This request and recipe originally appeared in the "You Asked for It" section of the February 1961 issue of Gourmet magazine. It was reprised later in the online series "The Way We Cooked: Vintage Gourmet."
Q. I could not locate any recipes for whale steak in your cookbooks.
Miss Armida Formichelli
Arlington, Massachusetts
A. Mostly because we couldn't locate a whaleand still haven't. But if you find one, we have a recipe.
This exclusive recipe is pulled directly from Gourmet's archive. It has not been re-tested by our food editors since it was published in the magazine, but it's a pretty good indication of the kinds of things we once cooked—and ate—with great pleasure.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
To prepare a fresh whale steak for cooking, wash it in a solution of 1 generous tablespoon baking soda to 1 quart water and let it soak for 1 hour. Rinse the meat and marinate it for 2 hours in 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar, with a sliced raw onion. Cut the steak across the grain in slices less than 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the slices with lemon juice and pound them with a mallet to tenderize them. Sauté the steaks as you would sliced beefsteak.
Step 2
To use frozen whale meat (and you are more likely to catch it frozen), thaw the meat entirely before washing and marinating it. Braise, stew, or sauté it as you would beef.
