Jaquie L.

Lamb, water, fat, salt, beer, onion, arugula, cilantro, shallot, cumin, leek garlic, coriander, and red beet. These are the ingredients of Tuh’u, or Red Beet Stew. Long ago, this stew was specially prepared to welcome visitors, though often lamb had to be skipped, or substituted when a household didn’t quite have enough funds to cover it. In the case of our rendition, we used pork.
From the moment we heard about Tuh’u during our first class, my roommates and I were hooked on the idea of recreating this stew. Or at least attempting to. It felt fitting to recreate. We’d only just arrived in a new, foreign land, we’d begun our first days of study, and we were all very hungry and tired due to the loss of our checked baggage. What better pick-me-up than a hearty stew dyed red with beets?
After inviting a few of our other classmates for a meal, we stopped by the local farmer’s market to acquire our ingredients. When the day arrived, our intrepid Head Chef Makenzie set about reviewing the video Professor Finitsis shared, and swiftly dolled out orders to our small kitchen crew. Dicing Expert Leann handled the prepping of ingredients, while I became Wash Master Jaquie and took care of busy work, pesky onions, and washing vegetables including our (accidentally acquired) 1kg of arugula. We had a salad to go with dinner.
Shortly after, Mia the Documentarian returned from her quest to entertain our future guests with a trip for gelato, and she filled in where needed while handling music, and recording when hands were full. With all four of us working together, jamming to Epic the Musical, it became almost like a party rather than a chore. Before long, we’d whipped up not only a pork rendition of Tuh’u, but also a vegetarian option for some of our guests.
With soda, spritzers, juice, cheese, bread, olive oil, salad, and roasted potatoes to flank our masterpiece, we set the table with both versions of beet stew and sat down with our guests for a delicious meal. The stew itself was rich, warm, and full of flavor. There was a crispness to the beets that still melted in your mouth, and the cilantro added just the right amount of bite to offset the hearty, seared pork. (Though, Mia would tell you that cilantro should be avoided at all costs as a general rule.)
After we’d all eaten, laughed, and most engaged in some tarot readings, we called it a night and set about handling cleanup. All in all, I think it was the perfect way to welcome someone to a new place, be it our invitees, or my roommates and myself. I just hope that we made Tuh’u’s creators proud.

We did forget the beer, though…