Card games have been around for a long time. They’ve existed in various forms for a millennium, having been invented in the Far East. From there, they came West with trading, and in the 1400s the French solidified the 52-card deck and the four suits — spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds — that we use today. While different cultures and nations use different sets of cards, that system is the most widely used around the world. For literally centuries now, friends, families, and strangers have convened around bar tops, campfires, and dining room tables to play friendly and perhaps not-so-friendly games of cards.

The Appeal (and Manliness) of Card Games

What is it that makes card games so appealing, and why have they found such a particularly prominent place in the culture of men?

Portability. Rather than having to cart around a game board and various easily-lost pieces, a deck of cards can readily fit into a pocket or other small space. This is one reason they’ve long been popular with sailors and soldiers (as well as travelers and adventurers of all kinds); they can easily be thrown in a pack or seabag and cracked open on the frontlines or the bunk of a submarine.

Speed. Board games often require lengthy set-ups, and games can take a long time. It’s easily forgotten where one is at in the game if a break is needed. Card games, on the other hand, just need a shuffle, and you can play almost anything imaginable. And most games, even long ones, have natural breaks at the end of a hand or deal. You can just as easily play for a few minutes or a few hours.

Extra man points if you can identify the fella putting down the card.

Adaptability and informality. Most card games are folk games, with rules being passed on and changed from generation to generation (which is what makes tracing each game’s specific history particularly difficult!). Every family and even region has its own set of rules they prefer, and those rules can continue to evolve based on what’s most enjoyable for the folks playing it. Most games can also be scaled up or down on the challenge level to incorporate kids and expert players alike.

Balance of chance and skill. Games scholar David Parlett writes: “A major attraction of card games is that they are in general neither wholly mindless, like most dice games, nor excessively cerebral, like Chess, but offer a reasonable balance of chance and skill. The actual balance varies from game to game, enabling well-informed players to select from the vast repertoire of card games the one or two best suited to their tastes and talents.” Even though players don’t have control over the chance aspects of games, in times past, a man who had a streak of luck in cards was considered favored by the gods, which enhanced his honor.

Manly competition. It is has often been noted that men’s games are symbolic representations of their more violent clashes in fighting and war. This is as true of something like football as it is of card games. When anthropologist Michael Herzfeld lived among the tough, rugged shepherds of a remote, mountainous region of Crete, he observed that their daily card games were a “medium for the expression of contest in emblematic form.” He writes:

“Contests they most certainly are. One of my most frequent card playing companies would announce, ‘Let’s clash lances [na kondarokhtipisomene]!’ Card games are often described as ‘struggling,’ and valiant opponents as pallikaria (‘fine young men’). Some basis of opposition beyond that of a friendly game is usually sought; when two kinsmen of different generations were matched against each other, even though they were fairly close in age, an onlooker jocularly justified the whole situation by announcing that it was a contest between the old and the young. Almost every move is made with aggressive gestures, especially by the striking of the knuckles against the table as each card is flung down.”

This echo of the basic quest for manhood and honor, the requirement of strategy, and the element of risk and reward, “lends spice to what would otherwise be a daily repetitive activity.”

Ease and enjoyment of conversation. Card games facilitate easy, no-pressure conversation; if someone has something to say, they can say it; otherwise, people can just concentrate on the gameplay. Especially when all the participants are men, jokes and insults are traded and contribute to the unique sense of male camaraderie that can emerge around card playing. As Herzfeld notes, while other male activities like hunting or war “require swift and often silent action . . . the card game provides a forum for skill in that other area of demonstrative masculinity, clever talk. The rules of the games themselves are fixed, and therefore of relatively little interest . . . But the conversational gambits, well-timed gestures, and of course the flamboyant triumph of the winners are all legitimate themes in male interaction.”

Element of mystery. Generally in board games, every player is aware of the possible moves of every other player. You roll a die, and everyone else can see what’s going on and if a player is close to winning. With cards, the only thing the other players see is the uniform back of what you’ve been dealt. There’s a fun air of mystery knowing that on your next turn you can go out, and nobody else is the wiser until the moment you exultantly drop your cards on the table.

6 Card Games Every Man Should Know

For the reasons above, and the rich history of cards — you can play the same game your grandparents and great-grandparents played, and of course folks well before them! — every man should know a handful of games. The 6 below are a set particularly worth learning, for reasons of both popularity and intrinsic value; they are games that you’re likely to be invited to play by others, and if you aren’t, you should consider asking others to play them, because they’re so enjoyable!

Note: A couple of those listed feature one specific type of a broader category of games (e.g., gin rummy is just one of many types of rummy that can be played). But the general principles of that particular “subgenre” will give you a good idea of how that broader category of game is played.

1. Gin Rummy

Gin rummy was popular in Hollywood; here co-stars Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan play in between shooting scenes for Letter From An Unknown Woman.

Rummy, as a broader category of card games, revolves around gameplay in which participants try to make sets, or melds (in card playing parlance) — generally either 3 (or more) of the same number/rank, or 3 (or more) suited cards in sequence (a run). It’s also a “draw and discard” game, in which players draw a card from either an undealt or discard pile, and throw out an unwanted card as well. When all a player’s cards are part of a meld (or as many as are needed based on the variation), they go out, and get points based on what the remaining players have in their hand. Generally, you’ll play to a set point number, often 100.

Games scholars believe that rummy was originally a card variation on the Chinese tile game mah-jong, and came into being perhaps as early as the 1700s. Through many cultural and regional iterations, gin rummy, as the folk tale goes, was created in 1909 by whist (another card game) teacher Elwood Baker and his son, Charles Baker (who went on to become a renowned screenwriter). It’s thought that they invented the variation as a faster version of standard rummy. The history of gin is hard to suss out, though, since it didn’t really become popular until the 1930s (as with many card games in the US), when the Great Depression forced families to entertain themselves at home. It’s an easier game to learn than bridge, and more family-friendly than something like poker.

Gin rummy then took off in Hollywood and became immensely popular on movie, TV, and Broadway sets as an easy game, with a better reputation than poker, that could be played in dressing rooms and picked up and left off between shoots. In the late 1930s and 1940s you’ll find references to gin and “gin sharks” in numerous films, shows, and plays.

From there, its place in American leisure and game-playing was cemented, and today it’s often a game the whole family knows and plays, particularly when visiting with grandparents.

Click here to learn the rules of gin rummy.

2. Hearts

The game of hearts falls into the trick-taking category of card games, originally stemming from whist. Rather than wanting to take tricks though, hearts is unique in that you want to avoid collecting tricks, depending on the cards in the pile; hearts are bad, as is the notorious queen of spades (also known as “Calamity Jane” or the “Black Lady” in the game). It’s usually played to 100 points, but the person who gets to 100 is actually the loser, and the person with the lowest points the winner (hearts being a point each, and the queen of spades being 13 points).

Hearts first appeared in the US in the late 1800s, but has origins going to back to a 1600s French game called “reversis.” Like the modern hearts, the goal was to avoid taking tricks that had certain cards in them. While one hindrance to playing hearts is that the modern version requires 4 players to get a game going (though it can be played with more or less, with rule changes), it still enjoyed pockets of great popularity in the 20th century, especially among college students.

The game was then given new life at the end of the millennium when Microsoft Windows included it as a built-in game in their operating systems starting in the 1990s. You had three players provided for you, and could pick up a game anytime you wanted. This was how I learned the game, actually. Practice and learn on a computer or on your phone, then find three friends to play with. It will be far more interesting than staring down Pauline, Michele, and Ben (the default opponents in early Windows versions).  

Click here to learn the rules of hearts.

3. Poker (Texas Hold ‘Em)

Poker is a quintessentially American card game. What makes it unique from any of its antecedents is specifically the betting factor. While the gameplay is reminiscent of some other world games (and also just card-playing in general), the structure of betting sets it apart from anything that came before.

It’s possible that the game originated in 1820s New Orleans on Mississippi River gambling boats. From there, poker spread north along the river, and West along with the Gold Rush, becoming an important part of cowboy lore. When the dirty and tired men were done breaking horses or driving cattle for the day, and needed some entertainment around the campfire, poker became the go-to diversion. It involved skill, luck, and bit more friendly competition than many other card games. Betting — even with just pennies or matchsticks — naturally upped the ante.

Various ranking systems and variations of game play also spread through the country (and eventually around the world), but poker really took off in the late 1980s when Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which legalized casinos on Native American land. Prior to that, gambling in all forms was far more regulated. Different regions had different popular variations, but Texas Hold ‘Em came to be the most played version in the Western US. In the 2000s, when ESPN began televising the World Series of Poker, and online gameplay took off, Texas Hold ‘Em became the dominant poker game around the world.

What makes poker great is that it retains a very competitive spirit even while playing for low stakes, and it can be scaled up or down depending on the proclivities of the group. You can play for $.05 or $5 or $5,000 or $500,000. Or for Chips Ahoy cookies. It’s also an ideal card game for a large gathering. Have a bachelor party to plan? Or a birthday shindig? Or a weekend guys night while ladies go paint and sip wine? A game of Texas Hold ‘Em in the garage or basement is perfect. To get you started, here’s a primer on the game, and here’s how to host a poker night.

4. Solitaire

Solitaire, as a group of games played primarily by oneself, was first developed in the mid-1700s, and first appeared codified in writing in the late 1700s. Unlike the other specific games in this article, I’m listing it here as the broad category. Why? For the simple reason that it’s likely everyone already has a preferred version of the game! (Mine is a variation of Kings in the Corners solitaire that I learned from my dad.)

Solitaire was actually first played with multiple people, either by taking turns making moves, or by each person playing with their own deck and seeing who would “win” first. It’s likely that the version played truly alone against just the deck itself came about by people practicing for the multiplayer variety. Soon, innumerable versions of solitaire came about, as any player could really make any set of rules they desired. It’s said that Napoleon played when he was exiled, and although a number of versions of solitaire are named after him, this rumor is likely just that.

