Although this conjures images of a well-dressed gentleman in top hat and tails getting down with his bad self to the strains of Marcus Miller*, "dandy funk" is actually a foodstuff.It is, according to the Authority, "hardtack soaked in water and baked with grease and molasses." The OED concurs, calling it "hard tack soaked in water and baked with fat and molasses." That's a very important distinction in there, you betcha (although they do indicate that they think it was more commonly a closed compound, "dandyfunk"). The Encyclopaedia Britannica offers up no opinion, which is probably just as well. It is alternatively described as "a mess made of powdered biscuits, molasses and slush," a staple(?) of sea-going fare, guaranteed to keep you alive, if not terribly happy.
Also, ew. Definitely need your grog ration if you want to choke that down.
*I have no actual funk favorite (or even particularly any knowledge), I just Googled "greatest funk" and picked a name at random out of the lists that came up.
Scurvy!
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