How does one serve canned whale?

Question

We've acquired some canned whale meat - so it's pre-cooked. Now we want to find out the best way of preparing it.
First thoughts were something like crabcakes - except surely this would resemble meat rather than fish.
A number of searches suggest it's similar to horse meat (which doesn't really help much).
Does anybody have any inspired ideas? Preferably from experience.

Answer

How does one serve canned whale?
Why on your very best Royal Doulton, of course. My dear.

Answer

First I have to ask, where did you find canned whale meat? 

I have only had raw whale meat, a very long time ago, partially frozen, lots of blubber. So this would be quite different than canned pre-cooked whale meat. It was served straight, as is the tradition, so it was a pure whale meat experience. I am glad I tried it, but I must admit I have not been actively seeking out another chance to partake. 

Re: Canned whale meat. The way I see it , you have 2 options. 1. Go for the straight on experience and eat it right out of the can, so you can experience whale meat first hand. 2. (my preferred option) Dress the stuff up as best as you can to make it as appetizing as any canned meat can be. The comparison to horse meat is reasonable, so anything you might use canned beef for should work. Dress it up in a vinaigrette for a meat based salad. Throw it into a soup or stew. Some kind of variation of chicken or canned ham salad? Filing for a savoury crepe could work, with a bechamel sauce.

Good luck! I would not expect a culinary masterpiece. Have back up plans. Get really drunk first. And please please please! Post and let us know how it went! And if you can include pictures, that would be awesome!

Answer

With an apology.

I ate whale in Iqaluit (wayyy up north in Canada, on Baffin Island) and it was supposed to be a big treat, at least it was to my host family. I threw up in my mouth a little as I tried to eat it. It was gamy and oily tasting (to me) with a gummy texture. I think, however, the kind I was served was the "aged" kind - a bit fermented.

The only thing I can think of is perhaps a stew.

Answer

in 1997 I went to Tromso in the Norwegian Arctic for a football match (and yes it was freezing cold in October with lots of snow). Anyway I digress. My friends and I went to a pub on a side street and on the menu was Whale Lasagne. I couldn't bear to try it but one of my friends did and announced it was delicious.

Answer

There is a recipe for "Whale Steak Stew (a big strong caveman's dish)" in _Leone's Italian Cookbook_--basically a hearty stew with whale meat, onions, peppers, Italian spices, a little tomato paste, served with garlic bread.

Answer

Since you mentioned the similarity to veal, I immediately thought about blanquette de veau.
This recipe is simpler than most, and a half quantity would work if you have just one can. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/VEAL-STEW-BLANQUETTE-DE-VEAU-104763

Answer

I have a copy of "Making the Most of Your Food Freezer", 1951. The author relays that the meat most resembles venison in appearance & texture with a slight fish flavor due to the mammal's diet. The book deals only with fresh (from your new food freezer of course) whale meat and includes recipes for stroganoff, whale meat a la essipoff, and steaks. She recommends marinating the meat with lemon juice or baking soda to remove the fish flavor. She also suggests cooking it with beef suet for improved flavor.

Please keep us posted on your preparation!

Answer

Where does one acquire canned whale?

Answer

meatn3: " In a chicken fryer melt enough lard to prevent the ground beef suet (several Tb.) from burning."

lard AND suet? what a different era. I can't even find suet and certainly don't eat enough beef to render it myself.

estu: I also received (with a bit of horror) a can of whale from a friend returning from Japan and am very curious how yours turns out. I'd never buy it, but now it's here and waste not want and all.

Answer

The results were excellent.
We actually had 4 different cans (of varying sizes). The first picture shows all 4 cans. From top we had boiled fin whale, boiled minke whale, roasted minke whale (left bottom) and a different roast minke (bottom right).
We served these as a “mystery Japanese course” in a tasting menu of around 10 courses for 10 people. The basic preparation was done the day before, so we were able to taste each style and finalize the preparation. Incidentally, all 4 cans tasted great by themselves, with the appearance and flavour being somewhat similar to a beef bourguinon and the different meat having a similar texture, although some was very tender (almost flaky) while others had more resistance to the tooth (al dente?) – but none were chewy. The two roast minke had slightly different flavours: one was sesame and lighter, while the other was sweeter and a hint of teriyaki. We decided to combine these two cans in a teriyaki presentation, which gave more complexity of textures.
So we had 3 different presentations (again, picture below) on the same plate. Top right was the teriyaki, warmed in the oven and served on a round of daikon (for contrasting texture) and baby carrots (both texture and color).
Moving clockwise, (bottom left) was a ‘sort-of-sushi’ presentation. This was done as we felt that most attendees would ‘expect’ sushi on a Japanese platter. Of course, as the meat (fin whale) was pre-cooked (boiled) it wasn’t really sushi – just a similar presentation. The rice was hand-formed, but we had difficulty getting it to stay intact so that it could be lifted and eaten with the fingers – it tended to fall apart. So we hit on the idea of serving it in a ceramic soup-spoon, to avoid the crumbling. Then the rice tended to stick to the spoon, so we ended up cutting a piece of nori to go under the rice, which served to add both color and texture and also did the job of preventing the rice sticking. Overall it worked well. The final dish (boiled minke) was actually served as an individual ‘mini-pizza’. A thin burrito wrap was cookie-cuttered into rounds and covered with a peanut/satay sauce. Various ingredients e.g. bean sprouts, cilantro, onions were added and then topped with the cut-up minke. And the whole baked in the oven – which crisped up the ‘burrito’ crust.
All-in-all a great success – 9 of the 10 attendees finished everything, with only 1 having misgivings.

And if we didn’t use your specific suggestion – we actually had various other ingredients standing by – only after a preliminary tasting did we finally decide on each presentation, and it was the texture as much as anything that decided the final presentation (e.g. the tenderness of the meat was too similar to pasta, so that potential dish was abandoned).
And there was no trace of fishiness in any of the items, nor was there any chewiness (which I’m guessing people recall from tasting blubber – but we just had the meat).

And not to forget the wine. Given the positioning within the meal we decided on an older, lower-tannin red (the previous course had a Bordeaux and the next course had Rhone red) and served a 1967 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou (level bottom-neck) which went perfectly. This wine had softened and developed its secondary characteristics while losing its tannin, so all the fruit was in the aromatics, while the taste was more spicy-cedary. So there’s the perfect match if anybody wants to try something similar!

Answer

How very exciting!! The dishes you prepared sound absolutely wonderful and reflect the care you took with each dish. Your guests must have been very suprised to eat such exotic fare. Many thanks for the report. I loved reading it. Although, I'm wondering what misgivings your recalcitrant guest had.

Answer

Sorry, wrong thread.

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