As with hearts, solitaire really exploded along with the personal computer. No need to shuffle the deck yourself every time. Klondike, FreeCell, and Spider became the most popular (at least on computers), as those were stocked on most machines back in the 90s. Today, you can download apps that offer hundreds of versions of solitaire.

Try some out (you can peruse the “Solitaire” section of this book, or look them up online), practice playing them by hand versus on a device, and next time you’re bored, rather than automatically jumping to your phone for entertainment, deal out some cards and play solitaire.  

5. Cribbage

The game of cribbage has been beloved by men for centuries. While it incorporates a board, it’s really a card game for generally two people (though three or four can readily be accommodated with just slight differences), with the board only used to keep easy track of points accumulated. There are two parts to cribbage: pegging (numerically counting your and your opponent’s cards up to 31) and counting (making sets, runs, and 15s with your cards — see rules for more detail). It’s a game that really defies being grouped into other broader categories of games, making it especially fun and unique; there’s not really anything else like it!

Believed to have been invented, or at least codified, by British soldier and poet Sir John Suckling in the 17th century, it was brought to American shores by English settlers where it became quite popular in the colonies, especially in New England. Requiring only two players, it was readily adopted by sailors and fishermen as a way to wile away the time. Cribbage boards, which have either 61 or 121 holes, were (and still are) crafted from a variety of materials (learn how to make your own board here!) and could be quite unique and elaborate in form and style. Eskimos would make cribbage boards out of walrus tusks to trade with the sailors and fishermen who made port near their villages.

Cribbage remained popular with mariners for hundreds of years, enjoying especially widespread play in the Navy during World War II. It was thought of as the unofficial game of submariners, who played round the clock as they patrolled for Japanese ships.

Cribbage continued to be played after the war, and was a favorite game of college students at least up through the previous generation. But it seems to have, along with most other analog games, largely fallen out of favor and sight. It’s not a game that easily adapts to digital play either, meaning a lot of folks know of the game, but don’t necessarily know how to play. Don’t be like those guys.

Click here to learn the rules of cribbage.

6. Blackjack

Blackjack is unique on this list as it’s primarily a game you’d be found playing in a casino. It’s actually the most widely played casino game there is. Why might that be? Largely because it’s fast to play and easy to learn. You and/or a group of other players are betting against the dealer — just the dealer, you’re not competing against other players — to see whose cards can get closest to adding up numerically to 21 (or at 21) without going over. There’s a bit more nuance to it, but that’s the gist. If you get closer than 21 to the dealer, you win (as does anyone else who did the same). If the dealer is closer to 21, you lose. The value of learning the game is that you’ll be able to walk into a casino — which can be an intimidating place — and know how to confidently play at least one game.

Blackjack (previously called just “21”) was first referenced in writing in a short story by Miguel de Cervantes (of Don Quixote fame) in the early 1600s, meaning it was invented and played likely sometime in the mid or late 1500s. When introduced into US gambling houses in the 1800s, an early, seemingly random rule dictated a 10-to-1 payout if your hand contained a black (spade or club) jack. The name obviously stuck, even though the 10-to-1 payout was quickly abandoned.

The game became more popular in the U.S. in the late 1950s when some math whizzes came up with strategies that enabled the player to gain an advantage over the house. Ed Thorp’s popular 1963 book Beat the Dealer was the first to lay out card counting to the general public, and hopeful players the world over have tried, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to (mostly) legally win millions of dollars (as portrayed in the popular movie 21).

While card counting is technically legal as long you aren’t using some sort of device to help you, it’s very hard to do successfully, and casinos have the right to kick you out and ban you if they don’t like your odds and suspect you of it. So don’t try. Do, however, know the basics of the game so that when you happen to be in Vegas for your brother’s bachelor party, you’ll at least be able to hang around and not just sheepishly watch over his shoulder as a spectator.

Click here to learn the rules of blackjack.

Know these 6 card games and you’ll be able to confidently join in a contest with friends, wile away time with your family on a rainy camping trip, entertain yourself on a long flight, and keep your grandma company every Sunday night.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Last year, I got a wood pellet smoker, and it’s really changed the game for our home cooking. I use it several times a week now; brisket, burgers, chicken, steak, veggies — you name it, and I’ve probably smoked it. But my proudest use so far was smoking the turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner last year.

It was a big hit with everyone. The bird came out juicy, with a deep, golden brown skin you only get from smoke and butter. The meat had a nice smoke ring and plenty of flavor, thanks to a dry brine that does most of the work while you sleep.

If you’ve never smoked a turkey before, it’s easier than you think. I learned from my friend and BBQ master Karl Engel. Here’s the idiot-proof process Karl recommends.

Pick the Right Bird

If you’re serving more than a dozen people, it’s better to cook two smaller turkeys (12–14 pounds each) rather than one massive 25-pounder. Big birds tend to dry out before the inside finishes cooking. Two smaller turkeys will cook faster, more evenly, and taste better.

If you decide to go with a larger turkey, you’ll want to spatchcock it to ensure even cooking. I’ll show you how to do that below.

Thaw It Completely

If you bought a frozen turkey, make sure it’s fully thawed before smoking. Take out the giblets and neck, rinse the bird inside and out with cool water, and pat it dry with paper towels.

Dry Brine (The Secret Weapon)

A dry brine gives you juicy meat without the mess of a wet brine. Here’s the mix Karl recommends:

• 2 cups kosher salt
• ¼ cup black pepper
• 3 tablespoons dried herbs (any “herbes de Provence” blend works great)

Liberally cover the turkey inside and out with the dry brine mixture. Don’t be shy here. It’s hard to overdo it. You want that bird well-coated.

Place the turkey in a large foil pan and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours. If you don’t have fridge space, you can use an ice chest. Fill the bottom with 2–3 inches of ice, set the pan on top, and keep an eye on the temperature to make sure it stays cold.

Rinse and Spatchcock

After 24 hours, rinse the turkey under cold water, inside and out, and pat it completely dry.

If you’ve got a big bird (18+ pounds), you’ll want to spatchcock it. That’s just a fancy way of saying “remove the backbone and flatten it.” This helps the turkey cook faster and more evenly.

To spatchcock:

Place the turkey breast-side down.

Using kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone and remove it (save it for stock).

Flip the bird breast-side up and press down firmly on the breastbone until you hear a crack and the turkey lies flat.

Now you’ve got a bird that will cook evenly and look great when finished.

Butter It Up

Slather softened butter all over the turkey. Put some inside the cavity. The butter helps the skin crisp up and adds flavor.

If you want to level up, mix your butter with minced rosemary and sage.

Fire Up the Smoker

Heat your smoker to 300°F. That’s a little hotter than some people like to smoke, but Karl has found through experimentation that if you go lower, you usually end up drying out the turkey. 300°F seems to be the sweet spot for a juicy bird with plenty of smoky flavor.

I used a mix of oak and apple pellets, but hickory, cherry, or pecan work great too.

Place the turkey breast-side up on the smoker grill, and place a foil pan beneath it to catch the drippings for gravy. If you’ve spatchcocked your turkey, lay it flat, skin side up.

Plan for about 3½ to 4 hours of cooking, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F in the thickest part of the breast and at the junction of the leg and thigh.

Baste With Butter

While the turkey cooks, melt three sticks of butter in a saucepan and add a few sprigs of rosemary and sage (fresh if you can get them). Every hour, baste the turkey with this butter mixture. It will help crisp the skin and give it that dark mahogany finish that looks straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Rest and Carve

Once your turkey hits temperature, pull it off the smoker and let it rest for 20–30 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and makes carving easier.

Look at that smoke ring.

Then carve it up (see our guide on how to carve a turkey) and enjoy. The meat should be tender and juicy with a subtle smoky flavor.

Once you smoke a turkey, you may never go back to roasting. It’s that good.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Instant coffee has a poor reputation among American coffee drinkers. (The rest of the world is not as hesitant about including it in their regular beverage routine.) And for good reason, if you ask coffee aficionados: the instant stuff is known for tasting like burnt dirt. On top of that, instant coffee granules would historically not dissolve well, leaving you with a thick, powdery texture more akin to something like sandy mud than a smooth, enjoyable drink.

But the times, they are a changin’! Recent years have seen a boom in instant coffee innovation and a subsequent uptick in usage: for the first time since the 1970s, over 10% of coffee-drinking American households are using the stuff.

Not only has the taste of instant coffee greatly improved — companies are using much higher quality beans than they used to — but the processing technology has gotten much better too. Nowadays, simply adding hot water dissolves the granules almost instantly, leaving you with a much better texture.  

As an ardent coffee lover myself, I was keen to try this new wave of instant coffees, along with some of the traditional stuff for comparison.

My methodology was rather simple:

• I stuck with black coffee rather than messing around with powdered lattes or other specialty drinks that included sugar and/or creamer.
• I purchased most of the available grocery store options. This will vary by region, but most of these brands are widely found across the country.
• I then researched some of the higher-end brands I couldn’t get at my grocery store and bought them online, either through Amazon (free shipping) or directly from the manufacturer (paid shipping that jacked up the price per serving).
• I tried each coffee at least three times over the course of about a month, using the recommended preparation instructions, ensuring that they all got a fair shake.

Instant coffee will not beat your favorite coffee shop or your French press at home. But some of them will certainly beat your Keurig and will make for a fine cup of coffee while road tripping, backcountry camping, or simply on a morning when you’re short on time.

This taste test was by no means exhaustive. There are a lot of options out there, both on grocery store shelves and online. That said, most fall into these sortable buckets:

• Dirt cheap: Folgers, Maxwell House, etc. — they don’t taste great, but cost just pennies per serving and still command a rather loyal following among some, especially those who grew up on these brands.  
• Middle of the road: These brands usually aren’t household names and cost between $0.25 and $1 per serving. There are a lot of options in this category and they all taste roughly the same. (More on that below.)
• High end: This is a fairly new category in the instant coffee world; these coffees taste dang good, but you’re going to pay for it at $2+ per cup.
• Instant espressos: These are a category of their own and, in America at least, are often just used for cooking. Intended to replicate the taste and intensity of a classic espresso, they’re stronger and made with finer granules than other instant coffees.
• Concentrates: Generally used for homemade iced coffee, but can be used for hot java as well.

