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Nikita Khrushchev posted:I'm almost done with the first book, been reading at a very leisurely pace just before I go to bed every night and I find it very soothing. I'm glad there are still 20 books ahead of me, and I'm eyeing A Sea of Words used on Amazon, as well as the cookbook. Is there a type of visual dictionary you folks would recommend? I'd really like to see a cross-section of the ships. https://www.amazon.com/Patrick-OBrians-Navy-Illustrated-Companion/dp/0762415401 Is surprisingly good if you want illustrated diagrams. I got it as a gift and it's way higher quality than I was expecting -- thought it would just be a movie based cash grab given the publication date but it's been very useful even on my, what was my most recent count, sixth or seventh re-read?
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Oct 24, 2018 00:07
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Nikita Khrushchev posted:I'm almost done with the first book, been reading at a very leisurely pace just before I go to bed every night and I find it very soothing. I'm glad there are still 20 books ahead of me, and I'm eyeing A Sea of Words used on Amazon, as well as the cookbook. Is there a type of visual dictionary you folks would recommend? I'd really like to see a cross-section of the ships. Not sure where I got this from (probably here!), but it's a great image:  Full size: https://i.imgur.com/bwzMmuZ.jpg
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Oct 24, 2018 00:12
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Thanks everybody! Sailing on the Sophie with Jack and Stephen is one of the best parts of my day and I am looking forward to diving in deeper.
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Oct 24, 2018 02:45
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Remember to take your diving bell! 
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Oct 24, 2018 23:13
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Back when I started this last read-through I went looking for videos on youtube and found a couple decent ones: - Star of India - How to Sail a Full-Rigged Ship: Sørlandet I especially like the first video of the Star of India video about weighing anchor. I had no idea what was going on there.
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Oct 25, 2018 01:05
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Made a Drowned Baby last night from the Lobscouse and Spotted Dog cookbook! It calls for a cup and a half of raisins, I threw in a cup of dried blueberries and cherries and half a cup of crushed almonds (because that's what I had!), otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. Came out really tasty, even though it looks like a lump. The little specks are just almond or possibly cinnamon:  I didn't think to take pictures until it was already done and we'd sawed a couple slices off, unfortunately. I wasn't sure what to expect from a suet "pudding" that gets boiled for 2-3 hours -- I'm American and puddings are little cups of chocolate gel that you put in lunches for schoolkids. Turns out it's kind of like a dense, rich-tasting bread. I used beef suet from a UK distributor, and there wasn't any meaty taste at all, which I was worried about. All the ingredients get mixed up (mostly just flour, water, sugar, and suet) to make a dense little football of dough, then I tied it up in cheesecloth and tied a strip around the middle as the book suggests to keep it from opening. It swelled up a little bit, but it still looked like raw dough when we pulled it out, as you can see. It tastes like it's cooked through, anyway. If anyone wants to tell me I should have left it boil for longer, I'd bow to their wisdom because I didn't know what I was making in the first place. I whipped up the Sherry Sauce in the book as it was finishing (just butter, sugar, a little brandy, and lemon juice), which made it even better -- it kinda needs butter or some sort of sauce if you're gonna eat more than a small piece, since it's so thick. Very good with coffee too the next day, warmed in the microwave for a minute. Phenotype fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Oct 25, 2018 |
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Oct 25, 2018 17:23
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Holy crap, that is awesome. Are you going to do any other recipes?
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Oct 25, 2018 18:42
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Phenotype posted:Made a Drowned Baby last night from the Lobscouse and Spotted Dog cookbook! It calls for a cup and a half of raisins, I threw in a cup of dried blueberries and cherries and half a cup of crushed almonds (because that's what I had!), otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. Came out really tasty, even though it looks like a lump. The little specks are just almond or possibly cinnamon: Very cool. Did you eat it authentically and have it with a couple of shots of rum mixed with water and lime juice? What are you doing next? Please keep posting. 
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Oct 25, 2018 19:05
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Make posset next!
