Whale meat

“ Few people realize the great part which whale meat plays in the life of the ordinary Japanese. Too poor to buy beef, their diet would include little but rice, fish, and vegetables, were it not for the great supply of flesh and blubber furnished by the huge water mammals. ”

“ They chewed over that pointed information for a while, then they got to making each other bets of a thousand dollars about what whale meat would taste like; whether whale liver and bacon could be told from natural liver and bacon, and whether whale steak would probably taste like catfish or mebbe more like mud turtle. ”

“ Whale meat on the washing platforms ready to be sent to market.
It is most unfortunate that prejudice prevents whale meat from being eaten in Europe and America. It could not, of course, be sent fresh to the large cities, but canned in the Japanese fashion it is vastly superior to much of the beef and other tinned foods now on sale in our markets. In New Zealand, the Messrs. Cook Brothers, who have developed the 90method of capturing humpback whales in wire nets (described in the Introduction) , can a great deal of meat and ship it to the South Sea Islands, where it is sold to the natives. ”

“ Fat derivatives such as soaps, margarines and a few other products owe their abundance and low cost to the whaling industry. Packing house technology has been applied to the butchering of whales so that the entire animal has many uses. Tasty meats are finding their way into the diets of many countries and the tougher, less tasty parts are ground and used to feed cats and dogs. Farms that raise mink and other mammals for the fur trade are heavy buyers of this source of meat to feed their animals. ”

“ He blows, breathes, feeds, and lives in whale fashion. But he contains but a barrel or two of oil, of an inferior quality, and hence is beneath the notice of the average whaleman, though vessels in hard luck occasionally turn to and slaughter him rather than return to port empty. His meat, on the other hand, is better than whale meat, and is often esteemed a delicacy on a long whaling voyage when fresh meat from other sources has not been obtainable. ”

“ And, at this time, any man may venture among the black-fins with perfect impunity—so much more is whale-meat esteemed above human flesh by epicurean sharks. As soon as the flesh that is triable is taken from the whale, the carcass becomes a dead weight in the water, descending through the waves with a rush as soon as the stays are cut. ”

“ Soon came the Civil War, in which many vessels were captured or destroyed, then followed the sinking of forty or more vessels of the Charleston Stone Fleet described elsewhere, and finally came the Arctic disasters of 1871 and 1876, all of which hastened the end of the industry.
Whale-meat in Japan awaiting shipment to market. It is sold to the poorer classes in all the large towns at prices which range from 7 to 8 cents a pound. One whale yields as much meat as a herd of 100 cattle. ”

“ In modern whaling the flesh is made into guano and the bones and blood into fertilizer, and even the water in which the blubber has been “tried out” is used in making glue. The meat is to-day sold to Japan, and, if the weather is very cold and the supply of fish is limited, a whale might bring there as much as four thousand dollars by utilizing all the by-products as well as the meat, which is sometimes canned. In America a whale is now valued at about two hundred dollars, but, if the entire carcass is utilized, it might bring one thousand dollars. ”

“ Fires are made occasionally in the middle of the floor to cook the small portion of their food that is not eaten raw. Ivory-headed spears, arrows, seal nets, bags of oil, rags of seal or walrus meat, and strips of whale blubber and skin, lie on shelves or hang confusedly from the roof, while puppies and nursing mother-dogs and children may be seen scattered here and there, or curled snugly in the pots and eating-troughs, after they have licked them clean, making a kind of squalor that is picturesque and daring beyond conception. ”

“ The fat or blubber is found everywhere directly below the skin, and is thickest towards the tail. It bears a resemblance to very fat pork, and is from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness. The flesh of the whale is coarse and tough, and is used largely for dog-food; although often eaten by the Eskimos, it is only when seal or walrus meat cannot be obtained. ”

“ Food is generally cooked, except, perhaps, whale-skin and whale gum, which usually seem to be eaten as soon as obtained, without waiting for a fire. Meat of all kinds is generally boiled in abundance of water over a fire of driftwood, and the broth thus made is drunk hot before eating the meat. Fowls are prepared for boiling by skinning them. Fish are also boiled, but are often eaten raw, especially in winter at the deer-hunting camps, when they are frozen hard. Meat is sometimes eaten raw or frozen. ”

