Cooking aboard or outdoors

whats nice is this thread was a spin off of one discussing the merits of forgoing a galley completely. I'm very glad to see saner heads prevail.

Looking forward to a small cooking guide for sailing adventures, maybe one for shore camping. Great idea by the way,

Those game hens are almost thawed, going to have to come up with something good if I'm going to hold my head up in this crowd. ( Nice plate of food there Michael )

 

i use these. 3 inches deep for soup and not only do they nest but rotate 90 degtees and they stack. 6 stack fit inside 5 gallon bucket for toting picnic to beach. dishwasher safe. food grade polyethylene.
handle in center means you dont burn your hand balancing dish on palm

 

G'day you lot. The very best to you all for a great festive season & a fab 2012.

'dog-bowls' - great idea !!!! better (more stable) than the 'mining-pans' I was using. They also held the heat/cold well & were very easy to keep clean & stack. Never broke. I'll sure be getting some soon, thanks.

Why can't you keep fish?? I've been - drying thinly sliced - hung in the rigging while sailing for over 25 years now. Hung between 'plastic mesh' until dry, wrapped in paper towels, kept for months & months & all that - in the wet tropics of OZ & SE Asia. Made a great 'jurky' (the fish kind) & always on hand for a quick snack. Was always a big hit when served to 'passangers' (up to 25 people) during the day & at the 'bar' with 'sundowners' before dinner was served - large coastal vessel (128' x 135 tonne - doing 7 day coastal trip). Easy as all heck to do & better than candy. Even the kids liked it better!! That was a big bonus.

Like the idea of grinding - lentils, beans etc. I'll bee doing that also. Thanks. Enjoy your cruising - everybody. Ciao, from down-under, james

 

Not tried on yachts, but on deep sea tugs voyaging 45 days from USA to Africa and 45 days back, refrigeration is limited, the following vegetables last several weeks without refridgeration:
potatos, yams, onions, cabbages, beets, citrus (oranges,limes ect) melon, cantaloupe, carrots, and squashes (pumpkin, acorn, butternut ect) coconuts
but they need dry, dark, cool space. Imagine a farm's root celler, and try duplicate aboard.
These following vegetables will last a week, some need be purchased green and allowed to ripen underway:
celery, tomatos, banananas, apples, papaya, mangos, pineapple, watermelon

eggs will last several weeks without refrigeration. Float test in a glass before using old eggs. Eggs containing putrfaction gases float. Don't crack shell unless it's for a gag! If they sink, they're good to use and eat.

 

Hey there Boston, speaking of game hens...

I had the great privilege of enjoying a roasted game hen stuffed with wild rice and drowned in a thick sticky sauce of morello cherries.

Honestly, anyone sitting at an adjacent table would have confirmed I was having an ****** with each mouthful.

While the chef declined to share his recipe, I'm pretty good at dissecting a meal from taste alone. I will through trial and error mimic this dish for the benefit of us all.

Game hen, quail and other small fowl might prove to be ideal for my galley cooking project. I'm sure you'll all agree that a whole chicken is too large for two and can be difficult to roast in a dutch oven if you're not lucky enough to have an oven aboard.

James.

 

My wife and I can devour a 2.5 lb-3 lb fryer chicken at a sitting between us. Especially if it's chicken mole. Not a 5 lb baking/stewing hen, tho.

 

A 3 pound chicken between to two of you? I envy your appetite and can't imagine how you'd cook such a monster aboard. Do you have a boat or a ship?

 

Prototype dish from my crash test kitchen

Good morning everyone,

Attached, you'll find a prototype meal that I've designed for this project. You'll have to forgive my as the beef dish appearing on page 3 is not yet perfected.

It would please me greatly if one of you would try it and offer feedback.

James.

 

Looks good. Coconut milk and ginger are valuable long life ingredients on small craft. I must remeber to pick up a few tins of coconut milk

 

lovely. what's th green garnish in the soup? isn't parsely or cilantro. Looks like a mint. I have lemon grass in our house kitchen, it looks like long bamboo leaves wrapped in an oval. So what's the herb garnish in the photo?

 

Hi here, it's coriander or cilantro to you americans.

 

Thanks. Love cilantro. especially in fresh home made pico gallo. I can eat it by itself like a salad!

 

Red Chile Pork Stew with Fry Bread

This is a good dinner for a campout, especially if it's washed down with beer. But it's a little spicy for some folks...

2-3 Tbs oil, lard or shortening
3 lbs pork, well-trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs flour
1 cup ground New Mexico chiles (mild to hot, depending on how used to the heat you are)
1 1/2 tsp cumin (if you're using store-bought chili powder instead, it'll have cumin already in it. You can also cut chili powder with mild paprika, if what you have is too hot for you)
4-6 cups of water or chicken broth

Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven until it's sizzling hot, and brown pork on all sides in batches, one layer at a time. Set aside.

Add onions, garlic and salt to pot and stir until soft, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle in flour and pepper, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes more.

Stir in the chili powder, and add 4 cups liquid. Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour,

Stir, and add another cup of liquid; cook for another hour. Add another cup of liquid if needed, and cook until pork comes apart with a fork and sauce is thick.

If you're cooking over a burner or coals instead of in the oven, stir regularly and add liquid as needed.

Spoon into bowls over fry bread, or serve with a stack of warm corn tortillas.

Basic Fry Bread Recipe; can be doubled

1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water

Mix well, but don't knead. Divide into 4 balls, flatten out to about 6 inches by patting with floured hands. Fry in about an inch of hot oil or lard until well browned, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. I was taught to put a hole in the middle of each piece, but some people don't.

In camp where you don't have a lot of oil or lard, cook on a hot cast iron skillet or the bottom of a dutch oven, or on a well-heated flat rock. Add a spoonful or two of oil, lard, butter or whatever shortening you have handy to the recipe, and flatten each piece out a little thinner.

You can also sprinkle fry bread with cinnamon and sugar right after it comes out of the skillet, and eat it as a dessert. And there are a lot of other recipes for it, including some yeast variations.

 

I think the smaller birds end up having the lions share of the flavor as well. Something about wild foul that just adds a whole other dimension to the flavor.

Hmmmmmmm
what to do with those birds, might have to stuff them with something. Its not traditional but I make a mean peppers and mashed russet potato's that I'm thinking I'd like to have on that plate as well. That and maybe some asparagus in chili oil.

 

Penne

Well, I've gone and done it...

I just submitted an article (recipe) to Australian cruising helmsman. Now the nail biting starts. I wonder if they will publish it.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

500g penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 rashers of rindless bacon, cut into thin strips
180g smoked soft cheese, grated
1 leek, finely chopped
1 glass white wine
300ml cream
basil leaves, torn
crusty bread

Cook penne in a saucepan of boiling salted water.

Heat oil in a frying pan and saute the bacon and leek.

Add the wine, cream and cheese and simmer until penne is cooked allowing sauce to reduce and thicken.

Drain penne and add the sauce tossing to coat the penne.

Divide between 4 bowls, garnish with basil and serve with crusty bread.