Below, you’ll find notes on at least one instant coffee from each of these categories. I’ll first mention a couple to definitely avoid, then provide a few recommendations that aren’t the very best but are still recommendable, and finally I’ll share the top three best-tasting instant coffees.

Note: I calculated the price per serving based on the unit price of the product, plus the cost of shipping (where applicable), divided by the recommended proportions for a standard cup. For some of them, I had to double the portion of coffee to get to the right strength. The “right” strength is a very subjective preference, though, and will require some experimentation. Just know that the price per serving, in reality, may vary.

The Undrinkables

Medaglia and G7 Black

Medaglia: $0.17/serving ($5.89 for ~35 servings)

G7 Black: $0.51/serving ($16.91 for ~33 servings)

There were two coffees that didn’t get a third taste test: Medaglia, an Italian-style instant espresso, and G7, a popular Vietnamese brand of instant coffee. Both lived up to instant coffee’s poor reputation. The smell was that of burned rubber, and the taste nearly matched. They were downright undrinkable, frankly. Perhaps worst of all, they delivered that trademark gritty and gunpowdery texture of the instant coffees of yore.

Both of these coffees have some decent reviews on Reddit and elsewhere on the web, but didn’t pass muster for my palate (which is much more forgiving than most coffee aficionados). I cannot in good faith recommend either Medaglia or G7 Black for human consumption.

Everyday Drinkables

The Nostalgic Choice: Folgers

$0.08/serving ($10.39 for ~125 servings)

As Folgers is one of the oldest brands in this space — it introduced its instant coffee in 1953 — if you’re familiar with an instant coffee, it’s probably this one.

There’s something undeniably nostalgic and even a bit comforting in a mug of Folgers. It doesn’t taste awesome, but this instant java will bring you right back to your parents or grandparents’ house, or to your own youthful college days. It’s not a bad place to go, even if it’s not the highest quality cup of coffee on this list. Plus, you really can’t beat that price per serving.

Upgraded Money Savers: Mt. Hagen and Highground

Mt. Hagen: $0.38/serving ($9.42 for a 25-pack on Amazon)

Highground: $0.60/serving ($18.09 for ~30 servings)

Just as with higher-priced varieties of instant coffee (more on that below), there’s also been a proliferation of middle-of-the-road instant options that purport to offer a better product at a slightly higher but still very affordable price point. Two of the more popular brands in this category are Mt. Hagen (which gets weirdly high reviews on Reddit) and Highground.

In my taste tests, both of these organic coffees tasted just fine and are totally acceptable for any of your instant coffee needs. There’s nothing notably offensive about them, nor are they worth writing home about. If you’re looking for an option that offers a slight upgrade over traditional instants, Mt. Hagen and Highground are both good enough and still quite inexpensive per cup.

Iced Coffee Concentrates: Nespresso and Jot

Nespresso: $0.68/serving ($13.59 for 20 servings)

Jot: $1.50/serving ($20.99 for 14 servings)

In addition to freeze-dried granules, liquid concentrates mark a newer entry into the instant coffee market. Just as with granules, there are options across a range of prices (there are fewer options, however) and they’re manufactured specifically for iced coffee — though they can still be used for a hot beverage.

The primary downside with concentrates is that they’re a refrigerated liquid, so they’re not as portable as granules. With these concentrates, it’s more about the convenience of a homemade beverage than about taking it on your travels.

The two brands that were tested in this category were Nespresso and Jot, respectively representing the cheaper and more expensive sides of the price spectrum. Rather than trying black iced coffee, I made cold maple lattes for my wife (iced coffee isn’t my thing). In a couple different rounds of blind taste tests, she surprisingly picked Nespresso every time. Overall, they both made a very delectable drink, but the Nespresso wins out based on both taste and price.

The 3 Best-Tasting Instant Coffees

The Surprise Bronze Medalist: Ferrara Instant Espresso

$0.17/serving ($5.99 for ~35 servings)

At just $5.99 per jar, I had pretty low expectations for this instant espresso. I figured it would fall into the same camp as Medaglia. There are a few brands in this category, and they’re generally just used for cooking applications rather than actual drinking. But I wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned, so I gave Ferrera a shot.

The roasty aroma matched the “espresso” label, and the fine powder dissolved easily, leaving no residue. Best of all, it tasted like a decent cup of coffee. It was strong, just as espresso should be, and left very little of that noticeable instant coffee aftertaste. Ferrara’s darkness probably isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed it quite well.

The Runner-Up: Blue Bottle

$2.01/serving ($25 for 15 servings, plus $5.25 shipping)

I’ve been a fan of Blue Bottle since I first sipped their coffee in the early 2010s at their original San Fran shop. Traditionally, instant coffee is made with dark roasted beans. Without getting too technical, that’s simply because it’s easier and cheaper to produce. Blue Bottle and other high-end coffee roasters, however, have invested heavily in their freeze-drying process, allowing light-roasted coffee — with its brighter, arguably better flavors — to be turned into an easily dissolvable granule. (Naturally, that high technical cost is reflected in the price of the product.)

As for the taste test: it holds up to the original quite well! There’s not much of an aroma, but the flavor is distinctly Blue Bottle, albeit a somewhat tamer version of it. It’s a very enjoyable cup of coffee that I actually look forward to sipping when that afternoon lull hits. (Heck, I got to thinking about it while writing this paragraph and had to make myself a cup!)

At $2 per cup, it’s more than most others on this list, but still much cheaper than anything you’d get at a cafe. Whether it’s for your own morning joe or as a unique and elevated stocking stuffer, I happily recommend Blue Bottle instant coffee.

The Winner: Swift Coffee

$3.25/serving ($15 for 6 servings, plus $4.50 shipping)

The last few years have seen a proliferation of small, craft coffee roasteries selling an instant product. When you start searching around, you realize that a large percentage of those roasteries offer their product in packages of six pouches, each pouch containing a single serving of instant coffee. Verve, Equator, Canyon — the packaging of these brands looks very similar for a reason. Turns out, Swift Coffee co-manufactures instant granules for most of these companies.

Rather than trying them all, I just tested the original offering from Swift. And I must say, it was really good. As compared to something I’d brew in my French press, the aroma was not as noticeable, but the coffee tasted pretty darn similar. And that’s reflected in the price: this mug of instant coffee costs about the same as what you’d pay for a cup at a coffee shop. You’re not saving money with Swift Coffee (or any of the other craft brands they co-manufacture); rather, you’re paying about the same cafe price to enjoy that nice cup of coffee at home rather than at the shop. It’s dang tasty as long as you’re ready to pony up.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

If you went to high school in America, you probably read Moby-Dick — or, more likely, you skimmed the CliffsNotes and wondered why this dense, whale-obsessed novel was considered a classic.

That was me in 10th grade.

But earlier this year, I decided to revisit Moby-Dick in midlife, and it hit me completely differently. What once seemed like a tedious story about a guy chasing a whale revealed itself to be a profound meditation on free will, perception, self-reliance, leadership, and obsession. It’s now one of my favorite novels.

To help unpack why Moby-Dick endures — and why it might be worth picking up again— I’m joined by Mark Cirino, a professor of American literature. Today on the show, we discuss why Moby-Dick was initially overlooked, the novel’s major themes, and the timeless mystery of Captain Ahab’s monomaniacal quest.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Mark’s previous appearances on the AoM podcast:
  • Episode #786: The Writing Life of Ernest Hemingway
  • Episode #922: For Whom the Bell Tolls
• One True Podcast
• The Norton Library Podcast
• Mark’s Norton Library Edition of A Farewell to Arms

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• Mark’s faculty page

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Transcript

Brett McKay:

Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. If you went to high school in America, you probably read Moby-Dick, or more likely you skimmed the Cliff Notes and wonder why this dense, whale obsessed novel was considered a classic. That was me in 10th grade. But earlier this year, I decided to revisit Moby-Dick in midlife and it hit me completely differently. What once seemed like a tedious story about a guy chasing a whale revealed itself to be profound meditation on free will perception, self-reliance, leadership, and obsession. It’s now one of my favorite novels. To help unpack why Moby-Dick endures and why it might be worth picking up again. I’m joined by Mark Cirino, professor of American Literature. Today on the show we discussed why Moby-Dick was initially overlooked the novels, major themes and a timeless mystery of Captain Ahab’s monomaniacal quest. After the show’s over, check out our show notes at aom.is/MobyDick.

Alright, Mark Cirino, welcome back to the show. 

Mark Cirino: 

Thanks so much, Brett. Great to be back. 

Brett McKay: 

So you are a Hemingway scholar and we’ve had you on the show before to talk about Hemingway as a writer and For Whom the Bell Tolls. But you also teach a class about Herman Melville’s, Moby-Dick, which is your favorite novel. So if you are an American, you went to high school in America, you probably read this book, I dunno, right around 10th grade. That’s when I read it. It’s when we did American Literature. And if you were like me in 10th grade, you probably used the Cliff Notes a lot. And I wanted to talk about Moby-Dick because I recently reread it earlier this year as a 42-year-old man, and I absolutely love this novel. It’s one of my favorites now. And I hope with our conversation we can inspire some listeners to either pick it up for the first time or revisit it if the last time they read it was in high school English class. So let’s talk about big picture. Let’s talk about this guy Herman Melville, who wrote Moby-Dick, who was this guy when he wrote Moby Dick. What’s his story?

Mark Cirino:

Herman Melville was born in 1819, so he was born into the era that we really call American Romanticism, which began around that time. And he was a fairly prominent writer of seafaring narratives, type P Omo, just kind of romps in foreign lands. And with Moby Dick, he became more interested in writing in an abstract way. So in other words, he kept with the maritime adventures and ships, but instead he began to write in an allegorical and abstract way where he began to be all encompassing. And when this book was published in 1851, people just weren’t ready for it. Some people noted that it was an impressive book and so forth, but it wasn’t like it sold very much. It wasn’t like Melville became this unimpeachable bard of American letters. Melville would go on to write a lot of abstract work, philosophical, political, psychological, and then he really became more of a poet later in his life before he died in 1891, to the extent that when he died in 1891, his obituaries didn’t really say that he was the author of Moby Dick.

