fiend that gives no quarter in battle, brandishing their horns, scaly armor full of obsidian spikes, and a wide maw full of teeth and hellfire.
What’s the Dish? – When it comes to cooking up a hog, especially an otherworldly one, some adventurers may prefer something simple like a spicy pork sandwich, and we’d certainly find Senshi baking up some fresh bread to put it in. However, since dungeons can yield all sorts of unexpectedly scrumptious ingredients, we chose to think a bit more outside the box and believe that Senshi would opt for something akin to hog maw sausages. A mystical soul food that brings together various parts of the creature and typically mixed with potatoes, vegetables, and herbs.
Ankheg
The Ankheg is another classic monster from the depths of DnD lore that’s not exactly easy on the eyes, being an unsettling mix between an antlion and an especially rabid praying mantis. This menacing bug is found not just in our nightmares, but in forests and grasslands, and when it’s not burrowing underground to ambush its prey, it lunges with huge mandibles and grappling claws while spraying streams of acid.
What’s the Dish? – Despite their stigma, bugs have gradually become a welcomed source of protein in certain parts of the world, and when you’re a dungeon crawler who needs to stay topped off on sustenance, sometimes it’s the creepy crawlers who can save you in a pinch. Senshi would surely have no issue with roasting the safe, non-acidic parts over an open fire with the appropriate spices. Like other bugs chosen for cookery, they’d probably go well on a skewer and enjoyed in that fashion. Just ignore the fact that it came from a huge, carnivorous bug and hopefully it tastes somewhat like chicken.
Cockatrice
Speaking of chicken, our next entry goes to a mystical creature that’s become pretty infamous in the world of RPG, and even features in the Delicious in Dungeon series itself. The Cockatrice, a descendant of the Pyrolisk, is a menacing hybrid between a bird and lizard, along with the wings of a bat. While not particularly big in stature, it makes up for that with its penchant for petrifying its enemies. So if you find yourself surrounded by one or more of these creatures, you better hope you can dodge or slay them before you meet your end as a cold statue.
What’s the Dish? – Despite its name, we’d think the Cockatrice is bound to be something with a peculiar taste, given its diverse anatomy. For those familiar with the manga, Senshi decides to grind up the meat from a Cockatrice and use it to make a stone-baked dish for the group. While that sounds plenty delicious (aha), we wanted to figure out something a bit more unique and looked to its superbly clawed feet.
In the same fashion as a chicken, the feet could be turned into a hearty and scrumptious snack with simple ingredients, though we’d recommend pickling them rather than straight-up steaming them. That means boiling them in hot water, sticking them in an ice-cold bath afterward to tighten them up, and then using vinegar, sugar, and other ingredients like green onion and a spicy sauce to give them flavor. When finished, you have an easy dungeon snack to either sit and enjoy or while on the go from one floor to the next.
The Beholder
Next comes perhaps one of the most well-known monsters in all of DnD – the Beholder. Omnipresent in various iterations of the game and traditionally residing in the Underdark, for what these monsters clearly lack in nightmare-inducing looks they make up for with not only plenty of eyeballs but incredible intelligence. They rely on their exceptionally strong perceptive and magical abilities rather than physical prowess, and their fearsome reputation made them one of the most feared monsters in the Forgotten Realms.
What’s the Dish? – Viewing this creature as anything remotely appetizing would certainly be next to impossible for most of us. However, should you happen to have that culinary third eye like Senshi or (let’s face it) Laios, there are actually a number of ways you could transform this monster into a dish to…well, behold. Our imagination led to the idea of taking a Beholder’s tongue, which is plenty big enough for a meal and slicing it into filets.
From there, you craft some makeshift puff pastry from various other ingredients such as Bluecap Mushrooms, also commonly found in the Underdark. Wrap it around your filets and presto! You have yourself some Beholder Tongue Wellingtons! Don’t worry, you don’t need to use those eyeballs for anything.
Slaad
Slaadi (plural form) are huge, bipedal frog-like creatures living in the chaotic world of Limbo that, despite being sentient, are infamously short-tempered and typically impossible to reason with or understand when considering virtually any topic. They come in several different variants, depending on their color, and while they can use magic, they’re best known for imbuing their remarkable physical strength with it. Oh, and there’s the poison underneath their skin as well. Facing one or more of these in battle is certainly not one you’d want to take lightly.
What’s the Dish? – When it comes to cooking anything frog-related, our first thought is usually, of course, frog legs. In the case of preparing a slain Slaad monster, there would certainly be more than plenty of frog leg meat to go around for your entire party. Going off Senshi’s culinary wisdom, the meat of the Slaad could be breaded and either broiled or fried, and served as you would chicken legs or any other poultry. The only question remaining that Senshi would likely ask is whether each variant of the Slaad tastes any different.
Grick
Should you find yourself wandering through caverns of the Underdark, a Grick is something you’d certainly not want to encounter if you can help it. However, they do like to lurk within the walls of such caverns, camouflage themselves, and await any unsuspecting prey that they can snatch up with their barbed tentacles. This worm-meets-octopus monstrosity is the stuff of nightmares, and outsmarting its penchant for ambushing is the key to not getting chomped by that monstrous beak of a mouth.
What’s the Dish? – In the case of a Grick, we could see Senshi wanting to make full use of the meat, and the tentacles as well. After all, anyone who’s partaken knows what squid and octopus are known for making – crispy calamari. Plenty of that could be made with the Grick’s menacing tentacles and served with some especially savory dipping sauce.
Bulette
The final entry on our list goes to the Bulette, which is a fascinating monster just in its anatomy. They’ve been escribed by some as ‘land dragons’ or ‘land sharks’, while they’ve also been noted for their snapping turtle-like characteristics. They hunt their prey much like the latter, burrowing beneath the ground and detecting vibrations from movement before emerging with their enormous maw wide open. Covered in armor from head to toe, few manage to escape their brutal attacks before it’s too late.
What’s the Dish? – In the case of a Bulette, the sheer accomplishment of slaying one of these can only be topped by making an incredibly special, savory dish. Initially, we figured that Senshi would probably like to make something akin to Bulette boudin balls, in which the creature’s meat would be ground up with rice and diced vegetables, and then breaded and fried to make hot and crispy snacks. He’d even shape them like turtles to boot, which we could totally get behind.
However, to commemorate our final entry, we also imagined using the meat of a Bulette in a one-of-a-kind soup, akin to that of traditional turtle soups. Toss it into a giant pot with plenty of other ingredients such as butter, onion, peppers, hardboiled eggs, something similar to a dry Sherry and Worcestershire, and a variety of spices. As resourceful as Senshi is, we’d have every ounce of faith that he’d pull off his own rendition of this dish and have Laios, Chilchuk, and even Marcille begging for seconds.
That concludes our list of 10 DnD monsters we’d love to eat Dungeon Meshi style. We hope you enjoyed this, and let us know if there’s a mythical creature we haven’t mentioned that you think would make a strangely delicious dish, if cooked by Senshi.
Be sure to check out all of our other features related to the latest trending animes, including our tribute to the late Akira Toriyama and his everlasting impact on the anime industry.
