Whale Meat

[leakybucket]

I thought you might be interested in what Melville had to say about eating whale. Stubbs (Chapter LXIV "Stubb's Supper) seems to prefer his whale meat just about raw and complains that the cook has overcooked his whale steak.

"Cook," said Stubb, rapidly lifting a rather reddish morsel to his mouth, "don't you think this steak is rather overdone? You've been beating this steak too much, cook; it's too tender. Don't, I always say that to be good, a whale-steak must be tough.?"

"Well then, cook; you see this whale-steak of yours was so very bad, that I have put it out of sight as soon as possible; you see that, don't you? Well, for the future, when you cook another whale-steak for my private table here, the capstan, I'll tell you what to do so as not to spoil it by overdoing. Hold the steak in one hand, and show a live coal to it with the other; that done, dish it; d'ye hear? And now to-morrow, cook, when we are cutting in the fish, be sure you stand by to get the tips of his fins; have them put in pickle. As for the ends of the flukes, have them soused, cook....Whale-balls for breakfast --don't forget.


For those of you without a book, Melville's chapter on "The Whale as a Dish" (Chapter LXV) can be read here:

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/adventure/mobydick/chap65.html

This chapter is very short and a stand alone so it won't spoil the story for you. It is very informative.

Bucky

[Laurel]

This should keep you busy for a while.

http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2006/08/18

[leakybucket]

You know I was thinking. Since they removed that BNU faulty link a lot of new people might be joining the boards for the first time. They will look at Moby Dick and think either we are frivolous bunch who are not interested in discussing Moby Dick, the discussion started but fizzled, or, at best, it is already underway and it is too late for them to join. It might not be a bad idea to post a top-level folder giving our starting schedule. Maybe something like:

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Welcome to the Moby Dick Group. We have not started our discussions of Moby Dick yet so there is plenty of time to get the book and join us. We officially start our discussion on December 26th. We will start off slowly covering only Chapters 1-9 (about 61 pages) the first week so latecomers and people who don't have their books can catch-up. Our reading schedule is as follows:

Moby Dick: On Dry Land, Chapters 1-27
Moby Dick: All Aboard the Pequod, Chapters 28-54
Moby Dick: Dissecting the Whale, various chapters
Moby Dick: How to Kill a Whale, Chapters 61-98
Moby Dick: Renewed Pursuit, Chapters 99-131
Moby Dick: Final Confrontations, Final Thoughts, Chapters 133-Epilogue

In the mean time introduce yourself and get to know the rest of us. Some of us are filling the time before the official start date with background material so feel free to join in those discussions.

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The folder should probably carry the clear header "Moby Dick - Start date December 26th" so people see it right away and Bob (or someone official) should probably post it so it looks official and "sticks" to the top, however that is done.

I have arbitrarily picked something for my above example but if everyone is agreed we need something then when do we want to officially start, does everyone agree we want to have a slow go the first week and if so, is my selection of the block of text a good one. If not maybe someone could suggest something better. I haven't read that much of the book myself.

Bucky

[Choisya]

Yes E Lee. Mine is the 1865 edition.

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ELee wrote:
"I still use my grandmother's recipes from her old Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book (which is dropping to pieces!)."

Choisya,
Is that the same Mrs. Beeton that wrote the "Book of Household Management"? "The Household General"?

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[Choisya]

Great website Laurel - thanks a lot! Great to have some MD music too.

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Laurel wrote:
This should keep you busy for a while.

http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2006/08/18

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[Choisya]

Good idea Bucky - let's hope Bob picks up on this.

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leakybucket wrote:
You know I was thinking. Since they removed that BNU faulty link a lot of new people might be joining the boards for the first time. They will look at Moby Dick and think either we are frivolous bunch who are not interested in discussing Moby Dick, the discussion started but fizzled, or, at best, it is already underway and it is too late for them to join. It might not be a bad idea to post a top-level folder giving our starting schedule. Maybe something like:

-------------

Welcome to the Moby Dick Group. We have not started our discussions of Moby Dick yet so there is plenty of time to get the book and join us. We officially start our discussion on December 26th. We will start off slowly covering only Chapters 1-9 (about 61 pages) the first week so latecomers and people who don't have their books can catch-up. Our reading schedule is as follows:

Moby Dick: On Dry Land, Chapters 1-27
Moby Dick: All Aboard the Pequod, Chapters 28-54
Moby Dick: Dissecting the Whale, various chapters
Moby Dick: How to Kill a Whale, Chapters 61-98
Moby Dick: Renewed Pursuit, Chapters 99-131
Moby Dick: Final Confrontations, Final Thoughts, Chapters 133-Epilogue

In the mean time introduce yourself and get to know the rest of us. Some of us are filling the time before the official start date with background material so feel free to join in those discussions.

