Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Patrick O'Brian) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Lisa Grossman Thomas (Author), Patrick O'Brian (Author) "Jack Aubrey is passionate about a great many things: ships, music, women: life in general-and food in particular..." (more)
Key Phrases: Hot Water Paste, Ionian Mission, Hannah Glasse (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Animal lovers, relax--"Spotted Dog" is a kind of pudding, not a dalmatian. It is also the favorite pudding of Jack Aubrey, the fictional creation of writer Patrick O'Brian. Aubrey's adventures as an officer of the British Navy--and those of his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin--during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars have been masterfully detailed in O'Brian's many novels; now Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and her daughter, Lisa Grossman, take readers on a culinary adventure through the kitchens and cuisine of the early 19th century.

Since food figures prominently in O'Brian's novels, his fans will already be familiar with such names as Skillygalee, Drowned Baby, Soused Hog's Face, and Jam Roly-Poly, but they may wonder exactly what those dishes are. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog makes it all clear: Skillygalee, for example, is oatmeal gruel, while Drowned Baby is similar to Spotted Dog, only without the currants and eggs. And Spotted Dog is...? You'll find the recipe in the Grossmans' book, along with excerpts from the Aubrey/Maturin novels and many other authentic 19th-century dishes to test your sense of adventure, your culinary prowess, and possibly your waistline. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is more than a cookbook--it's a window into the past, an inspired piece of culinary detective work, and a delightful gastronomic companion to the novels of Patrick O'Brian. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post

A scholarly--though often hilarious--triumph of culinary anthropology.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393320944
• ISBN-13: 978-0393320947
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another superb port of call in O'Brian's wonderful voyages, July 7, 2000

By	Doug Briggs (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

I once knew a lady who had a vast collection of cookbooks. She read them, too, even if she indulged in little adventurous cooking. I often wondered how one could find entertainment reading recipes - was the recreation as adventurous as poring over the instructions for assembling a barbecue pit one was not going to assemble?

Perhaps if I had peeked into her cookbooks I would have discovered some enchanting prose among the recipes, as I have in "Lobscouse & Spotted Dog". Open the book anywhere ... Aah, here on page 92 is the recipe for drowned baby, also called boiled baby, introduced by this passage from "The Nutmeg of Consolation":

"The gunroom feast for the Captain was if anything more copious than that of the day before. The gunroom cook, by means known to himself alone, had conserved the makings of a superb suet pudding of the kind called boiled baby in the service, known to be Jack Aubrey's favourite form of food, and it came in on a scrubbed scuttle-cover to the sound of cheering."

Sure, I read this passage during my several reads of "Nutmeg", but standing here alone it seems to sparkle with more clarity. Now I clearly see the pudding, gliding in on a scrubbed wooden hatch cover (to the surprise of no one there) and I thrill to the sound of cheering.

Here, once again, the perfect team has stepped forward to contribute an enchanting and tantalizing contribution to the Aubrey/Maturin series. A daunting task it must have been for this multi-talented mother and daughter (sailboaters, too, they are), to unearth and translate into modern terms the scores of recipes found in this book, to translate the contemporary equivalents of their ingredients.

And, in addition to its being seasoned with exquisite excerpts from the novels, we are served a selection of the songs encountered in the stories - words and music.

While you are satisfying your literary and musical appetites, you can sample some of these recipes. I found I could actually create the ones I've tried. To think that now I've figuratively dined with Aubrey and Maturin ("There you are, Doctor. Good morning."), Tom Pullings, William Babbington, Mowett ...

What is it about Patrick O'Brian's writing that so challenges and inspires readers of such fine tastes and writing ability of their own? First, it was A.E. Cunningham, who edited "Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography", a wonderfully enlightening collection of articles published not too long after the O'Brian wave swept ashore.

Then came Dean King with "A Sea of Words", his splendid glossary of everything we couldn't fathom in O'Brian's sea stories. With John B. Hattendorf, King followed with "Harbors & High Seas," a desperately needed atlas and geographical guide to the stories. And right on the heels of those came this beautiful work of art, a cookbook like no other. Happily, I have not observed evidence of an opportunist at work among those contributing to O'Brian's legacy.

