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But Fleece had hardly got three paces off , when he was recalled . “ Cook , give me cutlets for supper to - morrow night in the mid - watch . D’ye hear ? away you sail , then . — Halloa ! stop ! make a bow before you go . — Avast heaving again ! Whale - balls for breakfast — don’t forget . ” “ Wish , by gor ! whale eat him , ’ stead of him eat whale . I’m bressed if he ain’t more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself , ” muttered the old man , limping away ; with which sage ejaculation he went to his hammock . CHAPTER 65 . The Whale as a Dish . That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp , and , like Stubb , eat him by his own light , as you may say ; this seems so outlandish a thing that one must needs go a little into the history and philosophy of it . It is upon record , that three centuries ago the tongue of the Right Whale was esteemed a great delicacy in France , and commanded large prices there . Also , that in Henry VIIIth’s time , a certain cook of the court obtained a handsome reward for inventing an admirable sauce to be eaten with barbacued porpoises , which , you remember , are a species of whale . Porpoises , indeed , are to this day considered fine eating . The meat is made into balls about the size of billiard balls , and being well seasoned and spiced might be taken for turtle - balls or veal balls . The old monks of Dunfermline were very fond of them . They had a great porpoise grant from the crown . The fact is , that among his hunters at least , the whale would by all hands be considered a noble dish , were there not so much of him ; but when you come to sit down before a meat - pie nearly one hundred feet long , it takes away your appetite . Only the most unprejudiced of men like Stubb , nowadays partake of cooked whales ; but the Esquimaux are not so fastidious . We all know how they live upon whales , and have rare old vintages of prime old train oil . Zogranda , one of their most famous doctors , recommends strips of blubber for infants , as being exceedingly juicy and nourishing . And this reminds me that certain Englishmen , who long ago were accidentally left in Greenland by a whaling vessel — that these men actually lived for several months on the mouldy scraps of whales which had been left ashore after trying out the blubber . Among the Dutch whalemen these scraps are called “ fritters ” ; which , indeed , they greatly resemble , being brown and crisp , and smelling something like old Amsterdam housewives ’ dough - nuts or oly - cooks , when fresh . They have such an eatable look that the most self - denying stranger can hardly keep his hands off .
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