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Oct 25, 2018 22:40
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I've got another box of suet, so I'm definitely going to make another one of the puddings in the book. Probably this weekend after I hit the grocery store so I have a few more ingredients and spices on hand. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the next one, it was kind of a neat little project. I'm not much of a cook, though! A lot of the recipes call for pastry building that I've never done before, and a lot of them assume you're feeding a large number of people. A lot of them seem godawful too, haha -- I'm not making dog's body, which is essentially a giant mass of peas mashed up with butter and boiled to death. I'll probably do at least one of the entrees though.
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Oct 25, 2018 22:44
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The raspberry shrub is great, I think there was a recipe I tried for pig's feet which was also pretty good. There's a lot of boiled stuff in that book.
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Oct 25, 2018 22:48
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Phenotype posted:Made a Drowned Baby last night from the Lobscouse and Spotted Dog cookbook! It calls for a cup and a half of raisins, I threw in a cup of dried blueberries and cherries and half a cup of crushed almonds (because that's what I had!), otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. Came out really tasty, even though it looks like a lump. The little specks are just almond or possibly cinnamon: This is so cool. I've been meaning to make these recipes ever since I got the cookbook ages ago but never got around to it. Where did you get the suet from?
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Oct 25, 2018 23:24
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If you have a pressure cooker you can make one in 30 minutes, or if you are in a real hurry in a microwave in 10. https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/syrupspongewithprope_4983
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Oct 26, 2018 02:32
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I've made the negus and the flip before. Both great.
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Oct 26, 2018 10:58
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Molybdenum posted:I've made the negus and the flip before. Both great. Yeah those are great as is raspberry shrub. I got shitfaced drunk (possibly still sober by naval standards) on Admiral's Flip on a 35 degree celsius aussie summer day. Never again. gently caress.
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Oct 29, 2018 22:04
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AlphaDog posted:Yeah those are great as is raspberry shrub. Admiral's flip is the drink that even Jack fuckin' Aubrey was like "woah, slow down man" when Pullings was drinking it.
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Oct 31, 2018 20:53
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Didn't even know this thread existed. But drat, just finished Blue at The Mizzen. What a long, wonderful trip reading this whole series has been. And as a bit of serendipity, I checked my Amazon account and I bought Book 1, Master & Commander, back on October 14 of 2014. Strange, to finish the whole series randomly only two weeks out from the anniversary of starting it. Kind of a bittersweet end, since this is the most fun I've had reading anything, and now it's over. Don't think I'll bother with the unfinished Book 21, I'd like to leave the series in a finished state rather than tack on some unfinished chapters. 
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Nov 1, 2018 09:07
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Notahippie posted:Admiral's flip is the drink that even Jack fuckin' Aubrey was like "woah, slow down man" when Pullings was drinking it. Hey don't get me wrong, I knew the flip was a bad idea, at least at first. I mean just look at it and you can tell how bad it's gonna be. It's the same as the bottle of OP rum or the 12 case of "peach champers" or the small and lethal bottle of Polish white spirit or the $10 2-litre box of port. It's the drink where, if you're not smart about the booze, you think "nail the ensign to the mast", pour the first one, and fall directly into the abyss. I probably only survived my mid 20s because I'm a large, active guy who'd try to walk it off rather than lying down. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Nov 1, 2018 |
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Nov 1, 2018 09:45
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Didn't even know this thread existed. I reread them very regularly or listen to the audiobooks. It has become my comfort reading over the many years, returning to good friends and wonderful writing.
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Nov 1, 2018 10:26
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Didn't even know this thread existed. That's when you just restart over again the beginning. I repost this bit from Jo Walton every few years: quote:
https://www.tor.com/2011/02/28/forever-bailing-patrick-obrians-last-unfinished-novel-and-the-end-of-the-aubrey-matrurin-series/
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Nov 1, 2018 13:02
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I generally don't reread books much. I can't say I won't ever reread an Aubrey/Maturin book again, but definitely not the whole series. Most shocking moment in the whole series: When Barret Bonden died. That completely bowled me over, the captains favored coxswain for years, gone with little more than a line or two speaking of it. Even Villiers copping it between books didn't surprise me as much.
