[Vwoolf] grilled bone

Sun May 24 19:47:08 EDT 2015

OK, I take it back!
Caroline

From: James Gifford [mailto:odos.fanourios at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 25 May 2015 8:58 AM
To: Caroline Webb
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] grilled bone

Hello all,

While at the MSA in Pittsburgh last Fall, I enjoyed an appetizer of grilled bone marrow (grilled bone) at Meat & Potatoes, which was delicious and presented as something special the restaurant did.  I was so taken with it I did the same again at the Butcher & the Rye, which I believe it the sister establishment.  There are a number of photos online if I trust a quick google image search:

http://rivista-cdn.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Eat-Street/December-2011/New-Mt-Washington-Bakery-Satisfies-Sweet-Cravings/Meat%26Potatoes-10.jpg

http://a3.urbancdn.com/w/s/ly/EjghNMEK4jnqvr-640m.jpg

I must publicly thank Nicole Peeler for choosing the place (modernist scholar turned urban fantasy novelist, if anyone is looking for an entirely different venue in which to find Woolf allusions...).

All best,
James

On 24 May 2015 at 15:39, Caroline Webb <caroline.webb at newcastle.edu.au<mailto:caroline.webb at newcastle.edu.au>> wrote:
The A.A. Milne example shows mistress and maid discussing the sorry state of a “joint” in which only the bone is left.  The mistress, like us, is puzzled at the meaning of “grilled bone,” because it suggests that, like this joint, it has no actual meat.  So it doesn’t really help: the people going to dinner have, after all, ordered “grilled bone” at a restaurant, presumably with the expectation that they will get something to eat, and something special at that, as Nancy implies.

I think you’d need a lot of bone to produce an adequate amount of bone marrow to grill—and I doubt that the grilling would do anything to make it edible as opposed to roasting it in the bone.  I always assumed that the “grilled bone” was what I’d call T-bone steak, partly because I thought there were other references in Woolf to chops.  (I remember T-bone being a popular restaurant order when I was growing up.)  But perhaps not.

On the gas stoves of my childhood (1960s-70s), the griller was located directly under the stovetop, above the oven, and shot flames horizontally.  It grilled very effectively.  Electric and gas stovetops these days in Australia are built into the counter, and one is supposed to grill  (if at all) in the top of a wall oven (not satisfactory).  We pan-fry instead.

Caroline

From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+caroline.webb<mailto:vwoolf-bounces%2Bcaroline.webb>=newcastle.edu.au at lists.osu.edu<mailto:newcastle.edu.au at lists.osu.edu>] On Behalf Of Stuart N. Clarke
Sent: Monday, 25 May 2015 3:21 AM

To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] grilled bone

I really like this; one feels one is edging very slightly towards comprehension.  It has been suggested to me that, with the emphasis on *bone*, the implication is that there’s not much meat!  That’s one reason I feel unhappy about steak.

In response to Anne Fernald, of course I want to know what a grilled bone is in English.  Once I know that, I can find out what Jacob should’ve asked for in French – thus, a fuller note!  (Could one *grill* a bone marrow, rather than roasting it?)

Slightly off the point and showing my ignorance even more, how *did* you grill meat in a kitchen in 1914?  You have a grill over an open fire?  Like a BBQ?  My experience has always been with electric cookers: the meat is in a tray below the electric rings.  How do you grill with a gas cooker?  In a similar way, I think(?).  More to the point, how could you grill with a *range*?

Stuart

From: Jeremy Hawthorn<mailto:jeremy.hawthorn at ntnu.no>
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2015 5:59 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] grilled bone

Here's an example from A. A. Milne, so nearer the date of Jacob's Room. What is frustrating about this is that it might be mocking the maid for believing that grilled bone is grilling what's left of the joint when there's no meat left, or it might really be this. I suspect the former.

Jeremy

Nancy: (Without looking up.) Yes, Mary?
Mary: It's about the dinner, ma'am.
Nancy: (With a sigh.) Yes, I was afraid it was.
It isn't a very nice subject to talk about, is it, Mary?
Mary: Well, ma'am, it has its awkwardness like.
Nancy: (After a pause, but not very hopefully.)
How is the joint looking?
Mary: Well, it's past looking like anything very much.
Nancy: Well, there's the bone. Mary: Yes, there's the bone.
Nancy: (Gaily.) Well, there we are, Mary. Soup.
Mary: If you remember, maam, we had soup yesterday.
Nancy: (Wistfully.) Couldn't you " couldn't you squeeze it again, Mary ?
Mary: It's past squeezing, ma'am " in this world
Nancy: I was reading in a book the other day about two people who went out to dinner one night " they always dine late in books, Mary " and ordered a grilled bone. It seemed such a funny thing to have, when they had everything else to choose from. I suppose our ...
Mary: Grilling wouldn't do it no good, ma'am.
Nancy: (Trying to be fair.) Well, I suppose we mustn't blame it. It has been a good joint to us.
Mary: A good stayer, as you might say.
Nancy: Yes. Well, I suppose we shall have to get another.
Mary: Yes, ma'am.

(Milne, A. A. Three Plays: The Dover Road, the Truth About Blayds, the Great Broxopp. 1922. Reprint. London: Forgotten Books, 2013. 194-5. Print.)
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James Gifford, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English and University Core Director
School of English, Philosophy and Humanities
University College: Arts, Sciences, Professional Studies
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Vancouver Campus
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Fax: 604-648-4489
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