First and foremost, he was more the author of Typee, Omoo, these early romantic yarns. And it was only until later, maybe the centennial of Melville’s birth, so 1919 where people began to rediscover Moby Dick and say, wow, this is actually worth reading. If I can tell you really quickly, Brett, there’s one particular scholar named Raymond Weaver who taught at Columbia, who was prominent in what is now known as the Melville Revival, which is kind of the rediscovery of Moby Dick and the rediscovery of Melville himself. And my grandfather was a student at Columbia for Professor Weaver. And so he was one of the students reading this book that nobody had ever heard of or nobody thought much about, but this guy was like John the Baptist when it came to Melville. So now years later, Moby-Dick is celebrated as an unequivocal great American novel, and it just goes to show, it might get us to think about that the American literary canon is as subjective as anything else you think of Moby-Dick dropped down from the heavens as sacred text. It really wasn’t that it was discovered by some literature professor.

Brett McKay:

It reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby. 

Mark Cirino:

Same thing, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. When Fitzgerald died in 1940, he was convinced Gatsby was a failure. Gatsby was out of print and it had to be reintroduced. And then now of course it’ll never go out of print.

Brett McKay:

It’s interesting, Melville had written a lot and he was well known for his writing before Moby Dick, but today, I think most people, if they’ve read Melville, the only thing they’ve read from Melville is Moby Dick, or they might’ve read Bartley the Scrivener, and that’s about it. What do you think that is?

Mark Cirino:

So I’ve read several other Melville novels to try to answer exactly that question, Brett. I was like, why? Everyone would say Melville is one of the great American novelists of all time. Everybody would say that. And then you could ask those people who say that, okay, so name two Melville novels. And they would say, well, Moby Dick and Bartley, the Scribner, okay, Bartley, the Scribner is the short story, right? So what does Moby Dick have that the others don’t? Especially since they’re kind of covering the same terrain? And if I can just be reductive and try to figure this out, the first thing it has is Ishmael. And Ishmael is this singular narrator. He’s funny, he’s imaginative, he’s enthusiastic, he’s discursive like he goes on tangents here and there, and he’s very insightful about human behavior. So Melville had never done that before, create such a perfect narrator.

The second thing it has is Ahab, this enormous figure, this mad captain determined to get vengeance on this monster of the sea. So he’s almost godlike or royalty, he’s just larger than life. And Melville had never created such a larger than life protagonist. And also Moby Dick himself, the whale, this creature that is the object of so much fury and so much scrutiny. That is the great quest that Ahab is on. And so triangulating these three unbelievable characters within this novel creates such an alchemy, such power and mystery that none of his other books ever approached this kind of structure.

Brett McKay:

Why do you think this novel is so intimidating? I think some people, they have Moby Dick on their two read list or they remember reading it from when they’re in high school and they’re like, Ugh, Moby Dick, I can’t do that. What is it about this book or the way it’s written that makes it intimidating?

Mark Cirino:

Well, you’re going to have to tell me about how you felt about it as a 10th grader. I mean, it’s kind of long. It’s not long as 19th century American novels go necessarily. I mean, there are lots longer novels. I think the writing is pretty dense and poetic and Baroque Melville writes in a very intense way. So it can be very hard to kind of unpack some of the poetic imagery, some of the philosophical ideas. Absolutely, some of that can be difficult to unpack. Ishmael also goes on digressions as I mentioned. So there’s the very simple story, which is Ahab has been wounded by this one particular white whale named Moby Dick and has now determined to set out and avenge it. And our narrator, Ishmael happens to be on that ship, the P quad. So that’s a very simple story, just a very simple story of vengeance and actually also a holy grail story trying to reach one particular object. But at the same time, Melville layers on top of this very simple, straightforward, linear story discussions about religion and politics and commerce and law and history and psychology and philosophy and nature. So it goes on and on and on. And I think that can be very either frustrating or disorienting for lots of readers.

Brett McKay:

I think when I was in 10th grade and I was reading this book the first time I remember I’d get to the chapters where Melville would just inject these almost pseudoscientific textbooks about Whales chapter 32, where you just see it’s just basically the scientific name of the whale and the description of the whale. And I remember in 10th grade, like what does that have to do with the story? So I’m just going to skip this. What do you think is going on there? Why did Melville do that? I mean, he does that several times there at the book. I remember there’s one where he just talks about the anatomy of the sperm whale head. What does this have to do with Ahab getting Moby Dick

Mark Cirino:

On the surface? It has nothing to do with it. And chapter 32, which is called Cytology, probably has caused more additions of Moby Dick to be turned into Frisbees and launched across dorm rooms all across the United States than anything else in American literature. So Ishmael takes us on a really convoluted taxonomy of the different kinds of whales and the way they looked and their behavior. And I think this is part of Melville’s vision, of course, I’m only telling you what its effect is to me as a reader. I can’t tell you what he was going for, he never proclaimed it. But I think in addition to this narrative, he was trying to say everything about whales all at once. So he was trying to come at it from an adventure point of view. He was trying to come at it from a metaphysical point of view, a historical point of view, and in this case a scientific point of view.

I’ll tell you a couple of effects that Chapter 32 has on me. The first thing it does is it shows how engrossed and enthusiastic Ishmael is as a narrator. And that’s no small thing, Brett, if you’ve ever been talking to somebody, even if you’re not inherently interested in what the person’s talking about, if they are so obsessed and hyped up on what the story is, sometime that’s charming and engaging. And I definitely find that with Ishmael, you don’t really need to be as excited about whales as Ishmael. You just need to know that Ishmael is very excited about whales. So Ishmael is eager to tell you everything that he’s learned about whales. And the second thing that I would offer about the ology chapter is as Ishmael is offering an organizational system of whales based on how they look and how they behave, this book comes out in 1851 and in 1851, weren’t we doing the same thing about human beings? We have a hierarchy of human beings that we valued depending on how they looked and how they behaved and where they were, where they lived. If we don’t in 2025, we certainly were in 1851. And so when I mentioned earlier that the Wailing adventure is kind of an allegory or a metaphor for larger things, that could be something that’s a cytology chapter suggests.

Brett McKay:

I think for me, the effect it had on me whenever he goes into these scientific digressions about whales, it made Moby Dick the whale — I understood it more, and it also made him even more impressive in a way. I don’t know if that was the effect he was going for, but that’s what it did for me. It made the whale more impressive.

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, because he’s saying, you have to understand this thing from all its vantage points, how big its head is, what its tail is like on and on. There’s even the chapter about a whale’s penis, only to show that we have never really encountered monsters like this before.

Brett McKay:

So you mentioned the big picture outline of the book. It’s this guy named Ishmael. He hooks up with this ship called the Pequod, and he’s the book’s narrator and the ship’s captain is Ahab, who’s been injured by this whale named Moby Dick. And the book is all about Ahab trying to find this whale, essentially. That’s what it is. And then along the way, they’re doing some welling, then there’s some other things going on. But let’s talk about the main themes of Moby Dick. You mentioned some of them earlier, science, philosophy, religion. What would you say are the big themes you see throughout this novel?

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, there are a lot of themes. I think Melville touches on a lot of things. One of the elements that he’s addressing is the difference between free will and determinism, which is simply do you have control of your own actions? In the very first chapter, which is called Loomings, Ishmael is describing a kind of magnetic pole that he has to the sea. So it’s almost like he doesn’t choose to go. The sea draws him. And he’s saying that happens all the time that we’re drawn to certain places, we’re kind of sick of society and we’ve got to go into nature. And by the same token, the reason that theme is so important is because when Moby Dick injured Ahab, Ahab believes that Moby Dick sought him out personally to injure him like you, I want to get you. And so Ahab is personally insulted that one particular whale injured him.

Meanwhile, I think maybe most common sense readers and certainly Starbuck in the novel, they’re like, Ahab, that’s what whales do. It was instinct. Why would you take it personally? God designed this whale to defend itself and to attack potential threats. You just have to accept that. And so you see there’s a distinction between did Moby Dick act intentionally with a human motivation or was it just mechanical instinct? And that question gets turned around when Ahab is suggesting his act of vengeance on the whale is also instinct. He’s drawn to it magnetically, almost like the whale was drawn to him. So this kind of gets at a lot of questions about human behaviors. When do we act according to our own consciousness versus when do we act kind of programmatically? And so that’s certainly one of the themes.

Brett McKay:

So what do you think was going on in Melville’s time where he was thinking about free will versus determinism? What was happening in America at the time?

Mark Cirino:

Well, I think one of my favorite sentences in the novel is when Ishmael says, “Who ain’t a slave?” And I think that’s one of the most courageous sentences in that novel. In 1851, he says, who ain’t a slave? And some people actually were slaves, but he’s talking about something a little larger. He’s saying, okay, is slavery a legal issue or can it also be a psychological issue? Are there things that even free people in 2025 are slaves too? And then as one of his contemporaries, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, well, what if you’re a slave driver to yourself? What if you are imprisoning yourself through limitations or habits or prejudices or small-mindedness or things like that?

Brett McKay:

Another theme that you talk about and that you see in the book is this idea of objective versus subjective.

Mark Cirino:

Yes.

Brett McKay:

What’s going on there?

Mark Cirino:

Yeah. So basically there’s a juxtaposition between subjective perception, how an individual sees the truth of something and objective reality, what the empirical facts are. And this is really set up in so many ways, and I think the best way to analyze this idea is the Dublin chapter where Ahab nails up a single coin and says, whoever can spot Moby dick first. This one particular well gets this very valuable coin. And then there’s an extraordinary chapter where Ishmael describes several people starting with Ahab, going up to the delo, looking at the shapes and the figures and the symbols on this coin, and essentially interpreting it or reading it. So we might think of an inkblot test. Well, an inkblot test objectively is an ink plott. But subjectively, there might be an image or a memory that it calls up to you individually, and that the same is true for the dub. So it ends up revealing more about the person than about the coin itself. So Ahab looks at it, and you remember what he says when he sees the coin. He says, you see that that’s Ahab. Those things over there, that’s Ahab, everything, Ahab, Ahab, Ahab. So it’s the greatest expression of solipsism and self obsession, self absorption, because Ahab sees himself in everything. He’s self-obsessed.