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Nov 1, 2018 17:32
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Most shocking moment in the whole series: Yep. Someone might have said that O'Brian himself had suffered some tough losses around the time he wrote that book?
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Nov 1, 2018 23:39
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Fire Safety Doug posted:Yep. Someone might have said that O'Brian himself had suffered some tough losses around the time he wrote that book? His wife died earlier in the year that novel was published. Hieronymous Alloy posted:That's when you just restart over again the beginning. I like this a lot. I finished the series almost exactly 4 years ago but I think about the novels all the time, and am looking forward to when I start a re-read of the series (soon!).
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Nov 2, 2018 01:28
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In the end, I kind of feel like Book 19, The Hundred Days, felt like the true end of the series. The ending is much more final, and it feels like O'Brian was intending it to end there. Book 20 doesn't have a whole lot in there, other than the non-surprise of Aubrey getting his flag. Almost seems like O'Brian felt the same way, as the whole Chilean adventure is basically over before much happens, like after a while he realized there wouldn't be too many amazing stories he could pull from a Chilean independence setting.
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Nov 2, 2018 03:20
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Didn't even know this thread existed. It's definitely not the end. I've re-read the series 5 times and I always find new depths. It's very rich prose.
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Nov 2, 2018 04:48
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Raskolnikov2089 posted:It's definitely not the end. I've re-read the series 5 times and I always find new depths. It's very rich prose. I've re-read the whole series something like eight different times now and every pass through I uncover new things. My favorite pet theory that I can support from the text is that we actually meet Stephen's dad at one point : https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3393240&userid=146846&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post484707292
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Nov 2, 2018 06:04
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Get the Colonel near a companion ladder or bosuns chair and see if he automatically falls rear end over teakettle, that'll prove if he's a Maturin or not.
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Nov 2, 2018 06:26
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I've maybe read the series 2.3 times, but the last time was the first "success". Lots of restarts or picking up in the middle a decade ago. I guess I don't do too well only reading one book a quarter or something. I definitely have to mainline it.
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Nov 2, 2018 23:19
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Tried out another suet pudding from the Lobscouse and Spotted Dog cookbook, this one's a Jam Roly Poly! This is suet! I didn't know what the hell to expect from this stuff before I opened it.  Weird dry little kernels a little bigger than a grain of rice.  The recipe for the dough was pretty much the same as the last - suet, flour, sugar, water. I couldn't stop myself from adding almonds to this one too because they were really good in the Drowned Baby. Might not have been the greatest idea, though!  Looks like a gross little ball of dough when everything was mixed up.  The dough looks a little more appetizing after you knead the poo poo out of it and let it rest for a bit. The almonds are making it a little knobbier than it oughta be, I might have added too much.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle, according to the book. I thought I was being clever by making it longer than it was wide, but I probably should have made it narrower still.  Spread out the jam, grab one of the short sides, and roll it up, sealing the sides up as you go! As it turned out, I either put too much jam in, messed up the rolling, or just didn't leave myself enough empty dough, because the jam squidged out when I was finishing the roll-up.  You're supposed to pinch the dough closed to make a seam, but my seam kept coming apart a little because of all the jam, as you can see. If I'd done this before, I would have left myself a little extra dough for patching. The almonds made it a little more difficult to do, too.  Wrap it up in cheesecloth, tie the ends off, and tie a couple strips around the middle to keep it from opening. This thing is WAY longer than I wanted it to be, should have made it a lot narrower and longer when I rolled out the dough so it'd be shorter and fatter now. I thought I'd be able to smoosh it smaller like I could with the Drowned Baby, but the jam meant it would come apart if I tried. Also looks like it's bleeding a bit from the seam, but not much we can do now!  The size isn't a problem at first, plopped it in the largest pot I have.  Two hours later, it's pushing the lid off. Whoops! We'll know for next time. Turned the water a dull yellow, too. I cannot imagine having to be the Surprise's cook on a Sunday. Just this one tub heated up my house, boiling for 2-3 hours, and steamed up all the windows. If I had to tend to three hundred-weight of plum duff I'd never stop sweating.  