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When someone lists cook as a skill what is expected?

7K views 80 replies 28 participants last post by  hellosailor 
#1 ·
I see this skill listed by people looking to crew and wonder what possible advance dishes they could be cooking on most of these ships o_O

Like can I be a cook I make good omletes :)

Or do I need to make a full 3 course meal?
 
#37 ·
Marguerita mix. Hmmm...I suppose the only way to see if that's any good is to start with some cheap commodity grade tequila like Patron, and then settle in for a long weekend of double-blind a-b testing on the cocktails. Let's start rounding up the sponsors, there's some work to be done.
 
#40 ·
Grilled cheese with spam, grilled cheese with ham, grilled cheese with baloni(sp?) and plain grilled cheese... I can do all of these sandwiches...And may throw in a PB & J also.
What I can't figure out is why no one will hire me as a cook??
Why?? Why??
 
#51 ·
Dave/Auspicious...you may not be a "chef" but you're welcome in my kitchen anytime! (or should I say Galley)

Thanks for chiming in on this thread, your culinary knowledge and passion for good food is inspiring (even to me)
Thanks Shawn. We'll have to cook together sometime.

"What is the big deal with different ways to cook eggs?"
Argh, therebe the difference between a cook and a seacook. A cook can always send someone down the block to buy what's run out, but a seacook needs to lay in stores ahead of time.
I'm confused. Are you arguing for the sake of arguing? I'm a delivery skipper. I provision for long periods very often. I don't understand what your point is.

We bought 14 dozen eggs in Plymouth and ate any number of things across the Atlantic. Lots of different eggy meals plus contributions to bread and crepes and pancakes. Eggs keep a long time.

If you wanted eggs benedict, were there proper english muffins on board? And can the alleged cook make hollandaise sauce, much less spell it?
I can spell Hollandaise. Eggs keep well, butter keeps well, and you can get lemon juice in a bottle that keeps well. If things are bumpy the Hollandaise may break if you don't have a stick blender to build the emulsion quickly but I wouldn't try to make it in sporty conditions anyway, ignoring that eggs Benedict wasn't on my list in the first place. English muffins keep pretty well. You can make them from scratch at sea but that is work I wouldn't usually take up unless things are really calm. Homemade bread makes an adequate substitute if you accept the result isn't really eggs Benedict.

Digression - you do want a stick blender if you cook offshore, even if it means running an inverter or generator. Making mayonnaise, soups, and standing in for a food processor for chopping nuts and other products justify the small space it takes and the power requirement.

You have a lot more flexibility in the first week offshore than later of course.

And how will they ever throw together eggs rockefeller, forget about arguing if it needs spinach or dandelion greens, but some thing green has to be aboard.
No feta cheese laid in? Oh, well there goes the greek omelet too!
I don't get the argumentativeness. Actually I do usually provision feta as much for salads and beef as eggs. It freezes well. Without a freezer you can store it in oil for at least a couple of weeks. Cheese is in fact a great component of meals offshore providing protein and storing well.

Spinach doesn't keep worth a darn so if you want eggs Rockefeller you should plan on it in the first few days of a passage. In the first world harvesting dandelion greens risks pesticide and weed killer residue which seems unwise to me.
 
#46 ·
"What is the big deal with different ways to cook eggs?"
Argh, therebe the difference between a cook and a seacook. A cook can always send someone down the block to buy what's run out, but a seacook needs to lay in stores ahead of time.
If you wanted eggs benedict, were there proper english muffins on board? And can the alleged cook make hollandaise sauce, much less spell it?
And how will they ever throw together eggs rockefeller, forget about arguing if it needs spinach or dandelion greens, but some thing green has to be aboard.
No feta cheese laid in? Oh, well there goes the greek omelet too!

Here's your Snickers Bar. Deal with it.
 
#48 ·
"The important thing is the spices. A man can live on packaged food from here 'til Judgment Day if he's got enough rosemary."
~~ Shepherd Book :)
 
#56 ·
I guess it also applies to foxes .... The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible is the fox hunting metaphor I think.

Dave .... to some extent the same down here. All parrot species in Oz are protected.
 
#57 ·
Being a good 'cook' involves many 'skills' and attributes. In addition to the obvious cooking skills, a cook should be organized, creative, agile, healthy, receptive to new ideas, have a good sense of humour. The cook should also understand some of the science of cooking as this will enable him/her to deal with interesting new ingredients or, bail themselves out when their 'creation' isn't working as expected.
Many 'cooks' have previous or concurrent other careers and/or interests. It is very important to discern what these experiences are. In some cases these may contribute to the success and enjoyment of the voyage, as in this example:



Or, on the other hand, the seacook's personality or philosophy might put them at odds with the remainder of the crew as in this example:

 
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#60 ·
#62 ·
Yes yes .... you got closer to the original. It was when the rock is tender, throw away the parrot and eat the rock. Bit vague in my old age.
 
#64 ·
If you're going to mention cooking as science, how can you skip Nathan Myhrvold (ex of Microsoft) who has put millions of dollars into exploring the science of cooking, and produced a true encyclopedia on the results?

modernist cuisine | Barnes & Noble

He's also got a web site, for those who don't want to drop $600 or even $125 (paperback) to learn how cooking works.

But I suspect you wouldn't recognize your galley if he was allowed to, ah, bring it up to modern standards.
 
#65 ·
If you're going to mention cooking as science, how can you skip Nathan Myhrvold (ex of Microsoft) who has put millions of dollars into exploring the science of cooking, and produced a true encyclopedia on the results?

But I suspect you wouldn't recognize your galley if he was allowed to, ah, bring it up to modern standards.
I would recommend waiting until later this year when "Modernist Cuisine On Boat" is released.
 
#69 · (Edited)
The seminar discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both. One speaker was from the Monteray Bay Aquarium, his portion was the most informative. The other portion of the discussion was a tasting of various wild caught vs farmed items...not surprising I picked the wild caught everytime for best taste...so did MaGee IIRCC. ;)

Edit: The panel was mostly providing information so we could make our own conclusions, reality is farmed raised product is essential to meet the demand ...the estimated shortfall of seafood, particularly shrimp was astonishing.
 
#70 ·
Farmed fish, particularly Salmon or Ocean Trout tend to be a bit soft in the flesh compared to wild so I definitely prefer the wild though as farming methods improve (less over crowding allowing the fish to move about and promote muscle tone) the position is not so clear. Though as with poultry if you feed a critter pellets they can hardly taste the same as one who has foraged for themselves.

Shrimp, yes we have to farm them and I guess the farmed are OK for some things but they cannot compare to a free range king prawn.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

cheers

Andrew B
 
#71 · (Edited)
Some interesting info on farmed vs wild at salmon confidential.ca .It may come to pass that we won't have a choice at the table. The shortage of prawns at the market is because of a bacteria wiping out Asian farmed product,but that's nothing compared to the loss of our Pacific wild salmon. Started commercially fishing in1953 and lament the current state of muzzled science.
 
#72 ·
Foodstocks get wiped out or consumed, that's just the way it always has been. Passenger pigeon was cheap meat. Lobster was trash food for the poor. Asian farmed product can be taken three times daily instead of pills, they've been so reliant on antibiotics for so long.

And as much as I'd like to see swordfish come back as a foodstock, on the other hand maybe I should enjoy it while I still can. For dinner.
 
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