Brett McKay:

Another chapter where you see that exploration of objective versus subjective. It’s one of my favorite chapters, one 18 The Quadrant.

And this is a scene where someone’s trying to bust out the quadrant. Sailors use this to navigate. You look at the stars and you can figure out where you’re at. And Ahab is like, I’m not having it. He’s like, I hate this thing. He says, fool. He calls it foolish toy babies play thing of hudy admirals and commodore and captains. The world brags the thee and thy cunning might. And then he says, science cursed thee thou vain toy and cursed be all the things that cast man’s eyes aloft to that heaven whose live vividness, but scorches him as these old eyes are even now scorched with thy light. And he said, level by nature to this earth’s horizon are the glances of man’s eyes not shot from the crown of his head as if God had meant him to gaze on his firmament, curse thee thou quadrant, and he dashed it to the deck.

No longer will I guide my earthly way by the level ship compass and the level of dead reckoning by log and by line, these shall conduct me and show me my place on the sea. And I think that’s a great idea. He’s like, I’m rejecting science. I’m not guiding my life by the objective science. I’m just going to use my own self to guide my life. And I read that and I can see, okay, that’s not good to reject objectivity, but at the same time, I’m kind of inspired by Ahab like I’m going to do what I want to do and not what some instrument tells me to do. I think it’s very relevant today where we have ai, people are going to chat, g gt asking chat, GBT to make decisions for them about, well, should I take this job or even about their romantic life? And I think Ahab would say like, no curse the chat GPT, and he’d smash it.

Mark Cirino:

There is definitely that to it. And this is like Luke Skywalker using the force and not putting the blast shield down. And he’s like, I’m trusting my own instinct is strong enough to solve this problem and execute this mission. And I agree with you that is inspiring. But we can see also the cautionary tale of how they can get you into trouble, how you can forsake facts and say, I got this. And there’s a difference, especially in romantic literature, capital R. So I’m not talking about romance novels, I’m talking about romantic literature. The difference in romantic literature is trusting yourself, and I’m using self as its own word, trusting yourself, which means the heart’s core, that deep inner part of you that maybe other people don’t see, maybe you don’t even see. It’s your soul trusting that which is a divine correspondence to nature and to divinity versus trusting your ego.

And so Ahab may let ego get in the way, or other leaders may let ego get in the way and they forsake facts. But I do agree with you that if you’re using instinct properly, if you’re balanced, that can be inspiring. There’s one other illustration of this, Brett, that might add a layer to it in the chart, which is not dissimilar from the quadrant. In chapter 44, Ishmael is saying essentially, Ahab wanted this whale so badly. He was so bent on this obsession that he says all possibilities would become probabilities. And as Ahab fondly thought, every probability the next thing to a certainty. And so we all know people like this, the people who they can’t see reality because they want something so badly, and because I want it to happen, I can will it to happen. So it cuts both ways because the more kind of sober, realistic people may say, wow, that’s not going to, I don’t think that’s going to work. But the fact is, don’t our heroes don’t. The really great adventurers and leaders and inventors don’t, they have this kind of little strain of hyperbole to them, this little extreme element to them. We’re going

Brett McKay:

Let’s talk about some of the characters more specifically. We’ve been discussing them kind of on the surface. I want to go deeper with this.

Mark Cirino:

Yes.

Brett McKay:

Let’s talk about the narrator, Ishmael. Moby Dick starts off in a famous way. Everyone probably knows the first line of Moby Dick. It’s “Call Me Ishmael.” What does this line do for the narrative? And what does that tell us about Ishmael that he started off this story with? Call me Ishmael.

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, that’s a question that people have been wrestling with for 150 years. What does “Call me Ishmael” mean? On the surface, it’s a really folksy introduction to our narrator who’s going to sit down and tell you a nice wailing yarn. But on the other hand, it might be a little shifty. There’s a difference between saying, my name is Ishmael and call me Ishmael. Call me. Ishmael is kind of establishing the authority of who is telling the story and who is going to be listening to the story and at the mercy of who is telling the story. So if somebody tells you, call me blank, they are kind of setting the terms of the narrative. In fact, we can go onto the second sentence of the story. He says, call me Ishmael some years ago. Nevermind how long? Precisely, so it’s already he’s telling us what to ask and what not to ask. He’s a very engaging narrator, but again, he’s also setting the terms. We might also wonder about the name Ishmael, because I dunno how many Americans are named Ishmael. This is a quintessentially American narrative, and we have American characters named Ishmael and Ahab.

Brett McKay:

Yeah, why is that? Is there something symbolic about the name Ishmael?

Mark Cirino:

There must be. So when he says, call me Ishmael, he is alluding to a figure in the Bible, the son of Hagar, who is an outcast. So when he’s saying, call me Ishmael, he might be suggesting that he serves that same kind of role in society or that same kind of role in the narrative. One of the things about Ishmael, and I think this is truly the genius thing about the novel Moby Dick or one of the genius things is that Ishmael is not the protagonist, and Ahab is not the narrator. Ishmael is kind of on the periphery off to the side observing. Sometimes you don’t even know how he has access to certain events that go on on the P Quad, but he can sometimes get into the thoughts of Ahab. Sometimes Ahab does something all by himself, even below Deck, and you wonder how does Ishmael know what is going on? Does he have imaginative powers? Does he have supernatural powers? Is he a fiction writer? Where does the truth and imagination blend?

Brett McKay:

Yeah, this reminds me going back to The Great Gatsby. It’s the same thing with Nick Caraway, the narrator, then Jay Gatsby’s the protagonist. And my son just got done reading The Great Gatsby, and he had this funny comment. He’s like, Nick Caraway is just always kind lurking. I don’t know why he’s there and these different situations, how he knows what’s going on, but he’s just kind of there in the background. I’m like, yeah, he is kind of a lurker.

Mark Cirino:

That is a great parallel. It’s exactly the same. The central phrase for Nick Caraway is you remember, and I’m sure your son just read this, when Nick Caraway is talking about this party that he’s at this really kind of seedy party in this apartment, and he looks outside and he sees kind of a bystander, and he says, I was within and without. So simultaneously, he was two places at the same time, and he was two people at the same time. And that is the brilliance of Gatsby, the way it’s narrated. But of course, Moby Dick came way earlier, and so I’m sure that Fitzgerald modeled it after Ishmael.

Brett McKay:

So Ishmael, as you said, he’s this really enthusiastic guy. He’s really enthusiastic about whaling, and he’s also kind of an outsider. What does Ishmael represent, do you think? Because Melville’s writing symbolically in this novel, so Ishmael must represent some idea that he’s trying to convey.

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think Ishmael might be the stand-in for Melville. I think he’s the writer of the, I think he’s the poet. And so the poetic leaps that Ishmael takes, the philosophical and psychological leaps that he takes, he’s really the poet and the novelist on the ship. Ahab doesn’t think on those terms. Ahab is thinking he must get the whale, and if this novel were to be narrated by Ahab, it probably would be very direct. It wouldn’t be much shorter. But Ishmael is more expansive, and I think it’s kind of showing what it’s like. And this goes back to the Nick Haraway thing, what it shows to be in the proximity of these larger than life figures. So Ishmael is kind of awestruck. He looks around with a sense of wonder at whales, at these great captains at all the events, the violence, and he’s sort of our standin and also Melville’s standin.

Brett McKay:

Let’s talk about Queequeg. Queequeg has always been one of my favorite characters. For some reason, I just find him endearing. Why do you think this cannibal sailor dude from the South Pacific is such an endearing character?

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, first of all, he’s great at being a harpooneer. So he gets on the Pequod due to merit, and that’s fantastic. He’s more qualified than Ishmael to get on the Pequod. He’s a great friend. He’s generous, and I think, well, you can answer why he’s endearing to you. What he’s endearing to me about is that he’s in the Emersonian sense of being self-reliant in comfortable in his own skin, which is in his own heavily tattooed skin. Imagine being a heavily tattooed Pacific Islander, observing Ramadan carrying heads in your sack in Manhattan in the middle of the 19th century. You would be extremely conspicuous. He has absolutely no embarrassment about his own actions. They give him a wheelbarrow to lug things around him. He puts things in the wheelbarrow and carries it because he doesn’t understand how wheelbarrows work, and it feels like, well, didn’t you feel silly?

He’s like, no, why would I feel silly? I don’t know how to do. This isn’t something I’m familiar with. So he’s completely at ease with who he is. I find that very inspirational. One of the great chapters in Moby Dick is called the monkey rope. And in the monkey rope, you remember this episode Brett, where Queequeg is on top of a whale carving it up, and Ishmael is on the boat tethered to Queequeg with a rope, and Ishmael finally realizes if Queequeg falls in, I fall in and if I let go, Queequeg falls in. And then he takes another step back and goes, well, isn’t this just like every human being all across the world, is that we all are connected, even if it’s not with a tangible rope, if I’m driving to work and someone swerves in, I’m done. If the pharmacist isn’t paying attention when he gives me my medicine, I overdose and I’m done. So we all depend on one another for survival. We just don’t see it on an everyday basis. And so Ishmael’s having this very physical connection, but he also appreciates this sublime metaphysical connection he has to him also.

Brett McKay:

Yeah, I love that insight. He lacks that morbid self-consciousness that a lot of westerners have, and that’s admirable. Someone who’s comfortable in their own skin. I think that really ties in. I think Melville is probably getting it at that idea in American romanticism of just what Emerson hit on. You got to be your own guy, as Thoro said, March to the beat of your own drummer, that sort of thing. And that’s admirable.

