In the bustling town of Clock Town, everyone is busy readying for the festival. Over in East Clock Town, the Stock Pot Inn stands as one of the few places in Termina where travelers can still find a cozy bed and a warm meal. Its kitchen is small but steady, with bubbling pots of stew that seem to stay warm no matter how chaotic the festival season becomes. Though Anju herself is known to be a bit scatterbrained in the kitchen, guests never seem to complain about the food, suggesting the inn runs on the quiet reliability of the staff who keep everyone fed.
In a town supplied by the dairy of Romani Ranch and shaped by the practical cooking of Termina’s farm regions, a milk-based cream stew simmering for hours is exactly the kind of dish a weary traveler would expect to find at the Stock Pot Inn. It’s hearty but humble, built from root vegetables, mild seasonings, and whatever fresh ingredients Anju can source from Clock Town’s market stalls.
While Majora’s Mask never tells us exactly what cooks away in that big pot in the kitchen, the pale broth suggests something warm, creamy, and comforting, very likely a traditional cream stew. Drawing from the ingredients visible in the inn’s kitchen and the likely bounty available from Termina’s farms and merchants, a poultry-and-root-vegetable cream stew seems the most fitting interpretation. So that’s exactly what we’re making.
Anju’s Stock Pot Inn Cream Stew is a gentle, slow-simmered blend of chicken, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas, and earthy mushrooms, enriched with a light béchamel and deepened with a touch of miso. It’s the sort of simple, soothing dish that could quietly anchor a day at the inn, and the kind of familiar, homey cooking that would make even a nervous hostess like Anju proud to ladle into a bowl.
Ingredients
6 tbsp butter, divided
1 large onion, chopped
¼ cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups milk
½ tbsp white miso paste
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1-2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 cup green peas
4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
6–8 small shiitake mushrooms, sliced
3–4 fresh thyme sprigs
1¼ tsp salt, divided, plus additional
½ tsp black pepper, plus additional
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Olive oil
6 tbsp butter, divided
1 large onion, chopped
¼ cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups milk
½ tbsp white miso paste
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1-2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 cup green peas
4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
6–8 small shiitake mushrooms, sliced
3–4 fresh thyme sprigs
1¼ tsp salt, divided, plus additional
½ tsp black pepper, plus additional
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Olive oil
Set a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of butter along with a tablespoon of oil. Once the butter melts, add the chicken cubes and sear for 2 minutes per side; you don’t need to cook them through. Sear the chicken in batches, if needed, to avoid crowding the pot as they sear. Scoop out each batch and set it aside on a plate. Repeat until all of the chicken is seared.
Now, add the sliced shiitakes to the Dutch Oven and sauté for 2-3 minutes. This is just a quick sauté to wake up their aroma. Remove the mushrooms from the pot and reserve on a bowl or plate.
Add another tablespoon of butter to the pot and let it melt down. Add the onions and sauté until they soften and turn translucent.
Add the carrots, potatoes, and parsnips along with the thyme sprigs, then pour in the chicken stock. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of black pepper, and stir them in. Bring everything to a gentle simmer and let the vegetables cook until tender, about 15–20 minutes.
While the vegetables soften, we will make the béchamel sauce. Set another smaller pot over low heat. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in the pot. Once the butter is melted, add the ¼ cup of flour. Whisk the flour into the butter to create a smooth roux. Allow the flour to cook for about 2 minutes, but do not allow it to brown. In order to create a white sauce, we need to keep the roux blonde.
After the 2 minutes, start slowly whisking in the milk. Pour the milk in slowly, about 2-3 tablespoons at a time and completely whisk it into the roux before adding more. Continue this process until all 3 cups of the milk have been whisked in. You will notice the sauce getting oversaturated and becoming more gravy like after about the 1 to 1½ cup mark. Once all of the milk has been added, stir in the miso until it dissolves completely. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg. Whisk the spices into the sauce to fully blend. Turn the heat up to low-medium and allow the béchamel sauce to thicken a little more, about 3-5 minutes. When the béchamel sauce is done, remove it from the heat.
Once the vegetables in the stew have softened, return the chicken and mushrooms to the pot. Add the peas to the pot. Allow the chicken and mushrooms to reheat (and the peas to cook) for 5 minutes.
Remove the stew from the heat, and remove the thyme sprigs from the stew and discard them. We will now temper the béchamel before adding it to the soup. Scoop out one ladleful of the hot soup broth and add it to the béchamel sauce. Stir the broth into the béchamel sauce to fully incorporate it. Repeat with a second ladleful of hot broth. Once the béchamel has been tempered, slowly pour it into the soup pot and stir it into the broth. Continue stirring until the béchamel sauce is fully incorporated into the stew.
Allow the stew to simmer and thicken for an additional 5 minutes and it is ready to serve. Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the warm stew into bowls. Enjoy!