What were they eating in Das Boot?
 

Watched Das Boot for first time in a while last night. Always wondered and never found definitive answer. What was the hairy meat they were eating in the officers wardroom? lol The meat the pro-Nazi Officer was cutting so properly, much to the apparent annoyance of others.

Also, while I am sure most if not all have read this review of Das Boot, it remains hilarious. "Midge" was a "Karen" before Karens were a thing. lol

https://www.amazon.com/review/R5WBK8MGNDWXI

Re: What were they eating...
 

Ahoy, Bubblehead1980...:Kaleun_Cheers:

From what I have gathered, what they were eating on, if I am NOT mistaken was basically what we now know of... as Spam. :up:

No, :haha: not that scummy crud you get in your email box... but canned meat. :yep:

That they were even trying to eat it, at that point, means that obviously they had been out there for some time & were still expected to cover their assigned area.

Of course, that's just a basic stab in the dark guess.. but, am fairly confident on that being what it was... just their own version of that meaty treat.

M. M.

:Kaleun_Salute:

That would be Schweinskopfsülze! English speaking countries know it has head cheese, not really cheese at all, but basically like meat chunks in jelly.

Neidisch? :O:

Thank you! lol I mean, it had hair on it lol. looked horrendous and never eaten head cheese and likely unless was absolutely starving and had no other option would not and even then, i'd have to be close to death lol.

Neidisch? Nein! :Kaleun_Salute:

lol was looking pretty rough. Suppose they did not get the best food like Us subs? Although read US subs would resort to some uh meager rations once they ran out of the good stuff on longer patrols. They did take hundreds of pounds of filet mignon to sea often though lol.

Have had that before.. & basically it's closest equiv, is that canned meat byproduct of pork meat floating in jellied fat, is Spam or the store brand equiv, called luncheon meat.. or luncheon loaf.

Which is what I thought of, thinking back on that particular scene from Das Boot. :hmmm: :yep:

M. M.

:Kaleun_Salute:

I want to know what that cream pudding with the red cherries was!

Looked good!

This was earlier before the hairy meat!

It was a bowl of what looked like cream of wheat or maybe grits, and he had either cherries or cherrie tomatoes in it.

Any ideas?

I do remember that, as to what that was... not a bloody clue... :hmmm:

M. M.

:Kaleun_Salute:

Back when I joined the Army they were expending the last of the old, canned C-Rats and I distinctly recall that occasionally the canned ham/pink meat/mystery meat and canned chicken would often have unidentifiable bits of gristle and fur that needed to be separated from the "edible" bits. Field exercises without the cooks and the kitchen trailer became much better when we went to heat and eat using boil-in bags.

From memory, the best canned C-Rat was the Swedish bacon and the worst was probably the ham and lima beans.

-C

Most likely semolina pudding and cherries.

Ate my share of that fighting forest fires away from a base camp (helitack, etc.) At base camp, we ate like kings.
Sheesh; forty years ago now.

head cheese not too bad does have a little smell to it and head cheese is chunks of meat off the animal head also in the book which they don't show is the old man making potato pancakes

Never heard of semolina. I will have to check that out! Thanks John.

I always assumed it was pickled pork.
Not uncommon to have the hair still on the rind.
Anyone had Cotechino? Italian pork sausage, containing chunks of hairy rind............. among other things.

Dessert would be semolina or rice pudding/custard (sometimes with beaten egg white folded through, and a little lemon zest) with preserved cherries.



That reminds me of the time they tried to courtmarshal my grandfather when serving in the KM.
He was the boats cook, and at the time they had run out of meat. So he just served up veg and a rich gravy.

There was an outrage from those in command, as they were convinced you couldn't make gravy without meat, and accused him of greedily eating the boats supply in secret, and thereby depriving the rest of the crew.

They were about to drag him off to the brig, when he revealed his secret.........
Dry roast the flour in the pan first, then add your liquid. It gives a roasty flavour, and a dark brown colour.

After a quick demonstration, he was restored to his position.

Kinda/sorta like tapioca. :up:

Does anyone know what that tough looking meat (or whatever) was that the officer was eating during the earlier dining scene in Das Boot? The meal when they were discussing him working on the plantation in Mexico. That meat looked better than Schweinskopfsülze, but tough! :haha:

And yeah it's always a hoot reading about how bad the food situation was aboard U-Boats - In one report I read, a captured Norwegian was horrified that the U-Boat's bacon ration was filled with white worms - and the crew devoured it anyway. :D

While researching for WWI I found out sometimes U-Boats would land in Ireland and trade items for sheep to slaughter - the fresh mutton was much preferred to the stale food on board. Not sure if this was ever done in WWII; I suppose by then with more aircraft around it was considered too hazardous.

Just re watched Das Boot (this time.. was actually able to locate the Director's cut, not the release that was put out to general theaters..) Almost 4 hours long... whew... but, was enjoyable, none the less. Only complaint I had about it, was that the caption crapped out on Me a couple of times... leaving Me in the dark as to what was said. I ended up, finally locating in the captioning sources line up, a set up that didn't crap out on Me, til near the final few minutes & by then.. wasn't really any dialogue, so no bit loss.

I believe that meat, was some form of ham.. as near as I can tell, because (can't recall right off which of the others at the table, said it... though table is too generous, considering the size of it in the cramped space there. Any way, that 1 guy, makes a remark to the 1st officer of swine or pig, as I recall in asking how they liked it.. I think. Or, may have been making a wise crack about the 1st officer... as the 1WO was often referred to as being a tight arse follower of the party. Party, of course, well understood as to what is meant there.

Particular, was that scene on board the 'Wesser' when they stopped off at Vigo, to resupply to make the attempt to pass through the Strait into the Med. When the Captain of the Wesser, mistook the 1WO, as being the skipper of U-96.

M. M.

:Kaleun_Salute:

While they’re eating the Sülze the skipper makes the crack “Schlecht rasiert, die Biester…”, which means “these critters had a bad shave”. The book describes it better - some of the pork chunks in the Sülze still had hair on them.

Directors Cut is my favorite version. Lol I love how they mess with the 1WO(equivalent to the XO in US subs correct?) , especially when he tells him to play "Tipperary" lol The meat they were eating though, revolting lol

The "red headed 3WO makes me laugh, reminds me of a red headed college friend lol. Thomsen and 3WO are my favorites and the Captain of course.

I love the commentary. Talking about how they produced some of the scenes, where they took Barbie dolls, and cut off their breasts so they were just like real German soldiers. :har: