Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-02-01

M WAS an experimental
~ cook. and once or twice,
An while cutting in whale.
~ tried them with whale
Mn meat. The flesh lying un-
I der the blubber somewhat
resembles beef In color, and
kki is 10 tender as easily to be
torn apart by tho hands But whale
meat is not docile under culinary treat
ment. Gastronomically, Il has an indi.
viduality Of its own, which will keep on
asserting itself, no matter how much
spice and pepper Is put upon II. It is
wild, untamed steed. propounded It to
my guests in the g,Iise Of sausages,
but when the meal was over the
sausages were there still. II can't
be done. Shark can. Sharks Is q
sweat meat, much resembling that OF
the swordfish, but no man will ever
eat . whale, at least an old one.
The calves might conduct themselves
better In the frying pan. We had many
about us whose mothers we had killed,
but we never thought Of frying them.
When whaler is trying out oil, she is
blackened with the greasy SCOT arising
from the burning blubber scraps from
stem to stern. 1t falls like storm OF
black snowflakcs. They sift into tho
tniest crevice. OF all this my cookery
got its full share. II tingcd my bread
and even my pies with funeral tinge Of
blackness. The deck at such times was
covered with "horse pieces" up to the
top Of the bulwarks. "Horse pieces"
are chunks Of blubber foot or 30 in
length, that being ono stage Of their re-
duction to the size necessary for the try
pota have introduced them here for
the purpose of remarking that on my
passage to and fro, from galley to cabin,
while engaged in laying the cloth and
arranging our services of gold plate and
6evres wear, had to Chamber, wade,
climb and sometimes, In my white neck
tie and swallow-tail coat, actually crawl
over the greasy mass with the silver
tureen full OF "consomme" or ''soup
Julien" while held the gilt-edged and
enameled menu between my teeth.
Those were trying-out times for mari.
time head butler. ..-4l
~Ae SICK &QHsiniiijy does not rank high at
-. He stands very near the bottom
round OF the ladder. He Ii the subject Of
many jests and low comparisons. This
should not be. Tho cook should rank
next or near to the captain. 1t Is the cook
who prepares the material which shall
put mental and physical strength into
human bodies. He is, in fact, o chemist,
who carries on tho last external process
60 with meat, flour and vegetables neces-
sary to prepare them for their invisible
and still more wonderful treatment In
the laboratory which every man and wo-
man possesses--the stomach--whereby
these raw materials are converted not
only into blood, bone, nerve, sinew and
muscle, but into thoughts. A good cook
may help materially to make good po-
etry. An indigestible beefsteak. fried
In grease to leather, may. In the stom-
ach Of general, lose battle ON which
shall depend the fate Of nations. A good
cook might have won the battle. or
course, he would receive no credit there
for, save the conviction in his own culin-
ary soul, that his beefsteak properly and
quickly broiled was thus enabled to di-
gest itself properly in the stomach of the
general. and thereby transmit to and
through the generals organism that
amount Of nerve force and vigor, which.
acting upon the brain, caused all his in
telligence and talent to attain its maxi
mum, and thereby conquer his adver-
sary. That's what a cook may do. This
would be far better and happier world
were there more really good cooks on
land and sea. And when all cooks are
Blots or Soyers, then will we have So
ciety to be proud of.
While whaling in Marguerite bay, we
"kedged" the Henry about one hundred
miles inland, where the whales abounded.
In % kedging it was necessary to stake
out ct low. water portions Of the channel
daily, when 1t ran mere creek through
an expanse Of hard sand, sometimes
mile from either shore. At high water,
all this would be covered to a depth Of
six or seven feet. The Henry grounded
ut each ebb, and often keeled over at an
angle Of forty-five. From our bulwarks
Il was often possible to jump on dry
ground. This keeling over process,
twice repeated every twenty -four hours.
was particularly hard on the cook, for
the Inconvenience resulting from such
fogty-iive degree angle Of inclination ex-
tended to all things within his province.
Ny stove worked badly at the angle OF
fosty-five. The kettle could be but half
Allied, and only boiled where the water
was shallowest inside. The cabin table
could only be set at an angle Of forty
iva 30 that while the guests on mo
upper side had great difficulty In pre-
venting themselves from slipping of
ths1r seats on and over that table, those
On the lower side had equal difficulty
IA keeping themselves up to convenient
feeding distance.
Capt Reynolds. at the head Of the
board, had hard lot In the endeavor to
maintain his dignity and sitting perpen-
dicularly at the same time on the then
permanent and not popular angle OF
fosty-6v& But !, steward. butler, cook
and cabin boy. bore the hardest tribula-
ton Of I'll in carrying my dishes across
the deck, down the cabin stairs, and ar
ranging them on . table at an angle Of
torty-Ave. Of>course, at this time the
s4ck nssd In rough weather to prevent
paaAO and plattes from slipping of was
4 teonght Into permanent use.
1snnelt from galley to cabin was &C.
co0paished by crawling on two legs and
90 arm, thus making Of myself peril
{ pabsfao human triangle. while the unoc-
. Enpfsd hand with difficulty bore aloft
ok6Usup tureens II was then appreci-
s1sd tbs great advantage afforded In
eos1aln circumstances By the prehensils