We have
an entirely different location for our birthday dinner party of the day today –
a rather bleak and unforgiving one, about as far from the extravaganzas of
yesterday as it is possible to get. The bill of fare turns out to be
surprisingly interesting however, considering the circumstances. I hope you get
some vicarious pleasure from the feast.
Our story
comes from The Open Polar Sea: A Narrative
of a Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, in the Schooner United States
(1866), by Isaac Israel Hayes. Hayes was an American physician and adventurer
who took part in several voyages in search of the “open Polar sea” which was
believed to exist north of the 85th parallel, between Greenland and
the North Pole. This, the 1860-61 expedition was Hayes’ second, and on this occasion he acted as commander.
The
glacier to which Hayes refers at the beginning of this extract from his account
is “Brother John’s Glacier,” which lies in the
Foulk Fjord in northwest Greenland. It was discovered in 1855 by Dr. Elisha
Kent Kane, an American physician and explorer who took part in a number of
Arctic expeditions, including two of those sent to find Sir John Franklin.
“October
21st … I purpose making a still further exploration of this glacier
to-morrow, and will defer until then any further description of it.
During
my absence the hunters have not been idle. Barnum has killed six deer; Jensen
shot two and Hans nine; but the great event has been the sailing-master's
birthday dinner; and I returned on board finding all hands eagerly awaiting my
arrival to sit down to a sumptuous banquet.
I have
inaugurated the rule that all birthdays shall be celebrated in this manner;
and, when his birthday comes round, each individual is at liberty to call for
the very best that my lockers and the steward's store-room can furnish ; and in
this I take credit for some wisdom. I know by experience what the dark cloud is
under which we are slowly drifting, and I know that my ingenuity will be fully
taxed to pass through it with a cheerful household ; and I know still further,
that, whether men live under the Pole Star or under the Equator, they can be
made happy if they can be made full ; and furthermore, at some hour of the day,
be it twelve or be it six, all men must dine; for are they not a carnivorous production, requiring
meals, — at least one meal a day ? They cannot live, like woodcock, upon
suction; but, like the shark and tiger, must have prey. And hence they take
kindly to venison and such like things, and they remember with satisfaction the
advice of St. Paul to the gentle Timothy, to use a little wine for the
stomach's sake.
McCormick
was not only the subject to be honored on this occasion, but to do honor to
himself. He has actually cooked his own dinner, and has done it well. My
sailing-master is a very extraordinary person, and there seems to be no end to
his accomplishments. Possessing a bright intellect, a good education, and a
perfect magazine of nervous energy, he has, while knocking about the world,
picked up a smattering of almost every thing known under the sun, from
astronomy to cooking, and from seamanship to gold-digging. And he is something
of a philosopher, for he declares that he will have all the comfort he can get
when off duty, while he does not seem to regard any sort of exposure, and is
quite careless of himself, when on duty; and besides, he appears to possess
that highly useful faculty of being able to do for himself any thing that he
may require to be done by others. He can handle a marline-spike as well as a
sextant, and can play sailor, carpenter, blacksmith, cook, or gentleman with
equal facility. So much for the man; now for his feast.
A day
or so ago I found lying on my cabin-table a neat little missive which politely
set forth, that "Mr. McCormick presents the compliments of the officers'
mess to the Commander, and requests the honor of his company to dinner in their
cabin, on the 21st instant, at six o'clock." And I have answered the
summons, and have got back again into my own den overwhelmed with astonishment
at the skill of my sailing-master in that art, the cultivation of which has
made Lucullus immortal and Soyer famous, and highly gratified to see both
officers and men so well pleased.
The
bill of fare, "with some original illustrations by Radcliffe," set
forth a very tempting invitation to a hungry man, and its provisions were
generally fulfilled. There was a capital soup — jardiniere — nicely flavored, a boiled salmon wrapped in the
daintiest of napkins, a roast haunch of venison weighing thirty pounds, and a
brace of roast eider-ducks, with currant-jelly and apple-sauce, and a good
variety of fresh vegetables; and after this a huge plum-pudding, imported from
Boston, which came in with the flames of Otara flickering all around its rotund
lusciousness; and then there was mince-pie and blanc-mange and nuts and raisins
and olives and Yankee cheese and Boston crackers and coffee and cigars, and I
don't know what else besides. There were a couple of carefully-treasured
bottles of Moselle produced from the little receptacle under my bunk, and some
madeira and sherry from the same place. The only dish that was purely local in
its character was a mayonnaise of frozen venison (raw) thinly sliced and
dressed in the open air. It was very crisp, but its merits were not duly
appreciated.
As the recipe for the day, I could not resist giving you an
iced pudding.
Iced Pudding.
Take
one quart of good sweet milk or cream, and with a little of it moisten six
ounces of rice flour, mix well together, put on the fire in a stew-pan, and
stir till it boils for five minutes. Have the yolks of ten eggs beat up with
six ounces of ground sugar, pour the boiling rice amongst it stirring all the
time, put it on the fire again, and let it just come to the boil, then pour
into a basin and stir occasionally till cold. Two hours before dinner beat up
the whites of ten eggs to a snow, mince two ounces of citron peel very small,
mix altogether into the freezer, and add one glass of brandy; then put it into
a bucket of ice, two handfuls of salt, and keep stirring till frozen. Have the
mould ornamented with angelica cut like diamonds, and placed among ice, put in
the pudding allowing the iced water to come within two inches of the top, put
on the lid, close up the bucket, and keep in a cool place till wanted. Turn out
with pretty hot water.
Practice of Cookery and
Pastry, Adapted to the Business of Everyday Life,
by Mrs. I.Williamson (Edinburgh, 1854)
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