“ The best of the meat we have cut off, two long strips down the back, perhaps thirty pounds each, and into vinegar and water they go, enough fresh meat for all hands for several days, and the oil of the spec or blubber will probably amount to a gallon—one gallon clear profit for our shareholder—one little drop of the vast ocean of whale oil we hope to collect some day for the furtherance of British industries, and the manufacture of margarine and olive oil in Paris, and the hundred and one other purposes for which whale oil is used. ”

“ The fat and ivory are divided among the hunters who took part in the killing, but the flesh is given to any one who asks for it."
"Is it really good to eat, papa?" asked Ned.
"Those who are judges of whale flesh say there are three qualities of meat in every whale, the best resembling mutton, the second similar to pork, and the third resembling beef."
"The whales are so big and strong; don't [91] they ever fight back when men try to kill them, papa?" asked Elsie. ”

“ The meat of this species is so dark and full of oil that it is of but little use as food. Nevertheless, during the summer it is sold to the native coal miners of Japan who live in such extreme poverty that they are glad to get even such meat at two or three sen per pound. ”

“ The possible number of permutations of seal meat were decidedly limited. The fact that the men did not know what was coming gave them a sort of mental speculation, and the slightest variation was of great value.
“We caught an adelie to-day (January 26) and another whale was seen at close quarters, but no seals.
“We are now very short of blubber, and in consequence one stove has to be shut down. We only get one hot beverage a day, the tea at breakfast. For the rest we have iced water. Sometimes we are short even of this, so we take a few chips of ice in a tobacco-tin to bed with us. ”

“ Some of our [Pg 119] seamen pretended that this last sort of oil, when it is fresh, is very good for kitchen uses. It is preferred to that of the whale; is always clear, and leaves no sediment.’
Walrus meat is strong, coarse, and of a game-like flavour. Seal flesh is exceedingly oily, and not very palatable; but by practice, residents in the northern regions learn to relish both exceedingly.
The large tongue, the heart, and liver of the walrus (Trichecus rosmarus) , are often eaten by whalers for want of better fresh provisions, and are passably good. ”

“ Of Pike, the belly is best, with plenty of sauce.
Salt Lampreys, cut in seven gobbets, pick out the backbones, serve with onions and galentine.
Plaice: cut off the fins, cross it with a knife, sauce with wine, &c.
Gurnard, Chub, Roach, Dace, Cod, &c., split up and spread on the dish.
Soles, Carp, &c., take off as served.
Whale, porpoise, congur, turbot, Halybut, &c., cut in the dish, and also Tench in jelly.
On roast Lamprons cast vinegar, &c., and bone them.
Crabs are hard to carve: break every claw, put all the meat in the body-shell, and then season it with vinegar or verjuice and powder. ”

“ In winter, if there is little fish to be had, the meat of the humpback whale, which is most highly esteemed, sometimes brings as much as thirty sen (fifteen cents) per pound; but this is very unusual and ordinarily it can be bought for fifteen sen or less. But the edible portions are not only the flesh and blubber. The heart, liver, tongue, intestines, and 88other parts of the viscera are prepared for human consumption, and what little remains is first tried out to extract the oil, then chipped by means of hand knives, and dried in the sun for fertilizer. ”

“ The remaining parts, blood, bones, and meat scraps, are dried and ground into nutritious meals which are used by the poultry and livestock industries as supplementary feeds. Currently each whale produces over $5,000 worth of products. ”

“ For some years summer whaling operations have been conducted at this island and great numbers of whale carcasses, after being stripped of the blubber, have drifted ashore. The short cool summers and long cold winters of this region preserve the bodies from rapid decay and the rats which have landed from the ships find there a never-ending surplus of meat. ”

