Here’s a cook’s tour of seaworthy recipes suitable for a good old boat’s chef.
Issue 146: Sept/Oct 2022
Pity the poor cook. Think of the limited space for a galley on most good old boats. Think of the lack of equipment. Think how much more difficult it is to cook a decent meal on a small boat than it is at home.
The cook is expected to plan and cook all meals, whether the boat is passagemaking at sea or holed up in some little cove while coastal cruising. Yet the cook is also expected to lend a hand on deck when the skipper decides to reef a sail or weigh anchor—usually when the food is just ready to serve.
It takes a special person to be a cook, especially on many “vintage” boats lacking refrigeration and offering only one- or two-burner stoves. It takes a certain stubbornness in the face of innumerable difficulties to provide tasty and varied meals for a crew of wet, cold, starving sailors.
But plentiful good food can make the difference between a miserable cruise and a memorable experience on the water, so there are times when the cook is the most important crew member on the boat, the person to handle with kid gloves.
How do sea cooks manage? They improvise. They experiment. They make do. Above all, they simplify. To give you an idea of what this means, following is a handful of simple recipes tested and used at sea on small boats over the years.
Onion Soup à la Jolie Brise
This is a simple, classic, one-pot recipe. It came from Commander Evelyn George Martin OBE, whose soup was the object of frequent praise aboard his famous cutter, Jolie Brise, which won the first Fastnet Race in 1925:
“Place four medium-large onions, peeled and cut into quarters, into a covered saucepan with 3 to 4 cups cold water. Add 2 tablespoons Bovril (or other strong beef stock) 4 ounces butter, a dessert spoonful of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, a little black pepper, and (when the cooking is nearly done) a small glass of sherry or rather more white wine. Boil gently for 30 minutes or until the onions have fallen to pieces and are soft, stirring occasionally.”
JV: This recipe makes enough for four to six people, but it may be rather too glutinous for modern arteries, so I reduce the butter to 2 ounces and substitute four or five beef stock (bouillon) cubes for the Bovril. It’s still delicious and highly comforting on a cold, stormy day.
Beef Stew à la Trekka
John Guzzwell famously solo-sailed his 20-foot yawl, Trekka, around the world in the 1950s. She was then the smallest boat to do so. “Trekka Stew was a meal I never tired of,” says John in his classic book Trekka Round the World.
“It generally comprises three main vegetables: potatoes, carrots, and onions, which all keep well at sea without refrigeration. After cooking these under pressure for about half an hour, I would add a can of meat and a can of baked beans. A spoon of Marmite and a little flour would thicken the gravy and some salt and pepper to flavor, and Presto! another meal was ready.”
JV: Marmite is a beef-flavored yeast extract for which you can substitute beef bullion cubes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, use a pan with a lid and simmer the vegetables.
Tahitian Raw Fish à la Herbulot
Florence Herbulot was a well-known French sailor, scholar, and translator, greatly experienced in sailboat racing, cruising, and cookery. She wrote a practical book called Cooking Afloat, especially designed for use on small boats with very limited cooking and storage facilities.
If you are inclined to tow a fishing lure behind you while you sail, or if you should come across a fishboat willing to sell you some newly caught fish, this recipe is worth trying. It is a simplified Polynesian version of ceviche, that tasty appetizer so well known in South America.
“For this dish you can use any sea fish as long as it is perfectly fresh…Place the fish, either in fillets or cut into cubes, in a deep dish. Sprinkle generously with lemon juice; leave to marinate for one to two hours and then add some olive oil and pepper; marinate for a further two hours.
“As soon as the fish is really white, with no trace of transparency, it is ‘cooked,’ that is the flesh has been seethed by the lemon juice just as if it had been boiled in water and vinegar. The only difference is that it takes longer than cooking, but the flavor is wonderful.”
JV: Use your imagination for ways to serve it. I just use a toothpick to spear each half-inch cube.
