Summary
- Uncommon Taste contains a lethal recipe, for those who aren't resistant to poison, anyway.
- The Gourmet has two recipes, one is poisonous and one is vegetable soup.
- If the Dragonborn never took The Gourmet's place, he may have poisoned Emperor Titus Mede II anyway.
The Dark Brotherhood quest line in Skyrim is among the game's most compelling. It has you assassinating a newlywed, getting up close and personal with an immortal spirit and slaying the freaking Emperor of (parts of) Tamriel. However, concerning the latter, a player has discovered that we need not have bothered.
As it turns out, the mysterious culinary artist The Gourmet may have killed Emperor Titus Mede II of his own accord, had we let him; Well, it turned out to be his body double anyway, but same difference. This is because of a humorous implication of The Gourmet's cookbook Uncommon Taste discovered by a Reddit user by the .
The Gourmet, An Unwitting Assassin
During the quest, we murder and steal the identity of The Gourmet to gain access to The Emperor and poison him. This is done by adding a poisonous jarrin root to the recipe. However, as the post points out, The Gourmet's recipe for Sunlight Souffle lists one of the ingredients as "a cupful of ground nutmeg."
Nutmeg is a sweet spice that combos perfectly with cinnamon, but you're only supposed to use very fine amounts of the stuff. This is because nutmeg contains myristicin, a toxic hallucinogenic that can be lethal at high doses. A cupful (120g) of nutmeg is certainly enough to cause organ failure and possibly even death.
Most recipes won't ask for more than half a teaspoon of nutmeg, and as little as 2 teaspoons can be toxic to humans.
There's no guarantee The Gourmet was preparing his famous Sunlight Souffle for Titus Mede II, he may have been thinking about one of his other recipes, or perhaps something new. Neither Imperials nor Orcs have poison resistance, so perhaps this dish is intended for Bosmer or Redguards. Balagog gro-Nolob should probably note that in the book, though.
Uncommon Taste only contains two recipes and for over 10 Septims, that just isn't value for money. Plus, the second recipe 'Potage le Magnifique' is just a vegetable soup. We can already make vegetable soup, it restores 1 point of health and 1 point of stamina every second for 720 seconds. The Gourmet is a fraud, and a dangerous one.
One of the all-time greats, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim redefined the concept of the Western RPG. With countless awards under its belt and releases on almost every platform imaginable, you'll find yourself engrossed in a colossal open world in your role as the Dragonborn. You must face your destiny and save the land from a formidable foe.
