By Michael Argyelan
With Thanksgiving creeping up on us in a couple weeks, food
is on my brain. I love Thanksgiving dinner. I go for an extra long run and do an
extra workout the morning of to justify the extra calorie consumption. More
pie? Yes please!
Equal to if not more pleasing than a plate of delicious food
covered in homemade gravy is the people I share it with. Sharing a meal with
friends, family, or crew alike is intensely gratifying. What might be more
gratifying is eating a meal while sailing or sitting on the hook relaxing.
Fellow Crowley’s
employees/boaters shared their experiences with prepping, storing, and making
food while on board. If you have any food related stories, tips, tricks, etc to
share, please do. I’ll post them in the next newsletter to share with everyone.
For long distance trips or weekends aboard vessels lacking
electric reefers or freezers, there are some common tips to pay heed. Freeze
jugs or bottles of water rather than use bags of ice. Cubes melt considerably
faster than blocks of ice. Columbia Yacht Club sells blocks and half blocks of
ice to its members and racers for this reason. The bonus is your jugs or
bottles melt and you’ll have crisp, refreshing water for consumption. You can
also use a bucket to make your own blocks. Fill it 1/3 of the way up and freeze
it and you have a block of ice.
Another space saving and temperature management practice is
to freeze your larger meals, which is common among long distance cruisers and
racers. A roast or stew is always better the day after. The spices have time to
really soak in. Heating up a chilled cabin with the fragrance of a lovingly
prepared stew is all the more rewarding; especially when you’re on the night
shift, it’s 3am and the temperature is
45 degrees. The taste of that roast is like finding a unicorn having a cocktail
on a rainbow who’s hanging out with the Lucky Charms leprechaun; unbelievable.
Mitch Weisman, cook extraordinaire here at Crowley’s
goes beyond the usual cold cut sandwiches for his crew. Each Wednesday night
for beer can racing he uses the oven on board to prepare a home cooked meal. He
will frequently prepare chicken legs, but sometimes he goes all out and
splurges on a small pork or beef roast. The key is to prep the meal at home and
then right before leaving the dock pop it into a preheated oven. According to
Mitch, “Sometime before the second leg, things will start to smell good.” I’ll
never forget the first time I heard Mitch announce on the race committee VHF channel,
“If you smell something good, it’s Snafu.” I laughed all the way to the second
mark.
For the Mac race, Mitch will often cook a ham. Once cooked,
you can make sandwiches; use it in eggs for extra protein, or however one sees
fit. When he had a fridge on his last boat Snafu, he had leftovers for the trip
back home. The other Mitch-Mac tip is using frozen pizzas.
As the fleet moves farther north during the Mac night time
temps drop quickly and warming up the cabin is always a great idea. Plus, who
doesn’t want pizza in the middle of a long distance race? Mitch added that at
least one person skips the pizza just to stay in their warm and cozy bunk.
Dan Bochnovic suggests that if you’re going longer distances
and don’t mind the extra weight, be elaborate. Why not, right? Get everyone in
the crew involved whether that means having a cooking party at home to prepare
and freeze for later or bringing fresh ingredients with to make from scratch on
board. Boats, food, friends, getting involved; what’s not to like?
Resident T10 addict Mike Travis prepares (or should I say
consumes) stews and casseroles; staples on Mischief. Meals are prepared at home
with great care, frozen, and act as ice blocks until ready to heat up on a
gimbaled propane pot. They simply add a little water to steam the bag and serve
up piping hot meals to the ravenous crew. An example of these magical
boil/steam bags can be found here. http://www.packitgourmet.com/CookIn-Bags.html
Protein is often necessary for athletic racers and can be
difficult to come by if trying to save weight or space in the reefer. Mike and
a few other long distance boaters recommend hard boiled eggs. They are easy to
store in their carton, retain their temperature well, and have great protein
levels. Other protein sources with easy storage are salami and other cured
meats, nuts, and if you’re a protein crazed person, add in a little protein
powder to a bowl of oatmeal.
Speaking of oatmeal, it’s one the easiest, lightest, most
powerful sources of energy on the boat. Of course this takes fuel to heat up
but a hot meal early in the morning is wonderful. Skip the protein bar and
treat yourself and your crew to a hot meal. Other great ways to save weight and
space are to carry powdered drinks like Gatorade rather than a bunch of packaged
bottles, instant coffee such as Via by Starbucks (it’s not that bad), trail mix with extra M&Ms, and any other candy you can
fit. If you’re a coffee lover but typically drink fancy mocha type drinks, brew
your coffee and then add in a package of hot chocolate. It’s a poor mans mocha.
It’s also delicious.
Another great tip is to keep ginger products on board. You
never know when a new guest will start feeling a little queasy. A sip or two of
ginger ale will do the trick. Bruce Rosenzweig of Sailboat Sales keeps ginger
snap cookies on board for this very reason. Mike Travis does as well. I
typically keep ginger ale on board because it also mixes exceptionally well
with bourbon and rum!
Andrew Spaulding shared some lesser known tricks. If you
want to bring fruits and vegetables on your cruise or long distance race wash
them in a sanitizing solution to kill surface bacteria, which contributes to
rotting. Use approximately 1 teaspoon of bleach to a gallon of water for a
homemade solution. Use a measuring teaspoon, not the one you eat cereal with,
folks. Your fruits and veggies will last longer in or out of the fridge.
If you want to bring fresh eggs, try going to a farmer or
farmer’s market to purchase eggs with a fresh bloom on them. The natural
coating keeps eggs fresh out of the fridge. Most other countries don’t
refrigerate their eggs and this is why. You can coat them with Vaseline and
they will last for months, not that many of us will be at sea that long, but
it’s a pretty cool trick. If you do, flip the eggs over ever week or so to keep
the yolk from settling on the bottom.
Another tip from Andrew is to never bring food boxes, aka
cardboard, on the boat. This is especially true in tropical and sub-tropical
climates as roaches lay eggs in cardboard! Many Caribbean
cruisers and global cruisers are very aware of this age old trick. It’s not a
bad practice here in the northern climates either as it saves space, weight, and
you’ll have less garbage on board after consuming the contents.
Some of you may be asking, what about booze? I get that. I
do. I’ve learned to enjoy sipping bourbon, whiskey, or rum and to just add a
bit of ice. Who needs a mixer? If you’re a vodka consumer, a small bottle of
Vermouth and a few olives are lighter and take up less room than soda water or
other mixer. Some racers will even ditch the bottles and use plastic hanging
bags. They won’t crack open in waves, save weight, and as the levels get lower
and lower you can compress the air out for space savings.
Of course if you’re like me and on the Bi-State,
forget it all and bring everything. Bring the pork tenderloin, the grill, extra
beer, all the mixers, extra blankets, pillows, and whatever else makes your
boating adventure more fun for everyone. After all, boating is about fun.