"Lobscouse & Spotted Dog" is another brilliant achievement, infinitely worthy of standing at muster alongside the O'Brian stories and the other contributions to them. Authors Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas have labored mightily to assemble these recipes, and to season them with such delicate care. That much is evident even to the meanest understanding. Patrick O'Brian himself recognized the quality of this work and provided its apt foreword. Not surprisingly, publisher W.W. Norton put it all together very nicely.

A glass of wine with you, my dears. And let us also raise a toast to my Amazon.com friend who knew, just KNEW, that I would love your book.

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An impossibly wonderful treat of a book!, January 26, 1999

By	Jo-Ski (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

As anyone familiar with Patrick O'Brian's famous Aubrey/Maturin series knows, amid swash-buckling adventures in Admiral Nelson's Navy, thought-provoking prose, and a truly wonderful friendship that includes celebrating music together (Jack and Stephen play string duets when not out saving the Royal Navy, King, and Country), the books also revel in descriptions of meals and dishes. Voila--this delightful gastronomic companion to the books!

Let me tell you, this book is deLISH--foreward by Patrick O'Brian himself. The mother/daughter authors preface the book by explaining how "Patrick O'Brian fever" broke out amongst themselves and all their friends (the books are contagious!); they ended up on a feverish research adventure to write this gastronomic companion. The authors set out to emulate O'Brian in point of accuracy and meticulous research. In short, they've basically reconstructed mid-to-late 18th century/early 19th century cooking! In actually reconstructing/preparing dishes, they conceded as little as possible to the amenities of the modern kitchen (however, the final recipes adapt preparations to 20th century ingredients and conditions).

They took quite a scholarly approach to researching the book--e.g., studying the social and economic raisons d'etre for the raised pie and the two wholly different traditional approaches to its construction, tracing the etymology of a dozen different suet pudding names back to a single root, following the evolution of pudding back to its Roman sources and establishing its common ancestry with sausage, etc.

Here you'll find how to make such dishes as Burgoo, Syllabub from the Cow, Ship's Biscuit, Skillygalee, Drowned Baby, Sea-Pie (anywhere from one to six or more "decks"!), Figgy-Dowdy, and of course, that noble pudding, Spotted Dog, gleaming on its plate and accompanied by true egg custard. It's a dazzling array of historical recipes that cover everything from what's served at Captain's Table to the Wardroom and Gunroom to the Seamen's Mess to dishes eaten cold (a chapter called "In the Heat of Battle") to feasts ashore--all of course, with direct references to foods and meals served up in the novels.

What makes this 300-page book truly delightful, though, are the plethora of quotes from the books, lots of historical background, and. . .and. . .MUSIC! Yes! Throughout the book are the musical scores and texts for several songs from the period! You will find the words and score for "The Roast Beef of Old England" (any Steeleye Span fans out there?) in the opening chapter. "Spanish Ladies," "Heart of Oak," "Lumps of Pudding," and "When the Stormy Winds Do Blow" are some others. Too cool for an early music fanatic like moi!

Some scrumptious ideas for a historical re-creation-type feast, folks! And, I predict that pot-luck suppers may never be the same if enough of us get our hands on this book!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A tasty companion to Patrick O'Brian's works., July 6, 1998

By	Alex Funke ([e-mail]) (Pacific Palisades, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lobscouse & Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

AS a devotee of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin sea novels, I find that every effort to annotate and enhance the world that O'Brian has created is truly an event. We have had dictionaries of sea terms, atlases, musical compilations, and now at last a book that gives a proper recipe for Drowned Baby.

The (highly quialified) authors have not only researched the cookbooks of the period (and these are a treat to see quoted, let me say; cooking used to be a rugged and labor-intensive occupation, no matter where practiced) but they have actually cooked the dishes--and eaten them with, it appears, great gusto. The commentary is witty and full of sly ideas on how to cook and enjoy these dishes, which provide a window on a whole different style of eating. Included are such charmers as the "lightly seized" crayfish which were almost Duhamel's undoing, and (at last!) a recipe for portable soup. A delicious book!