Bread à la Wanderer III
Fresh bread is a luxury aboard a small boat. The smell alone is guaranteed to titillate your taste buds. If you should be lucky enough to have an oven in your galley, this simple recipe for bread is worth trying. It comes from Susan Hiscock, who sailed around the world several times with her husband, the well-known sailor and author, Eric Hiscock.
Even if you don’t have an oven, this recipe might still be useful. I have personally eaten bread in mid-ocean that was baked in a pressure cooker—but not under pressure, of course.
Here are Susan’s instructions:
“Take 3 lb of white or whole-wheat flour, add 4 heaped teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt, and mix thoroughly. Pour in 11/2 pints of milk or water, stir quickly to a stiff paste, shape into conveniently sized loaves and bake in a hot oven (350 degrees F.) for 45 minutes. Get the dough into the oven as quickly as possible after moisturizing, or the bread will be heavy.”
Curried Lentils à la Whisper
For 36 years, Margaret and Hal Roth sailed the world’s oceans in a series of 35-foot sloops, all named Whisper. One of Margaret’s favorite recipes was built around lentils, which last well at sea:
Ingredients
1 cup lentils
2 cups water, lightly salted
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon curry powder (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups additional water, or stock
“Soak lentils overnight in fresh water. Drain, then add up to 2 cups lightly salted water and pressure-cook for 20 minutes. In a frying pan, sauté onion and garlic in butter or margarine. Add flour, curry powder, salt, and pepper.
“While stirring, add up to 11/2 cups of boiling water, or vegetable or meat stock, and simmer for 30 minutes. The curry sauce should be thick, so vary the amount of liquid accordingly. Add the lentils to the sauce and serve with rice and chutney. Serves two.”
JV: Once again, if you don’t have a pressure cooker, use a pan with a lid and simmer the lentils for 30 minutes or a little more until tender.
Gravlox à la Wind Song
I met Burl and Abigail Romick when they were taking their C&C 35 Landfall, Wind Song, around Vancouver Island in 1999. They served up one of the most delicious appetizers I’ve ever tasted. If you like smoked salmon, you’ll just love this close relative called gravlox, especially if you’ve just caught the salmon:
Ingredients
Center-cut salmon, 3 to 31/2 lb, cleaned and scaled
Large bunch dill (May substitute dried dill weed)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons peppercorns, crushed
“Slice lengthwise and remove backbone and small bones. Place half of fish skinside- down in a glass or enamel baking dish or casserole. Sprinkle on dill. Combine salt, sugar, and peppercorns. Sprinkle over dill. Top with other half of fish, skin-side-up. Cover with plastic, weighted down. Keep cool for 48 hours. Turn fish every 12 hours. Baste with the juices that form.
JV: When the fish is ready, gently scrape off the mixture on top and use a sharp knife to slice the salmon thinly horizontally, starting from the middle. Serve on crackers or as you see fit.
Sangria à la Freelance
Finally, on those happy occasions in port or at anchor, when everybody has been well fed, here’s the way to finish off that good meal. My wife, June, and I often enjoyed our version of sangria on our 30-foot sloop Freelance, including during our six-month cruise from South Africa to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Into the bottom of a large jug put one thinly sliced lemon and one thinly sliced orange with the pips removed. Sprinkle with two dessert spoons of sugar and add one generous shot of brandy. Pour in one bottle of red wine and mix well. Chill, if you can. If you can’t, don’t worry.
Just before serving, top up the jug with lemonade. If you’ve got ice cubes, well bully for you. Add them to this delicious brew—but I can assure you that a lack of ice cubes will not be noticed after the first glass of Freelance sangria.
John Vigor is a retired journalist and the author of 12 books about small boats, among them Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Sailing, which won the prestigious John Southam Award, and Small Boat to Freedom. A former editorial writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, he’s also the former editor of Sea magazine and a former copy editor of Good Old Boat. A national sailing dinghy champion in South Africa’s International Mirror Class, he now lives in Bellingham, Washington.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
