Food science...
Sunday, 17. June 2007, 23:52:26
Norway is one of the few country that still kills whales. Allegedly, I believe it is still for research. In practice, it seems that it is for food.
I am not convinced that whaling is intrinsically evil (any more than eating cows or calamari, at least). I do believe that we need to be careful of the environment, but I do eat meat and I find it hard to figure out the basic difference between eating different animals (except that some don't taste good), as opposed to differences based on the effective management of resources to minimise the damage to "the environment" - particular species, and particular ecosystems.
But there are not a lot of whale recipes about. There isn't that much whalemeat about, either - I have seen it in the supermarket, and in the odd restaurant. But a book of whale recipes doesn't seem to be the thing that people give you when you turn up in Norway. I know people eat it, but they seem a little shy about it - a little like not owning up to smoking until you are sure that people will not ostracise you.
So, how do you cook a whale? It's red meat, but that is about as much as I really know. I was pondering the idea of a whale cake (based on the marginally less scary idea of a meat cake).The best idea I have at the moment (with input from Claudio and Eira) is to make a cake shell with 50/50 almond meal and flour, and then put maybe some parsnip mash, some quince paste (dulce de membrillo), and sour cream.
Or maybe it isn't the best idea. Anyone got a suggestion? You don't have to actually eat a whale, just think about food...
I am not convinced that whaling is intrinsically evil (any more than eating cows or calamari, at least). I do believe that we need to be careful of the environment, but I do eat meat and I find it hard to figure out the basic difference between eating different animals (except that some don't taste good), as opposed to differences based on the effective management of resources to minimise the damage to "the environment" - particular species, and particular ecosystems.
But there are not a lot of whale recipes about. There isn't that much whalemeat about, either - I have seen it in the supermarket, and in the odd restaurant. But a book of whale recipes doesn't seem to be the thing that people give you when you turn up in Norway. I know people eat it, but they seem a little shy about it - a little like not owning up to smoking until you are sure that people will not ostracise you.
So, how do you cook a whale? It's red meat, but that is about as much as I really know. I was pondering the idea of a whale cake (based on the marginally less scary idea of a meat cake).The best idea I have at the moment (with input from Claudio and Eira) is to make a cake shell with 50/50 almond meal and flour, and then put maybe some parsnip mash, some quince paste (dulce de membrillo), and sour cream.
Or maybe it isn't the best idea. Anyone got a suggestion? You don't have to actually eat a whale, just think about food...
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I can remember that the taste of the meet was really really good, so most of the pieces ended up in our mouth without anything else on the fork. I think I have to put it up there on the list next to Elk meat, which I also like a whole lot.
Since my bookshelf is packed with programming books, I have no cooking tips to give you at the moment, but a quick search for "hval biff snadder" gave me an interesting result. http://www.hvalbiff.no. Now that URL you would never have guessed
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 18. June 2007, 00:37:48
Interesting observation... I don't agree with it at all, though. Maybe I don't see it because I'm Norwegian?
In any case, it's not very common to eat whale meat, at least not in the part of Norway that I'm from. The only time I've eaten it is at the cafeteria at the university here in Oslo, and it tasted a lot like code liver oil (Tran). That was supposedly because it had gone a little bad, it was a university cafeteria after all, so I wasn't surprised.
By vetler, # 18. June 2007, 07:37:07
Which I don't really need a translation for
@vetler, it could also be that I am imagining this because I don't understand Norwegians so well.
Mmmmm. University cafeteria...
By chaals, # 18. June 2007, 08:19:35
Now I can undertsand what you ment by "I know people eat it, but they seem a little shy about it". We do try to hide our trails.
Sorry, must have added an extra a trialing dot there in the link. The full URL is http://www.hvalbiff.no/hovedside.asp?fldr=1&id=0
I can't see any cake around, the closest one must be:
Seamans's beef:
But still far awayf from what you had imagined I guess. BTW, most of these recepies doesn't look very Norwegian at all.
@Vetler: For some reason I thought up to now you where Dutch. What a random guess and NULL pointer exception that was.
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 18. June 2007, 08:33:44
And no, no actual cake recipes there...
By chaals, # 18. June 2007, 09:50:37
When I was a primary school boy, the school provided lunch, including whale meat. In those days, the whale meat was cheap, so they used it, as substitute for beef or pork. As a school lunch, we ate fried one with tasty sauces, as far as I remembered. As a home recipe, we ate raw meat, like sushi-style, with a little bits of soy sauce. My preferences? I like that. Anyway, I don't have any plans to try that in the near future.
When you come to Japan, in the near future, look for whale restaurant in Tokyo, if you like. Yes, those kinds of restaurant still exist over here.
By saito, # 18. June 2007, 12:04:35
What is japanese for Whale Restaurant?
By chaals, # 18. June 2007, 19:24:24
I do realise that such beliefs in 'taboo' foods are largelly culturally based. So for agreeing on catch quotas, scientific methods for determining sustainable harvesting are the only way forward. That, and trying to infect others with my own cultural beliefs of course, but the latter is a bit tricky as I don't plan to start a new religion...
By Rijk, # 18. June 2007, 21:42:09
By saito, # 19. June 2007, 00:28:19