SC - Spinach Tarte

[Decker, Terry D.]

If you can't find a supply of whale meat to sample, the following may give one
an approximation of its taste  ;-)

In perusing  a dusty old book store, I found:

An Illustrated History of French Cuisine - From Charlemagne to Charles de
Gaulle
by Christian Guy, Translation by Elisabeth Abbot, 1962

Contained therein is a chapter titled:
The Apotheosis of Whale Meat

It begins with a discussion of the re-awakening of French cuisine at the end
of the thirteenth century.  As famine abated, the French began to give more
thought to improving their menus.  The markets were filled with all manner of
previously unavailable foodstuffs and those which were difficult to come by.
	“In Paris, which was a tedious journey from the coasts in those days, the
fishmarkets were filled with salmon, trubot, brill, mullet, sole, dab, plaice,
mackerel, whiting, haddock, sturgeon, weever, conger-eel, sardines, lobster,
shrimps, mussels, codfish, red mullet...  This era was also the apotheosis of
whale meat.  In those days the great mammals wandered close to the shores of
France and throughout the Middle Ages vast quantities of them were eaten.
Whale meat was the crajois or Lenten fare, one of the principal sources of for
for the poor who were not discouraged at having to cook that tough meat at
least twenty-four hours before it was edible.
	Nowadays, there is no more whale meat, at least in the French Markets.  The
last time it was served was in 1892 in a Paris restaurant near the Halles
Centrales.  One of the guests, Dr. Felix Bremont, tells us:
	“ I can’t say anything bad about that whale meat, but neither do I feel I can
say much that was good.  Take a piece of lean beef and boil it in water in
which a stale mackerel has been washed, mix this broth with some sort of
piquant sauce and you’ll have a dish similar to the one served to me under the
name of Escalope de baliene a la Valois (Escalope of whale a la Valois).”

Enjoy! - Sister Mary Endoline
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