Annapolis sailor Cindy Fletcher-Holden wrote this humorous piece about cooking on a trans-Atlantic crossing--one of our favorites from the April issue of SpinSheet!
When people hear that my husband and I live on a boat, they often ask if we eat out every night. Sometimes I reply, “No, we heat up cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew over canned sterno and eat out of Frisbees.” They nod and believe me. Then I say, “But every now and then we catch ourselves a duck, which I roast in a mandarin orange and ginger sauce and serve over wild rice with sautéed caramelized baby carrots and fresh arugula.”
Truth is, cooking on a boat is easy. You just have to deal with a small space. Cooking on a boat while sailing across the Atlantic Ocean is different. Out there, it is more like a sport. Lack of space actually becomes an advantage. Our galley is small enough I never needed to clip myself in. I could brace my back against the front of the refrigerator and face the sink and cutting board, with the three-burner stove and oven to my left. With good knees and strong legs, I was set.
Turning around to get into the fridge became a choreographed move, and then I’d brace my back against the sink counter. Cutting and chopping were fun. A good eye had to be kept on the stove in case a pot, or its contents, went flying, which is possible even clamped down on a gimbaled stove. Our boat has two deep sinks which is perfect for meals involving more than one pot. To avoid pot flight, I’d often store one in a sink while I had another one over heat.
Our galley is on the port side, so on starboard tack, the stove is on the low side and a bit safer, with less chance of flying food. On port tack, the sink gets utilized more for holding hot pots. Sailing downwind is easiest, except when we had big waves from the side. Then there was the rocking side to side motion, and it just added a bit of a challenge to the galley dance. Things would slide or roll back and fourth on the cutting board and once in a while something ended up on the floor. Our crew Karen and I would have laughing fits coming up with offshore Hints from Heloise: “When wiping wet pasta off the floor, always bend at the knees and grip the handrail to avoid smashing your head into the companionway stairs.”
When chopping, cutting, peeling and stirring, hands and arms are always in motion. One crew said I looked like that mythical creature that had multiple arms sticking out her sides. That is how I felt. The only night that making dinner was nearly impossible was due to biting flies, our first night out! These nasty flies that would not leave my ankles alone. I was just about to cover up with pants and socks when our crew finally put himself on flyswatter duty and kept them away. There were no more flies after the first night.
The only time it was too rough to cook was in the Gulf Stream, but I still put together a platter of sausages, cheeses, and bread. Other than that, we had good hot meals every night. A good dinner is important to the morale of the crew, and even those cheese and sausage platters were welcomed.
Breakfasts and lunches were more casual. On a few calm mornings, I splurged and made pancakes, muffins, or my favorite, beer bread! Beer bread is a delicious treat to enjoy with fresh hot coffee in those gorgeous sunny mornings offshore.
What to cook is determined by what perishable foods are left. In the beginning of the crossings, we had green salads, fresh veggies, and fresh meats. As we continued on, we would have frozen veggies, frozen meats, no salads, and more pasta and rice. Close to the other side, I’d resort to canned meats and veggies, but still managed to pull off awesome meals with the help or garlic, onions, olives, and spices.
Our evening dinners were one of the highlights of every day. It was one time when everyone was outside at the same time. I tried to time our dinners to coincide with sunsets, so that we had entertainment! We would dine in the cockpit, eating out of plastic bowls with rubber bottoms (nicknamed “dog bowls”) and enjoy cold beer with our meals. We had dishes such as Moroccan chicken, shrimp scampi, pan seared salmon, and pasta carbonara, just to name a few. We came up with names like “Silver Moon Stroganoff,” or “Hove To Chicken Linguini.” We had a great variety! But two things we never ate offshore were fresh duck and Dinty Moore Beef Stew.