Mark Cirino:

Emerson says, anybody can be themselves in the privacy of their own room. The key of being yourself, a fully functioning human being is to be yourself out in society. That’s the challenge when conformity is really pressuring you to be like everybody else. He said, if you can maintain who you really are, really are deep down that is greatness. And Ishmael’s looking around to see like, oh, who’s doing this? Am I being, he’s kind of like jittery is in a foreign land at complete ease. 

Brett McKay:

Talk about Ahab. He is one of the great figures in I’d say world literature. He’s part tragic hero, part madman. How do you think Melville wants us to understand Ahab and his obsession for the whale?

Mark Cirino:

Wow. So many ways. I think for starters, we can ask ourselves if we are Ahab at all. If there’s in common parlance, the white whale is like, Hey, what’s your white whale? It’s like, what’s the one thing that you keep trying for that you can never get? And it’s like, oh, I might be obsessive about certain things that I keep failing about or that I’m destined to fail, and I’m really driving myself crazy about it. What is your white whale? So we might all be Ahab at one time or another in our lives. Hopefully we recognize it before it’s too late. So at one point, it’s about obsession and monomania only thinking about one thing and how that, remember Brett, I hope you’re comfortable with spoilers. The way that Ahab dies I think is so crucial.

Brett McKay:

Yeah, tell us about that.

Mark Cirino:

Are we okay?

Brett McKay:

Yeah. If you haven’t read Moby Dick yet, you can fast forward. Let’s talk about this.

Mark Cirino:

Okay. Well, the manner in which Ahab dies is he’s impaled by his own harpoon.

And how symbolic is that? That what really ended up killing him was not necessarily the whale. It was his own violence towards the whale got turned on himself. I also think Ahab is a quintessential dictator. So the P quad is run in a fascist way, and so Melville is talking a lot about government and leadership. One of the aspects of the P quad is that there are people from all over the world. Almost every nationality and ethnicity is represented on the P Quad. It’s like a floating united nations, of which Ahab is the leader, is a commander, and Ahab sooner than later, gets everybody to do exactly what he wants them to do. The passion of his leadership, his charisma, his magnetism has overwhelmed everybody else on the P quad, so that his doomed insane mission becomes unanimous.

Brett McKay:

That sounds, I mean, I know this is probably not a great parallel, but it reminds me of Steve Jobs when he was the head of Apple. People would talk about how he could just because of his charisma in his just obsession with making the best product possible, he would get people to do what they thought was impossible. Oh, interesting.

Mark Cirino:

The way you’re saying it, that almost sounds like a positive application.

Brett McKay:

Well, so I mean, it was positive. We got the iPod and we got the iPhone, but the way you hear people describe working for Steve Jobs, he was a real jerk. He was awful working under him. He was mean, and he even recognized that as he was dying. He was like, yeah, I probably could have done things differently, but maybe not. Maybe he couldn’t have done things differently to get accomplished what he accomplished.

Mark Cirino:

What I think about sometimes when Ahab gives that first pep talk where he gathers everybody around and he essentially says, Hey, you know why you’re here. We’re here to kill one whale, Moby Dick. And Starbuck is like, Hey, I thought we were going to do see how many whales we could catch so we could make a lot of money. He’s like, no, no, no. We’re getting one whale. We’re going to get vengeance on the one whale who injured me. What that makes me think of is to look at a Nazi rally from the 1930s and how Hitler was so passionate filled with evil and hate and madness. You could tell the power of his insanity was greater than the emotions that anybody else in that room had. And Ahab even knows it. Ahab knows what he’s saying, might be ruinous and wrong, but he also knows there’s nobody who is his equal. Nobody wants it as bad as he does. Nobody wants the opposite as bad as he wants what he wants, so he overwhelms them.

Brett McKay:

I mean, when I read Ahab, I think Melville paints a really complicated character. On the one hand, his obsession ended up killing him and lots of other people too. But on the other hand, I mean, Melville does paint Ahab in a kind of romantic light in a way he’s got on a bad course, but there’s something attractive about this dynamism, and I feel like Melville would say there’s a role for passion, this whole American romanticism thing, but it’s got to be harnessed in the right way.

Mark Cirino:

You make a great point. So first of all, just a couple of things about that. First of all, I think there’s a moment where after Ahab kind of riles the entire Pequod up and everybody’s on his side, there’s a line that should make your heart sink, where the beginning of chapter 41, Ishmael says, I Ishmael was one of that crew. My shouts had gone up with the rest. My oath had been welded with theirs and stronger, I shouted more, did I hammer and clinch my oath because of the dread in my soul? A wild, mystical, sympathetic feeling was in me Ahab’s quench list feud seemed mine. That is for anybody, and it doesn’t have to be grandiose like politics or religion or life and death. It could be any time you went along with something that you deep down knew better then you got overpowered. 

And the other thing that your comment made me think about Brett was there’s a moment where Ahab is really humanized, where he’s all by himself, at least he thinks he’s all by himself, or perhaps Ishmael’s looking on, and he leans over, he’s thinking about his wife, and he’s thinking about what his obsession and what his career as a sailor has done to his family and how he’s spent way more time out on the ocean than on land. And one teardrop drops into the water. And what Ishmael Surmises is there was more substance in that one teardrop than there was in the rest of the ocean combined because of just how long did it take that tear to form? Probably he had never done it before, but there is that, it’s kind of a yin and yang type thing where yes, Ahab is all one thing, but there’s one dot of humanity and sanity and family man where he kind of remembers who he really is.

Brett McKay:

Let’s talk about another character, really important character, the whale, Moby Dick. I’m sure lots of people have written essays when they’re in high school like, well, the white whale represents this. What do you think the white whale represents?

Mark Cirino:

Okay, so let’s take one baby step back. And I think a lot of readers of literature who were asked to read this book, let’s say in high school and 10th grade seems actually very early to read this book, but let’s say they did. And their professor, their teacher said, now we’re all going to write essays about what Moby Dick represents, what the whale represents. And a common complaint is, well, why does the whale have to represent something? Why can’t it just be a whale? Why can’t it just be? And we have to have a discussion in that class about there is such a thing as literary symbols. Things do represent other things, and we don’t really need to presume this. We don’t have to guess about this because actually Ishmael tells us what the whale represents. He says in chapter 41, which is called Moby Dick, and let me just quote a sentence or two, all that, most maddens and torments, all that stirs up the leaves of things, all truth with malice in it.

All that cracks, the sinews and cakes, the brain, all the subtle demons of life and thought all evil to crazy Ahab were visibly personified and made practically a saleable in Moby Dick. So Ishmael is saying everything bad about the world, Ahab ascribed to this one particular whale. Now, it’s very important that Ishmael is saying that is what the whale symbolizes to Ahab. The thing about a symbol is that it means different things to different people. An American flag will mean something different to an American and someone from a different country. A cross means something different to a Christian and a non-Christian, and this is the way symbols are. They mean different things to different people. We almost started our conversation by talking about the difference between objective and subjective. So we have to be very careful that the whale doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody.

Ahab is trying to make Moby Dick mean the same thing to everybody. He wants everybody to hate it as much as he does. But in fact, the very next chapter, chapter 42, which is called The Whiteness of the Whale, begins when Ishmael says what the white whale was to Ahab has been hinted, what at times he was to me, as yet remains unsaid. So for every person in the book and for every reader, the white whale probably means something different. I know that’s frustrating, and I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m equivocating, but what it really is, it’s a celebration of subjective perception over objective reality.

Brett McKay:

And so, okay, Moby Dick represents evil to Ahab and he has to kill it. What does it mean to Ishmael?

Mark Cirino:

Yeah, so exactly. So Ahab is saying, once I kill Moby Dick, everything will be better. And now we may look at that and go, what is going to happen once he kills Moby Dick? He’s going to live happily ever after. Do we really think that’s what’s going to happen? So in Ishmael’s case, in chapter 42, he takes a philosophical point of view. Chapter 42 is called the Whiteness of the Whale. And he says, do you know what really bothers me about Moby Dick? The thing that really kind of exasperates me is that he’s white, and by that it’s saying he’s blank. He has no definition. It’s his absence. He says, vague, nameless horror. So what frightens Ishmael is that he’s a white whale, and it could mean anything in that sense. It means whatever you think it means. You are projecting your own anxieties, fears, prejudices onto this blank screen.

If you’ve ever had to write something and you look at a white sheet of paper, that could be very anxiety causing. But here he’s saying, and this is kind of counterintuitive because I think our culture, we look at white as pure and clean and innocent. And here he’s saying, you know what it’s like, it’s like if you’re caught in a whiteout or an avalanche and your surroundings have no definition. In 1851, the early 19th century, if you looked at the map of America, there were white spots, there were white areas, things that hadn’t been fully settled and explored. And romantic writers, Emerson and Thoreau were like, don’t explore externally. Don’t explore the continent. Go within, explore the white spots in your own brain, the areas of your own psyche and consciousness that you haven’t thought of before.

Brett McKay:

Yeah, there’s a great line in that chapter, chapter 42, talking about how the whiteness, it’s this void, this blankness in how it’s anxiety producing sort of existentially anxiety producing. He says, this is it that by its indefiniteness, it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with a thought of annihilation when behold, the white depths of the Milky Way.

Mark Cirino:

Incredible. That’s incredible. Yeah, if you are an imaginative person, if you can project and then you can spiral out of control because it’s just blank. There’s a line in Walt Whitman’s song of myself, which is 1855, and I might butcher it, but I’ll do my best. He says, the white topped mountains are in the distance. I fling my fancies toward them, fling my fancies toward them. So he’s looking essentially at a white easel or white canvas, and he’s like, whatever’s in my brain that is going to project onto it. And that’s scary. What Ishmael is gesturing towards is that we really, as human beings seek definition. We seek boundaries. We want things to be contained. And if the white whale is so enormous and he’s white, we don’t know if there’s any end to it. It could be just an infinite beast.

