Nine-Egg Stew

"You want more stew? Falling's hungry work, I guess."
"Yes please."

―Porter Engle offers Bell Zettifar more stew^[1]

Nine-Egg Stew, or 9-egg stew, was a yellow stew invented by Jedi Master Porter Engle while he served as a cook at the Elphrona Outpost during the High Republic Era. It contained nine different kinds of eggs, which the stew was named after, and could be made with stone peppers. Served for meals such as breakfast, it was edible to members of multiple species, becoming a favorite of Jedi Padawan Bell Zettifar during his time on the planet Elphrona.

In 232 BBY, the stew was served to the Jedi of the Elphrona outpost for breakfast. At some point between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, two Imperial stormtroopers aboard the Raider-class corvette King's Ransom discussed Nine-Egg Stew while comparing it to Joppa stew.

Description[]

"It's fantastic today."
"It's the stone peppers. Found some nice hard ones at the market."

―Bell Zettifar and Porter Engle, on their breakfast of Nine-Egg Stew^[1]

Nine-Egg Stew^[1] or 9-egg stew,^[3] was a yellow stew that could be served as part of a breakfast meal. As the name indicated, the stew contained nine different kinds of eggs. Stone peppers could also be used in the dish. The stew had a thick consistency^[1] with white chunks immersed in the liquid,^[2] and was edible to humans, Ikkrukkians, and Twi'leks.^[1]

History[]

"This is the third time this week we're eating Joppa stew."
"Could be worse. Could be the Nine-Egg monstrosity again."

―Two stormtroopers aboard the King's Ransom^[4]

PorterEngleConcept — Porter Engle, inventor of Nine-Egg Stew

Nine-Egg Stew was invented by Jedi Master Porter Engle during his retirement to the Jedi outpost on the Outer Rim planet Elphrona as a cook during the High Republic Era.^[1] While Engle had a fearsome reputation to his enemies, he was known for cooking the stew for his allies.^[2] He would only reveal what five of the nine types of eggs in the stew were. When the human Jedi Padawan Bell Zettifar, apprenticed to Twi'lek Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm, came to Elphrona, the stew quickly became a favorite of his. Zettifar suspected that the sources of the eggs Engle refused to identify were either rare or disgusting.^[1]

In 232 BBY,^[5] the Jedi of the Elphrona outpost—who included Engle, Zettifar, Greatstorm, and the Tholothian Jedi Knight Indeera Stokes—ate a breakfast including Nine-Egg Stew after Zettifar had spent the early morning training with Greatstorm and Stokes on the Force power controlled descent. Commenting that falling appeared to be hard work, Engle asked Zettifar if he wanted more stew after noticing he had emptied his bowl. The Padawan answered in the affirmative, noting that the stew was fantastic that day, which Engle attributed to stone peppers he had acquired, explaining he had found some "nice hard ones" at the market. After Zettifar requested more of the stew, his pet charhound Ember reacted knowing he was the Jedi most likely to feed her scraps from meals. Greatstorm emptied his bowl while Zettifar ate his second serving.^[1]

The Jedi finished eating breakfast while discussing their plans for the day, and Engle had a servitor droid clear away the dishes, which he had intended to clean himself before the Jedi were abruptly summoned to respond to the Nihil pirates raid on the Blythe homestead. Greatstorm was captured by the Nihil during the raid and presumed dead.^[1]

During the year he spent as a captive of Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro under near-constant torture, the Jedi Master sometimes dreamt he was back on Elphrona, imagining the smell of Nine-Egg Stew.^[6] In 231 BBY,^[7] Greatstorm had one such dream until he was awoken by the Nihil Chadra-Fan Doctor Kisma Uttersond.^[6] In 229 BBY,^[8] Engle was trapped within the Nihil's territory known as the Occlusion Zone. In order to survive he began eating a type of brown stew which he considered unappetizing kept in packets aboard his shuttle, the Torment. As the Jedi Master ate the stew while on the planet Daedus^[9] that year,^[8] he mentally noted that it was no Nine-Egg Stew but that it would do.^[9]

At some point between 3 ABY and 4 ABY,^[10] a stormtrooper aboard the Imperial Raider-class corvette King's Ransom remarked that it was the third time that week they had been eating Joppa stew. Another stormtrooper responded that it was better than eating Nine-Egg Stew—which they described as a "monstrosity."^[4] Later during that time,^[11] the malevolent droid intelligence known as the Scourge reflected on its actions while speaking to^[12] one of its bodies, called the "Elder."^[13] The Scourge compared the harm that they had caused to the nine eggs needed to make Nine-Egg Stew, as it believed the harm had been incidental to other goals and thus necessary.^[12]

Behind the scenes[]

"Cooking up some 9-egg stew"
"[Reveals Porter's updated Phase III concept art]"
"Cooking up some serious payback"

―"Where Are They Now?" but make it High Republic, This Week! in Star Wars^[3]

Nine-Egg Stew first appeared in the 2021 novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, written by Charles Soule for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's^[1] Phase I.^[14] The dish was capitalized as "nine-egg stew" in a StarWars.com article previewing the end of the phase.^[15] It was first pictured in a Characters of Star Wars: The High Republic video about Porter Engle released on the official Star Wars YouTube channel on November 4, 2022.^[2] The stew was later identified as 9-egg stew in a This Week! in Star Wars video posted on the official Star Wars Youtube channel on November 3, 2023, showcasing concept art of characters for the project's Phase III, including Engle.^[3]