And it's plumped up quite a bit too!  I didn't realize this photo was so blurry, had my hands full making Custard Sauce at the time! I was worried about the seam coming apart in the pot, but it didn't spread or open at all. The recipe book specifically says to serve it seam-side down, so I guess a little sloppiness is expected when you roll it up.  Seam-side down. A big, dense, doughy mass. That bit of brown on the end was the tip that was sticking out of the water for the last hour, it's a little drier than the rest but otherwise just fine.  Looks pretty good on the inside, though!   A couple slices.  With Custard Sauce! Mine came out a little clumpy, but it tastes really good. (I think it was the hacked-together double boiler I used.)  These are kinda fun to make! I'm definitely bringing one to Thanksgiving dinner this year. Once you get past the weird boiled exterior it's honestly a pretty good little dessert. Really dense, like a mix between a pancake and banana or nut bread, and nice and moist. Very good with coffee, and great for breakfast too -- it's not as sweet as you'd think, only 1/4 cup of sugar to 4 cups flour. The jam in the Roly Poly does make it seem a bit sweeter than the Drowned Baby, though, as it bleeds into the dough a little. Hope this wasn't too long, but you guys seemed interested before. This cookbook is a lot of fun! Phenotype fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Nov 4, 2018 |
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Nov 3, 2018 21:29
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Phenotype posted:Pudding This is awesome! Looks super good. I did not expect the suet to be like that.
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Nov 4, 2018 00:30
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Hah, I made Spotted dick with custard last year, drat good. You can't buy suet here in most stores, so i bought some pieces of pig that I fried so that I could get it. Way more filling than I thought that it would be.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:02
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Uhhh... that doesn't even look remotely cooked enough.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:03
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Is that an experienced opinion? I've never made these things before, and I thought the same thing when I took them out of the pot, so if you're familiar with these puddings I'd love to hear it. I followed the recipe pretty accurately, and the Jam Roly Poly was in for almost 3 hours instead of 2.5 because I was messing around with the Custard Sauce. I even kept boiling the replacement water before I added it so they didn't stop cooking. They taste cooked, so I just assumed that this was what you get when you haul 5 pounds of boiling dough out of the water.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:12
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Not experienced with these particular items, but just baking in general. I would try the recipe again, with a double-boiler setup to steam it. Perhaps divide up the prepared pudding into separate portions, so they cook faster too. The combination of moisture and hot air penetrates the pudding better, cooking it fully. Yours looks a bit raw in the middle.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:45
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It's fat and flour, literally impossible to undercook.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:50
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withak posted:It's fat and flour, literally impossible to undercook. 99% of baked goods are basically fat and flour, and yes, it's very easy and possible to undercook them.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:52
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Not boiling it in the water would make an entirely different dish, though. The tip of the Roly Poly that was just being steamed was a lot drier, a much different texture. And these things were definitely boiled in the book. I dunno, I'm not convinced that's not just how the things look. It doesn't taste doughy at all, and the texture is pretty consistent throughout. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but my buddy who's a sous chef said the same thing -- it looks undercooked but it tastes cooked.
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Nov 4, 2018 01:59
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Well, all good then. The taste's what matters in the end.
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Nov 4, 2018 02:01
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There's only so much you can do to make a pound of boiled flour look appetizing.
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Nov 4, 2018 02:05
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It's not undercooked -- you boiled it for 3 hours. British puddings are just supposed to be big lumpy pale blobs that taste better than they look. It is no coincidence that the French have spent the last several centuries throwing up in their mouths every time they think of British cooking.
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Nov 4, 2018 03:34
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