Brett McKay:

You’re a Hemingway guy. You have a podcast called One True Podcast, and it comes from this line from Ernest Hemingway in a movable feast where he describes how he writes, and he says, all you have to do is write one true sentence, write the truest sentence that you know. What do you think is the true sentence in Moby Dick?

Mark Cirino:

Well, that question is just, now I realize how evil that question is because there’s about 91 true sentences from Moby Dick. I can choose one of my many one true sentences. So as the novel goes along, and this might be a little bit of a key for people who get frustrated with some of Ishmael’s digressions, we start to see a little bit of a pattern in how Melville structures Moby Dick. What he’ll do is he’ll spend a few pages of a chapter talking about some arcane aspect of wailing or whales or the practice of wailing. And you’re saying, why am I engaged with this? Why do I need to know this? And then at the very end, maybe the last sentence or the last paragraph, Ishmael will tie it in to a larger, universal or metaphysical concept, and you’re like, oh, now I see why we’re talking about it.

And it’s absolutely brilliant. Many of these chapters are absolutely brilliant. One such chapter is called Fast Fish and Loose Fish, and this is chapter 89. This very small chapter is essentially a rule book about whaling, which is to say, what do you do when two rival ships are both pursuing the same whale? How do you know who gets it? And the short answer is, whichever ship is fast to it or attached to it, and if the whale is loose, if it’s unclaimed, then whichever ship becomes fast to it gets this whale, and you’re like, well, this is kind of interesting. I never thought that there was a rule book about wailing, but I guess there’s rule books about everything that’s kind of interesting trivia, and that’s that. But towards the end of this chapter, Ishmael begins to talk about being fast and being loose in the sense of metaphysics or your soul or your spirit or your psyche.

And then let me just end the chapter the way he does. He says, what are the rights of man and the liberties of the world, but loose fish, what all men’s minds and opinions, but loose fish? What is the principle of religious belief in them? But a loose fish? What to the ostentatious smuggling, ISTs are the thoughts of thinkers, but loose fish, what is the great globe itself, but a loose fish? And what are you reader, but a loose fish and a fast fish too? And that last sentence brings it home and kind of twists the knife in where he’s basically saying, okay, so what are things that you are susceptible to being influenced by? It goes back to a lot of the strains of conversation, Brett, that we’ve just been having, which is okay, who could come along and convince you to do something that you wouldn’t ordinarily do? And then he goes back to, but what are you fast to what has already claimed you in ways that you might not even be aware of? Like, who ain’t a slave? What are you imprisoned by? Have you ever taken a step back to say, what am I loose to and what am I fast to? It’s an absolutely brilliant way to parallel this weird, trivial law of wailing and the way we all experience life.

Brett McKay:

That’s amazing. Well, Mark, this has been a great conversation. I hope it’s inspired some people to go pick up their old copy of Moby Dick and give it a reread. Where can people go to learn more about your work and what you do?

Mark Cirino:

So I am actually hosting two podcasts. One, as you say, is Hemingway specific called One True Podcast. The other is called the Norton Library Podcast, of which there are two beautiful episodes about Moby Dick with the editor, Jeffrey Insco and I have recently published an edition of Hemingway’s, A Farewell to Arms with the Norton Library that I hope everybody enjoys. 

Brett McKay:

My guest today was Mark Cirino. He’s a professor of American literature. Check out the podcast he hosts. He’s got the Norton Library Podcast, as well as One True Podcast, which is about Hemingway. You’re available on all podcast players. Also, check out our show notes at aom.is/mobydick where you can find links to resources we can delve deeper into this topic. 

Well, that wraps up another edition of the AoM Podcast. Make sure to check out our website at artofmanliness.com and make sure to check out our new newsletter. It’s called Dying Breed. You can sign up dyingbreed.net. It’s a great way to support the show directly. As always, thank you for the continued support. Until next time, this is Brett McKay reminding you to not only listen to the podcast, but put what you’ve heard into action. 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Note: We’re excited to welcome back longtime contributor Jeremy Anderberg, who will be writing occasional articles for AoM once again.

Reading aloud to your children provides a host of benefits for little ones and adults alike. Beyond even the measurable advantages is the simple pleasure of connecting with your kids and engaging in the ancient tradition of sharing stories.

When kids are ages 4 and under, getting through read-aloud stories can honestly feel like a chore. The same board books repeated again and again and again . . . one can only handle so much Pete the Cat and annoying rhyming ditties.

Ages 4 to 7 bring some relief. Kids can enjoy longer, more engaging tales, plus they can start to read words and sentences themselves, which adds a special magic to the experience.

Somewhere between ages 7 and 9, things change yet again. Kids are usually reading on their own and may not “need” stories read aloud — heck, they might even ask you to drop the nightly routine. But if you keep the practice going, you’ll find it becomes even richer and more fun than before because they’re ready to listen to more interesting middle-grade chapter books.

It’s when kids get to this crucial age that they can truly start learning some of life’s most important lessons about love, courage, relationships, and more — and those lessons don’t change much as you age. It’s no accident that many of the classic novels in this category are among the best-selling titles of all time. Their blend of timeless lessons with compelling adventure has made them favorites in our own household too.

Below are four we’ve read aloud to our kids that they really enjoyed.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien’s classic children’s book is generally seen as the appetizer to the immense Lord of the Rings trilogy. But when read with kids, you’ll (re)discover that it makes for a fantastic story of its own that doesn’t just need to be a stepping stone to its door-stopping follow-up.

Introducing Middle-earth and all its inhabitants — hobbits, elves, orcs, dwarves, wizards — readers are immediately drawn into a world that combines whimsical adventure with rather serious battles between good and evil. (Tolkien knew his age group, though: this story doesn’t get as dark or scary as Lord of the Rings.) At its core, The Hobbit is a tale of a quiet fellow who discovers a well of courage and resolve to do good and daring deeds.

While any version of it works well, our family especially enjoys the edition illustrated by Jemima Catlin.  

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

If the movie Interstellar were a children’s novel with a little more fantasy and a little less sci-fi, it would be L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. This book has a bit of everything: time travel (and tesseracts), aliens, sibling conflicts, mitochondrial science, and a darkness vs. light theme running throughout. What makes this story really stand out are its beautiful meditations on love, family, and accepting who you are. A Wrinkle in Time is perhaps our household’s most beloved story; I’ve read it aloud at least three times, and I expect I’m not done yet.

The graphic version, adapted by Hope Larson, is fantastic. We started with it before moving onto the full, unabridged novel. And although we’ve tried the sequels (there are five books in the series), none have been enjoyed nearly as much as the original.  

The Odyssey by Homer

This ancient Greek epic is not your standard children’s fare. But I know a bunch of kids, mostly boys but not entirely, who love learning about Greek and Roman mythology in school. They eat up all those old stories of heroes battling monsters and fighting next to their brothers in arms. What better book to read, for this group, than one of the oldest and most powerful narratives in the history of world literature.

Now, don’t jump right into the full text of the Odyssey. That’s enough to make an adult’s head spin, let alone a 10-year-old. For this book, I recommend going with an abridged graphic version that hits all the narrative highlights while retaining the classic poetic writing style. There are a few options, but the best of the bunch is Gareth Hinds, who has adapted a number of famed novels and plays into accessible graphic editions. If that goes well, consider trying the real thing — Emily Wilson’s translation is great — but don’t be too discouraged if it doesn’t hit the same.

By now you’ve seen I often recommend illustrated or graphic editions. Some people worry about this trend in children’s literature, but I see them as a great bridge between picture books and chapter books. If it keeps kids reading I’m all for it, and the visuals usually make the story stick even more.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis’s most famous book is also the shortest and most accessible title on this list. Combining mythologies and religious ideas, Lewis gave the world the kind of story that anyone and everyone can enjoy.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a rich, beautiful tale about four kids who find themselves in a hidden world that’s been plunged into an epic conflict. They’re drafted into that battle and are forced to find deeper reserves of bravery and love than they thought possible.

Our kids love all things Narnia, including the whole seven-book series, along with a few movie adaptations. But the book that started it all is still their favorite — and mine too.

Here are a few more recommendations from Brett and Kate that the McKay children especially enjoyed:

• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
• The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs

Reading aloud doesn’t have to end when kids learn to read on their own. In fact, these middle-grade classics show that it can get even better — and go a long ways towards raising confident readers! They remind us that stories aren’t just entertainment, but also offer adventure, tradition, and lessons that last a lifetime.

Keep up with all of my book reviews and reading lists by subscribing to my newsletter at readmorebooks.co.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

You’ll find them lurking in the lobbies of grocery stores, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and arcades: the claw machine, that glass box of childhood excitement and elusive dreams. Whether your kids beg you to win them a stuffed narwhal, you’re feeling nostalgic, or you just finally want to enjoy the satisfaction of outwitting this frustrating machine, you’ll want to approach the game with grownup savvy. 

The first thing to know is that claw machines are often rigged. Many are programmed to grip tightly only every few turns, loosening their hold mid-lift unless the machine’s payout threshold has been met. That’s why you see so many plush toys piled near the chute, a testament to the claw machine’s most common outcome: close, but no cigar. 

Still, winning is possible — if you know how to play smart. You can do so by following the tips above.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week

The big keys to cooking a great burger center on using the right meat and grilling technique. But once you’ve got those fundamentals in place, the architecture of your burger can also enhance the taste and overall eating experience. 

Plenty of people structure their burger willy-nilly, and really, there’s no wrong way to do it. But there are ways that make it more or less likely that you’ll have issues with things like soggy buns, suboptimal flavor melding, and, most vexing of all, escaping toppings; it’s not fun to have those toppings squirting and falling out as you try to get your delicious meat sandwich in your mouth.

There are a lot of opinions about the best order in which to stack toppings on a burger. Folks have their particular method, and their particular rationales for said method. It’s a subject as debatable as what the greatest war movies of all time are.

That being said, here we add our own entry to that debate, a researched and field-tested argument for the following as being the soundest strategy for building your burger.