“ Their food comprises almost everything that is endowed with life—kangaroos, snakes, iguanas, and grubs being their dainties; and if in the neighborhood where a bullock is killed, they greedily flock to the spot, secure the entrails, and devour them without cleansing. They are also very fond of the flesh of the whale; and if by accident one comes ashore on the coast, or they take one at either of the fisheries in the bay, they resort to the spot in great numbers and devour the meat, fresh or putrid, without cooking. The women back all the burdens, beside carrying the children ”

“ In the summer when it is impossible to ship the meat long distances because of the heat, much of it is canned. The flesh is cooked in great kettles and the cans made, packed, and labeled at the stations ”

“ You must first prepare a paste of salt, dry mustard, curry powder, black pepper, and salad oil. Spread it over the lobster, then melt an ounce of butter in a fire-proof dish, put in the fish, and heat it well through, browning the top. If you are using fresh lobster, it will require fully ten minutes in cooking.
Tinned salmon, or the remains of a tinned tongue, may be used in the same manner, and so may the Australian beef.
The remains of a cold roast duck are suitable for a most excellent devil. To make it you must remove the bones and cut the meat into rather small pieces, but not too small. ”

“ Whale-blubber tastes like raw bacon and it cannot very easily be cooked, as it would liquify too soon. It is a good deal better than seal-oil, which to a southern palate is sweet, mawkish, and sickly. Seal-oil tastes as lamp-oil smells. But you can approach without a qualm boiled beluga-skin, which is the skin of the white whale. In its soft and gelatinous form it ranks among northern delicacies with beaver-tail and moose-nose, being exceedingly tasty and ever so much more palatable than pigs-feet. ”

“ It is usual to boil lamb, veal, and pork longer than beef or mutton. Of course all vessels in which meat is boiled, should be clean and wholesome. Vessels of copper, brass, and lead must be avoided in cookery, unless the inside be well tinned. The best saucepans are of iron, tinned in the inside. I would observe, that salmon requires nearly as much boiling as meat, that is to say, about a quarter of an hour to every pound of fish. Turbot, salmon, john-dory, cod-fish, haddocks, brill, skate, and the large Dover and West of England black soles, are best boiled. ”

“ The flesh of young sea-lions is still better than that of the fur-seal, while the natives say that the meat of the hair-seal (Phoca vitulina) is superior to both, being more juicy. Fur-seal meat is exceedingly dry; hence the necessity of putting bacon into the frying-pan or stew-pot with it. Sea-lion flesh is an improvement in this respect, and also that its fat, strange to say, is wholly clear, white, and inodorous, while the blubber of the “holluschickie” is sickening to the smell, and will, nine times out of ten, cause any civilized stomach to throw it up as quickly as it is swallowed. ”

“ The inhabitants of Greenland, and of other northern countries of the world, eat almost every part of the whale. The skin, the tail, and the fins, are sometimes eaten even raw. The flesh is eaten both fresh and dried. That of the young animals is of red colour; and, when cleared of fat, broiled and seasoned with pepper and salt, is said to eat not unlike coarse beef. That of an old whale appears black, and is exceedingly coarse and unpalatable. The Esquimaux, however, eat both the flesh and fat of the whale, and drink the oil with greediness. ”

“ It is a matter of taste whether we like well or underdone meat, but underdone fish is the most unwholesome as it is the most repulsive food that can be offered to us, and in no process of cooking is more judgement required than in the cooking of fish. Fillets of fish of all kinds, either boiled, steamed, or baked, look transparent when raw, but are milk white when cooked sufficiently. If the French method of frying is practised, the large quantity of fat cooks it very quickly, and as soon as it is brown it is done. ”

“ The sea-otter has been driven from this immediate neighborhood by too vigorous and indiscriminate pursuit, but the sea-lion, various water-fowls, and plenty of cod, halibut, and salmon still abound among these lonely islands of the North Pacific. Occasionally a dead whale is stranded on the shore, which is considered a cause for great rejoicing, every part of the animal being utilized by the natives. No matter how putrid the flesh may be, it is eagerly eaten by these people, both raw and cooked. ”