Oldest club in the United States( 1732). I am not a member...likely never will be as I do not really have the pedigree. However, a bunch of the guys I shoot with are members so I am familiar with the drill and I commend them for their history and their activities. It is mostly a dining club but it started as a fishing club...hence the "Fish-House Punch." Tasty stuff from a guarded secret recipe that can get you buzzing right quick.The bowl holding the sacred punch is like a bazillion years old. The cooking is taken seriously as you can see by the spit roasted lamb...not many guys can say they know how to spit-roast meat...or even have the facilities to get it done....but the result is a succulent cut of delicious lamb redolent of garlic and rosemary and smoke. After dining there are cigars and port and jokes and singing...these guys know what they have and keep it to themselves...living history.
My Nanna makes Fish House Punch every Christmas. It originated at a tavern (Fish House Tavern?) close your river there. It's mostly brandy, I believe... but it packs a... well... punch.
ReplyDeleteSorry... I got it wrong. It did come from the Schuylkill Fishing Company.
ReplyDeleteThis is possibly as far from my world as is humanly possible. fascinating.
ReplyDeletefar from my world as well...but, i sure would like to be a part of it
ReplyDeleteMLS, it has nothing to do with your pedigree... they would scared of you. As someone who has been out drinking with you until 2am on a school night, I can assure you that you are of sound pedigree.
ReplyDeleteMain Line Sportsman,
ReplyDeleteFound these fish punch recipes in the WSJ's archives. Speaking of elite Philadelphia clubs, do you know if the Rabbit Club still exists? One time club of the Biddles, etc.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758172905298941.html
Back in the dark ages of 30+ years ago, one of the better magazines published interior photos of this marvelous place. Instant love, so I clipped them all and put them in my permanent book of magical places. When I saw those two gothic arches flanking the doorway in your post, I recognized the place as being the same as the one in my pics. Everso emblematic of "old" as opposed to nouveau, the simple wooden slab-as-server hanging off the wall rather than a standing sideboard, the unpolished table, the exposed studs, the priceless Windsor chairs standing casually about...
ReplyDelete-Flo
Yes..The Rabbit is still alive and well...their Clubhouse is on the grounds of Bala Golf Club off Belmont ave. in West Phila.
ReplyDeleteVery small membership....basically need to be blood relation of a member to get in...and it is just for occasional dining and hard drinking...fairly secretive bunch.
YWP...That was a fun night was it not...
ReplyDelete