----------------------

The folder should probably carry the clear header "Moby Dick - Start date December 26th" so people see it right away and Bob (or someone official) should probably post it so it looks official and "sticks" to the top, however that is done.

I have arbitrarily picked something for my above example but if everyone is agreed we need something then when do we want to officially start, does everyone agree we want to have a slow go the first week and if so, is my selection of the block of text a good one. If not maybe someone could suggest something better. I haven't read that much of the book myself.

Bucky

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[ziki]

Thanks Choisya,
I did some surfing-reading about the minced pies recently and I found out that originally the meat was included in the pies. It was a way to preserve the meat.

I also came across the Mrs.Beetons puddings on line and it is good to have it 'confirmed' by you now. :-)

ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 12-14-200603:30 PM

[ziki]

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Choisya wrote:Hey, don't rain on Bob's parade!!

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No, no, just some cooking inbetween readings of MD ;-)

ziki

[Choisya]

Yes, mince pies were originally filled with heavily spiced minced beef Ziki but that hasn't been the case for a couple of centuries. The suet used is often beef suet but that is the nearest they gets to meat these days - most folks use vegetable suet so that vegetarians and folks from other faiths can also eat them.

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ziki wrote:
Thanks Choisya,
I did some surfing-reading about the minced pies recently and I found out that originally the meat was included in the pies. It was a way to preserve the meat.

I also came across the Mrs.Beetons puddings on line and it is good to have it 'confirmed' by you now. :-)

ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 12-14-200603:30 PM

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Message Edited by Choisya on 12-14-200609:46 AM

[ziki]

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leakybucket wrote:I have a feeling I am going to come out of reading Moby Dick knowing an LOT about whales!

Bucky

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That is what I have heard about it; that it was like reading a whale encyclopedia.
Consequently I never attempted to read the book. It sounds though like there might be more to it.

ziki

Message Edited by ziki on 12-14-200603:53 PM

[ziki]

Wouldn't butter do?
ziki

[Choisya]

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ziki wrote:
Wouldn't butter do?
ziki

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Oh no! Suet has a much lower melting point and a very different taste.

[ziki]

Thanks,Laurel, that was really interesting!

and here marathon reading of MD:

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/prog/marathon.html

[ziki]

Bucky,
don't worry. The ones who want to find it will. Leave it to the fate:-)
ziki

[fanuzzir]

Thanks for the reference. I've heard about this new "Spoon" book--it's supposed to be the last word on Italian cooking as Italians do it.

[Laurel]

So if your book hasn't arrived yet, don't worry. You can read the whole thing in 24 hours. By the way, the man in the photo is holding my Eastman Press Moby Dick.

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ziki wrote:
Thanks,Laurel, that was really interesting!

and here marathon reading of MD:

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/prog/marathon.html

---

[donyskiw]

The Library of America editions do not have literary introductions like the BN Classics or the Randomhouse Everyman editions so I miss those. But they have end notes in them that explain things as you read along that may not be obvious in the text: definitions of archaic words, Biblical references, references to other pieces of literature or to songs, also words that may have been changed in the manuscript. They do vary from one volume to another because each volume has different editors. In fact, the moderator we had for one of our BNU classics was the editor for one of these volumes. I believe she moderated My Antonia but I might be wrong about that.

Denise

[donyskiw]

Ooooh, I have always looked at pictures of the Eastman Press books but never bought one! I am drooling on my keyboard with envy!

Denise

[donyskiw]

I agree. There's only so much we can do to try to predict how to make this look the most inviting.

Denise

[ziki]

Hi Bob,
I am constantly learning with BN ('whatafun') and therefore I can now provide this short background summary:
The Silver Spoon is a compilation of recipes from all over Italy. Nothing new in itself because it was 'gathered' in the fiftees (?-I think) but what is new is the translation into English. Both US and UK versions exist (they differ in measurement system otherwise the content is the same).I ordered the book and I am waiting for it.

Cookbooks make great Christmas presents therefore I posted it here. Someone might get inspired! ;-)


ziki