Jeff, you sure enough win the Trapperman Prize for the most interesting vittles.
Nice presentation and Savell would be proud of the Dixie china.

Zim

Why yes it is. They help soak up the oil in your belly after dining on whale.



Thanks Zim. The Dixie China is the best choice, since it would be a shame to have to throw away the good china because of the whale oil smell.

Do you sell whale oil?

No. The marine mammal protection act made sure of that.

I've heard whale oil makes a great trapping lure ingredient. I think that some of the old Mast lure's had whale oil in them.

I sure hope that no tuna were harmed during the harvest of that whale.
As well as being a vegetable rights activist (except for potatoes, they don't feel pain), I am a fish hugger.

jeff> now that whale you have on the plate .is that just boiled skin and fat?
and if so, hows that for chewing, like bubble gum>

Yes correct its the skin with fat. They call it Mungduk here.

Its not chewy like you think. More like jello.

Here muk tuk is cut into 1/2" bite sized pieces. I never seen any one with a slab on there plate before. Do you use an ulu to cut it up?

Do you occasionally get beluga come up the Yukon River?

Here Muktuk is the Bowhead whale. None here, only in the northern part of AK Barrow area. I ate it and like it though.That stuff is chewy when eaten raw.

Yes the women here use a uluk to cut fish, and meat, and skin, yes whale too, but not to eat with.

We are 70 miles inland from the Bering Sea, so yes some Beluga do come up, they follow the salmon, but the deep water makes it impossible to catch them. Most travel to the coast and hunt there in the shallow coastal waters.

How's it burn?

here everybody uses ulu to cut whale when they eat, knife and fork would look silly.
Bowhead whale makes really excellent wolverine bait if you put let it get a little sour it will not freeze and it sits on the trigger wires of a 330 really good. its chewy so it does not break when wolverine yanks on it.

Steelfiight: I have heard rumors of polar bear hunters using whale or seal oil on there wood in air tight heaters so the smell in the smoke attracts the bears. plus it would make the fire hotter. Not sure ho the smell in the tent would be. When I was a kid we use to burn trash in burn barrels in town and occasionally the neighbor would have ukaruk in her garbage. It use to be really smelly.

That's pretty cool Muskrat. They might eat with a ulu up north ,but I never seen it. I would be afraid to cut my lips off. Here folks do use a fork and a knife.

And Yes it burns hot. I have seen people start their stove with seal oil and stunk up the whole neighborhood. Its the worst smell imaginable.

Been used utsuk/seal fat a few times when wood is scarce - stinks outside but burns good. Does not catch real easy so you have to get the tent stove going first with a bit of wood and then you can keep it going good enough with the utsuk. Leaves like a tar on the bottom of your stove though - imagine if you lined the bottom of the stove with tin foil might be easy enough to clean out stove - or a good layer of sand that helps to keep the bottom of the stove from burning out anyway. We used to cut up the utsuk with an uluk in say pieces about "6 x 6" and keep in a bucket for that purpose. Joke was, when wood was scarce, time to go out and shoot some more "firewood"/shoot another couple of seals.

"And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky"

What is the difference between a ulu and a uluk? Regional versions of the same tool.
I wish I knew how to knap. I saw a picture of a bone handled one made of stone.

Cool story Crosspatch.

The Yupik Eskimos here call them Uluks. The Inupiaks of the northern Region go with Ulu I believe, same knife. Also regional difference in style of the knife as well.