From bottom to top:

• Bottom bun.
• First condiment of choice. Distribute your condiments (mustard, ketchup, mayo, etc.) between the top and bottom buns. This preserves the distinctiveness of their flavors, prevents an overabundance of goop that will drip and squirt out as you eat, and creates a kind of “mortar” on both top and bottom that will help secure toppings in place. If you’re using mayo, Alton Brown recommends putting it on the bottom bun, as its fattiness will create a barrier that will prevent the bun from soaking up the burger juices and getting soggy.
• Lettuce. With its placement atop the bun, the lettuce acts as a shield that blocks the patty’s juices from soaking into it and making it soggy. Keeping the lettuce from direct contact with the hot patty also keeps it from wilting, preserving its crispness. 
• Tomato. Slippery veggies like lettuce and tomato are best placed beneath the burger and are less likely to slip when used as foundational pieces rather than sitting on top of the patty. Placing half of your toppings on the bottom of the burger, and half on top, prevents it from being top-heavy and thus unstable, while the weight of the patty, and the texture of its bottom surface, will help hold the tomato in place. 
• Burger patty with melted cheese. For best taste, cheese should be melted on top of the patty as it finishes cooking.
• Onions. The melted cheese on which the onion sits will help keep it in position. 
• Pickles. Place your pickles within the rings of the onions, and those “walls” will keep them from sliding out.
• Second condiment of choice. The condiment will help keep the onions and pickles in place.
• Top bun.

For further help in keeping the structure of your burger together as you eat, learn the best way to hold it; yes, there’s a best way to do that too — proven by science! 

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Note: This is an excerpt from Dad, What’s for Dinner?: Lifesaving Recipes to Avoid Meltdowns, Have Fun in the Kitchen, and Keep Your Kids Well Fed by chef David Nayfeld.

No other meal in the day is as transformed by the school calendar as breakfast. During the academic year, weekday breakfasts fall into the “Hurry up and eat, so we can get out the door” camp. Breakfast is you get what you get. If it’s a piece of fruit and a piece of toast on the way out the door, consider yourself lucky. My mother would warm six mozzarella sticks in the toaster oven. I ate that every morning for two years.

But on weekends —­ and during breaks —­ breakfast can be a luxurious and leisurely way to start a day. In fact, because it is normally so rushed, I find those laid-­back breakfasts to be the most joyful meal in the house. And, because so much of breakfast is baking-­centric, it’s a great opportunity to bond with your kid. Or, let them relax and sleep in while you make it. It doesn’t matter. That’s the great part about the weekend.

How to Make Lazy Weekend Pancakes

For anyone who has not gone through the exercise of making a true pancake from scratch, know there are few things more satisfying. The level of primal urge satisfaction is akin to being a hunter, killing your own venison and bringing it back to the table. Actually, making pancakes from scratch isn’t that hard. The secret — and the science experiment — is that the vinegar reacts with the baking soda to form a foamy texture. The most time-­consuming part of this recipe is the measuring out of ingredients — but what might be tedious for you is fun for your kids, so get them involved.

And a word about texture: Some people like soft, singularly textured pancakes. I do not. By cooking them at a higher heat, you achieve a crisp crust that yields to a tender fluffy interior. Nothing could be better.

• Yield: 4 or 5 pancakes
• Time: 30 to 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups (320g) whole wheat flour (stone-milled, if available)
• 1/4 cup (50g) raw sugar
• 2 teaspoons (6g) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (3g) kosher salt
• 2 large eggs (60g each), separated
• 1.5 cups (350g) buttermilk
• 1 cup (245g) whole milk
• 2 tablespoons (30g) distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon (15g) vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons (55g) butter, melted and cooled

To Finish

• 4 tablespoons (55g) unsalted butter, plus more for serving
• Maple syrup, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a second bowl, with an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they create soft peaks.
3. In a third bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk, milk, vinegar, vanilla, and 4 tablespoons melted butter.
4. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula, stirring just until combined. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in the egg whites.
5. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a stainless steel skillet over high heat. Once melted, reduce the heat to medium and scoop 1/2-cup (120ml) portions of batter into the hot pan. Cook until the edges become crispy and bubbles start to appear on the surface of the pancake, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until the edges are crispy and the center is firm. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
6. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

From Dad, What’s for Dinner? © 2025 by David Nayfeld. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Photos by Eric Wolfinger

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.

The smell of searing meat over an open flame brings us back to a primal state. Whether you prefer the fatty goodness of a ribeye, the lean and clean flavor of a flank, or a good old-fashioned T-bone, the keys to perfection are proper heat and timing. Follow the quick-hit guidelines above, and if you desire further details, we’ve got a full-length article and video here.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

For my usual lunch meal prep, I cook a batch of chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, and green beans in my pellet smoker on Sunday, store them in the fridge, and then portion out a macro-friendly lunch each day. Sometimes I’ll also slow cook a big ol’ pot of beans to dig into throughout the week. Thinking about those beans . . .

But the other day, when I was at the grocery store going down the canned food aisle, I had a thought: Could I create high-protein, low-calorie meal-prep lunches using just canned food?

So I tried it. For one week, every lunch I ate came entirely from canned goods. No fresh meat or produce, no frozen veggies. Exclusively tinned food.

Here’s how my experiment went and what I learned.

The Pros of Canned Food Meal Prep

Canned food has a number of underrated advantages:

1. It’s pretty dang convenient. Canned food is the epitome of convenience. Everything is already cooked and chopped. You just open the can, dump it into a pan or bowl, warm it up, and you’re done. It can cut meal prep time down dramatically.

2. It’s shelf-stable. One of the best things about canned food is that it doesn’t spoil quickly. You can stock up on cans, and they’ll sit in your pantry for a year or more, waiting for you to use them. No more throwing fresh food away that you didn’t get around to cooking in time because you had a busy week. And you’re prepped for when global pandemics shut down the world.

3. It’s affordable. A can of tuna is less than a dollar and packs 27 grams of protein. Canned vegetables are also cheap. You can find cans of green beans, potatoes, corn, and more for under a buck. Canned foods cost about the same as fresh and frozen varieties, but can be considered an especially good deal when you factor in the time saved and the reduced risk of food waste. 

4. It’s very macro-friendly. I was able to put together meals that were high in protein, low in fat, and moderate in carbs — all from canned foods. Think canned chicken with canned black beans and corn. Or canned tuna with canned potatoes and peas.

5. It’s still nutritious. There’s this idea out there that canned food is “dead” — that the canning process strips all the nutrients from the food. That’s not really true. While some water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C may decrease slightly, most nutrients remain intact.

The Cons of Canned Food Meal Prep

Despite its robust benefits, canned food does have its drawbacks:

1. Canned foods can be sodium bombs. Many canned foods are loaded with salt for preservation and taste. After my meals, I noticed some water retention and had difficulty getting my rings off my fingers. But there are ways to minimize this. You can buy reduced-sodium or no-salt-added versions of many canned foods. You can also rinse your canned food under water before using it, which can cut the sodium content by up to 40%.

2. Cans may use BPA linings. Another concern you’ll hear about canned food is BPA — a chemical once commonly used in the lining of cans and linked to potential health risks. The good news is that after consumer pushback, most canned food manufacturers have shifted away from BPA linings. But not all have. If this concerns you, check the label or the company’s website for info on their can linings.

3. The taste and texture are not always the best. I like the taste of canned green beans and corn, but canned potatoes and chicken are . . . different. I kinda felt like I was eating cat food when I ate my canned chicken. Don’t expect your canned food meals to taste amazing. Seasoning and Frank’s Hot Sauce will be your friend in making them more palatable.

3 Easy, Macro-Friendly Canned Food Meal-Prep Recipes

During my experiment, I tried out some canned-food-only “recipes.” Here are three I liked:

Chicken, Green Bean, and Potato Bowl

Ingredients

• 2 cans of 5-ounce chicken breast
• 1 can of sliced white potatoes, rinsed (to remove sodium) and drained
• 1 can of green beans, rinsed and drained
• Ground pepper
• Onion powder

Super easy meal to make. Just dump everything in a bowl, add some ground pepper and onion powder, and mix together. I ate all my meals cold, but you can also warm them up.

Macros

• Carbs: 55 grams
• Fat: 5 grams
• Protein: 52 grams
• Total calories: ~ 473

Cost: ~ $6

Southwest Chicken Bowl

Ingredients

• 2 cans of 5-ounce chicken breast, drained
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can of corn, rinsed and drained
• 1 can of diced tomatoes and green chili
• Chili powder

Dump beans, corn, and tomatoes into a big bowl and mix together until evenly combined.

Dole out 200 grams of the bean and veggie mixture into a serving bowl. Top with canned chicken breast. Hit it with some chili powder. Mix together.

Top it with some hot sauce. You can eat it straight or put it in a wrap. I ate mine in a wrap.

Store your bean and veggie mix in the fridge and use it for other meals throughout the week.

Macros

• Carbs: 20 grams
• Fat: 5 grams
• Protein: 49 grams
• Total calories: ~ 320

Cost: ~ $6

Tuna and Chickpea Mix

Ingredients

• 1 can of 5-ounce tuna packed in water, drained
• 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 tbsp of light mayo
• Parsley

Place all the tuna in a bowl. Place half the can of chickpeas in the bowl. Add a tablespoon of light mayo and a dash of parsley. Mix. Add some Frank’s Hot Sauce to taste.

This canned food meal had the least amount of calories but was the most satiating, likely due to the fiber-packed chickpeas. I added an apple to bump the calories and carbs up for this meal. It sounds pretty basic, but this was my favorite meal out of all the ones I tried.

Macros

• Carbs: 22 grams
• Fat: 6 grams
• Protein: 32
• Total calories: ~ 270

Cost: ~ $2

Canned Foods: A Useful Backup, Not a Daily Driver

Given the pros and cons, after a week of eating canned-food-only lunches, would I make tinned victuals the foundation of my diet?

Probably not.

But after this experiment, I plan to keep my pantry stocked with canned foods for those weeks when I just can’t get it together for my big weekly meal-prep cook-up.

Cheap, nutritious, and convenient, canned foods are a handy tool for eating well — even when life gets chaotic.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.