Went to dinner last night with my wife. A chum of ours here in the village writes books on the 19th . century Royal Navy. He and his wife had cooked a dinner as eaten by officers of the Navy when at sea.
No hors douvres, we went straight to the main course. This was pickled beef,
or " salt horse " as it was known in the Navy. The vegetables were sauerkraut
( pickled cabbage ) and bottled beet root. To bulk it out there were plenty of sea biscuits ( hard tack, as the British Army calls it ). The last course was as much Cheddar cheese as one could eat. The cheese was accompanied by unlimited amounts of " fresh " onions, although my chum had picked them from his garden
months ago in order to simulate Royal Navy " freshness " !
Fortunately, none of the food was infested with weevils, since when he cultivated
his own weevils for a similar meal two years ago ( no delicatessen he tried actually sold them over the counter ! ), he had to have his house fumigated since the little buggers infested it.
The nicest parts were the unlimited quantities of fine Madeira wine ( as drunk by British naval officers three hundred years ago ), and the superb Jamaica rum ( ditto ).
Now, I know my rum, since when I worked in Havana a few years ago, we were given a large beaker of Cuban rum every morning. Jamaican rum knocks spots off the Cuban stuff !
We finished with a choice of either hot chocolate or Kenyan coffee, which with copious amounts of fine French Cognac, brought the meal to a grateful and much relieved finish. Our host, who is a black powder marksman with his Brown Bess musket, stirred a large pinch of gunpowder into his coffee - apparently it wards off scurvy.
Everything tasted disgusting, but I wouldn't have missed it for a King's ransom !
However, being as drunk as a skunk, I did forego the cutlass drill he offered as an after dinner diversion..........,, that was just as well, because after twenty
minutes of sword fighting practice in the garden, the services of my wife ( she is a surgeon ) were much in need !
No hors douvres, we went straight to the main course. This was pickled beef,
or " salt horse " as it was known in the Navy. The vegetables were sauerkraut
( pickled cabbage ) and bottled beet root. To bulk it out there were plenty of sea biscuits ( hard tack, as the British Army calls it ). The last course was as much Cheddar cheese as one could eat. The cheese was accompanied by unlimited amounts of " fresh " onions, although my chum had picked them from his garden
months ago in order to simulate Royal Navy " freshness " !
Fortunately, none of the food was infested with weevils, since when he cultivated
his own weevils for a similar meal two years ago ( no delicatessen he tried actually sold them over the counter ! ), he had to have his house fumigated since the little buggers infested it.
The nicest parts were the unlimited quantities of fine Madeira wine ( as drunk by British naval officers three hundred years ago ), and the superb Jamaica rum ( ditto ).
Now, I know my rum, since when I worked in Havana a few years ago, we were given a large beaker of Cuban rum every morning. Jamaican rum knocks spots off the Cuban stuff !
We finished with a choice of either hot chocolate or Kenyan coffee, which with copious amounts of fine French Cognac, brought the meal to a grateful and much relieved finish. Our host, who is a black powder marksman with his Brown Bess musket, stirred a large pinch of gunpowder into his coffee - apparently it wards off scurvy.
Everything tasted disgusting, but I wouldn't have missed it for a King's ransom !
However, being as drunk as a skunk, I did forego the cutlass drill he offered as an after dinner diversion..........,, that was just as well, because after twenty
minutes of sword fighting practice in the garden, the services of my wife ( she is a surgeon ) were much in need !
