Cooking aboard or outdoors

We're night owls and it's a drizzly cool night here. My mrs just presented me a favorite comfort food. Lentil soup. With a mexican enhancement. The soup recipe is basic boiled lentils and bit of onion and garlic. Excellent just plain. Where she makes it shine, is addition of tostones y tostados.
The platain or in spanish platano macho is the big, hard, cooking banana. Wife cuts half inch slices on diagonal making big chips. Fried quickly in very hot olive oil, dried on paper towel then salted=tostones. I like them for snacks instead of potatoe chips, but only good when hot. She floats tostones on the lentil soup. The flavors are real nice together.
Tostados aren't the pizza syle open taco from taco bell. Tostado is the crispy tortilla. She mixes flour, salt,butter or lard, a pinch of baking powder, and hot water into a stiff dough. She rolls balls, flattens in tortilla press, and toasts in a dry hot skillet. No oil, so it aint frying. at my request she adds more salt than traditional to the masa (dough). Result is the best saltine cracker you have ever eaten, and warm, crispy, and fragrant. Well, thats what I'm eating this moment, with fresh brewed cuban coffee to wash it down.

 

Chorizos go well in garbanzo bean soup, some of which we will have tonight.

 

We bake our plantains 40 minutes at 380 F, then split them lengthwise, and spread shredded Sargento Mexican cheese into the split.

 

A few questions about cooking aboard

Good morning everyone,

Motivated by the successes of my earlier trials and now having spoken to C31, TVS and Gourmet Traveller magazine, I have a few questions. I hope you might offer your thoughts and insights.

1) Are you (more or less) interested in sea foods in relation to cooking aboard (as apposed to poultry or red meats).

2) Are you (more or less) interested in vegetarian or other meals that exclude meat or ingredients derived from animals.

3) Are you (more or less) interested in plate presentation.

4) Do you prefer the practical convenience of fill a bowl and hand me a spoon.

5) Are you particularly interested in food prepared and cooked from fresh ingredients while under sail and at a heel (as apposed to meals that are partly or wholly prepared at home/on land before sailing and finished aboard).

6) Are you (more or less) interested in meal ideas designed to impress guests aboard.

7) Are you (more or less) interested in menu plans for a weekend or a long weekend

8) Are you (more or less) interested in menu plans for extended voyages of up to 21 days.

9) Are you (more or less) interested in cooking food from scratch.

10) Would you prefer to take convenient short cuts by using sachets/packets/jars etc to assist with cooking.

11) Would you like a suggested wine recommendation with each meal.

I'm getting excited about this project and hope to make something of it.

James.

 

Hi James I hope it works out, unfortunately I'm not back on the water yet so my answers might not be as applicable as they could be but maybe my own personal preferences might help a little

cheers
B

 

Best of luck.

 

My preference underway, is not served at same time, sandwiches and delicious soups, stews, or casserols in a bowl or large cup, thicked so hard to spill, high energy to maintain core temperature and for muscle power. Plate presentation, table settings, multi course meals are what I look forward to on arrival in port. The dishes you posted earlier, I'd enjoy at anchor or tied to a dock. Best wishes and good luck.

 

James, a couple other items- refridgerationless menu options. Pressure cooker meals. I generally buy bulk and repackage to get portion control then store aboard in one week meal kits. For passages, an endless pot recipe that cycles for an entire day or longer is often handy if you just take on a couple extra bodies for the passage. It's somebody's job to add to the pot and heat it up every three or four hours. These can get pretty bizare tasting after four or five people have added their favorite item to bulk it up with. There's got to be a better way. Sardines and oatmeal cookies added to a rice and bean stew don't really do it for me.

It has to stick to the plate before it can stick to my ribs. I like products that can be plated nicely or mashed into a putty, depending on conditions.
Make a note of meals that can be prepared in or with seawater.

 

Seawater is hard on the body. I would avoid consuming that.

 

I like a sandwich, warmed in microwave. A one-handed sandwich, not a half loaf of french bread type.
After a sandwich or before, but not simultaneous, a large flat based mug of something hot and chewy. Big flat base so you can glue it to table. I like fresh baked breads, corn muffins, other muffins, rolls. The best use of a slice of plain white sandwich bread, is to use it to glue down a bowl or mug so it don't slide around! .

 

That's much healthier than eating the bread because bleached flour has been linked to diabetes.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/alloxan061605.cfm

 

Many of us here aren't rich mega-yacht owners. Everybody likes attractive, delicious, aromatic food.
I'd like to see both the underway sustenance fare, and the intimately (brass antique ships oil lamp) lit dinner menu/recipe for arrival at anchor, for 2 or 4 persons, with wine suggestions. Candles don't belong on board.
Seasonal non imported ingredients and local wines, so not to break the budget. Only splurging occassionally. Thanks in advance.

 

You can cook a lot of stuff with saltwater and drain it. Sometimes it can be mixed. I have a 35 gallon tank plus 6 in the HWH. If four people want to sail from St Croix to Montawk NY, thats means jugs and cases for the ditch bag and it's still cutting it close. If someone gets seasick or has the runs, they can require a couple gallons a day. If you're fat with fresh water, use it. That is why I suggested noting what can be cooked in seawater- in case the need arises. It's a good thing to know.

 

I get it now, seawater is just a cooking medium to be disposed of. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

 

I've done enough long distance voyaging commercially. My ideal when my boat is finished, is motorsail 5 or 6 hours. Anchor. Fish a little. if sucessfull, clean and cook for supper. If not? Pull out the makings brought along. After a delicious sunset supper, snuggle with my wife, laugh and giggle over conversation, rich coffee spiked with Jameson's, and for me a good cigar. Watch the stars and listen to the music of the water lap the hull. When that gets boring, retire to the cabin and a good movie, then be rocked gently to sleep. Next day, weather permitting, move on and do it again. That's the extent of my voyage plan.