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Kate Dicey
 
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Default WW2 London cuisine question

J Wexler wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Jan 2006, Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:
>
>
>>Anybody have any wartime British recipes for whale?

>
>
> No, but ...
>
> the word was that you could just cook it like beef or mutton. Wartime
> recipes tended to be very basic, and the fanciest suggestion would
> probably be to mince it up and make a shepherds pie.
>
> However, whale meat was available into the sixties, to my certain
> knowledge, and I did buy it (it came in a frozen lump) and enjoy it.
> Boarding school diet was pretty dull, and a solid chunk of very lean
> meat was a treat. We dusted it with curry powder and pan-fried it.
> Delicious. Fishy? Yes, it did taste slightly of fish, but it was far
> from the puke-making whiff of boiled whiting that blighted our Friday
> mealtimes.
>
> We also believed that whale fat was used in the manufacture of ice
> cream, and, with adolescent inconsistency, we found that idea repulsive.
>
> John Wexler


I can't find any specifically for whale, but my book says you can use it
foe stews, just like beef. They all recommend quite a bit of
flavouring, like Oxo and onions, to help it be beefier and less fishy.

Larousse Gastronomique would have it that whale meat is 'most
indigestible and remains tough even after 24 hours cooking'.

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