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mmcohen,

Ironically, I was rotisserizing a Cuban boneless pork shoulder at the same time you were writing your post yesterday. (I slice it thinly and put it in sandwiches of marble rye with a pickle.)

I marinated it overnight in lemon juice, orange juice, cumin, garlic, onions, salt, pepper corns, and cloves. I know I left out the lime juice, because I didn''t have any, but I think the cloves aren''t supposed to be in there. I don''t remember.

So what is a Cuban pot roast? What goes into it and what spices? "Cuban" can mean so many different styles. Can you send the recipe?

Anyway, back to the question at hand and the nauticality (nauticalness?, nauticism?) of the post, I vacuum-marinated the meat in the 2-quart vacuum jar that came with my vacuum sealer. I bought this sealer really for the boat and now I just have to buy a boat big enough to carry the vacuum sealer along with everything else I want to take.

Back to the point, the one cooking item I will miss the most is my Ronco Showtime Rotisserie. (I do not work for Ronco, Showtime, Ron Popeil or any of his companies, subsidiaries, licensees or signatories.) You just can''t come out with anything but a perfect roast with it. Whether it is chicken, pork leg (with crispy skin), leg of lamb, whole turkey, prime rib roast, or, in this recent case, pork shoulder, they come out better than restaurant quality with little or no effort. (This is true except for when my wife put a 30-minute chicken in for 2 hours. It fell apart, dropped off the skewers and almost caught fire. Tasted alright though.) The trouble is the space (though they make smaller ones) and electrical drain. I still haven''t made the final decision on how much reliance I''m going to put on electrical systems, but I can''t imagine using a 1000 or 1500 watt electric rotisserie. Then again, with a good fridge I''d only have to cook once or twice a week. And with a generator I would be able to run the fridge and rotisserie. All I would need is an extra two feet on the aft deck to handle the generator.

I really didn''t want a 35-foot boat anyway. I really wanted a 42-footer with an extra mast to push it. But that''s twice the cost of the 35-footer. I''ll have to work another two years to get it.

I guess I don''t really need a rotisserie after all.

Fine cuisine,
Chas.

Decisions, decisions.