SC - Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Carnival and Ducal University

[Gedney, Jeff]

I understand that the Whale was considered "the King's Meat", and all
whales that were taken or beached in England were to be reported to and
taken possession of by the Crown. The King's men would then distribute
whatever they did not take to the town. 
This was in effect from before 1200, AFAIK.
Whale Oil and (especially) Spermaceti were the only really useful
lubricants for a lot of Late period machinery and clockworks. vegetable
oils and most rendered fats break down too quickly under high load.
Whale oils were an important item of commerce, Traded widely, and a
single beached Whale could provide as much as 40 or more barrels of the
stuff.
Ambergris used in perfumery before 1500, and worth a fortune.
Whale meat ( though, I am assured, probably not Kosher ) would have been
rich and high caloric in protein and fat. As I understand it, it was
delicious.

Porpoise meat, would have been easier to obtain, and netted or speared,
as one would any large fish, such as sturgeon, and was apparently common
enough to have recipes in the corpus throughout period. Porpoise was a
favored meat of the Tudors, IIRC.

 
Brandu


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	allilyn at juno.com [SMTP:allilyn at juno.com]
> Sent:	Wednesday, July 22, 1998 4:24 AM
> To:	sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG
> Subject:	Re: SC - Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Carnival and Ducal
> University
> 
> >>
> I realize that sea mammals are unavailable in the Modeworld in most
> civilized
> countries but they were a major source of cheap protein and oil
> throughout a
> good portion of history until this century.
> 
> Ras (spelled A'aql)<<
> 
> 
> 
> So, we have to substitute (spelled chocolate), right?  <BEG>
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, how widespread was the use of whaling products?  Is this
> something our noble houses would have had available to order?  How
> about
> households like the Menagier's, or country estates like Lady
> Fettiplace's
> place?  Perhaps something like the whale oil would have been mainly
> available to seaside towns, and businesses such as sardines in oil,
> etc,
> for export inland as finished products.
> 
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Allison
> 
> allilyn at juno.com
> 
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