Cooking in a Rolling Kitchen
Monday, November 7th, 2005
- Position: 12° 32.5′S, 153° 06.0′E
- Weather: Overcast, rain squalls
- Wind: Force 3 (gentle wind; crests break, whitecaps)
- Sails: Braced nearly sharp on a Port Tack
- Speed: 5.3 knots
The sea cook has one of the most difficult jobs onboard a ship: he is responsible for keeping the crew well fed while in port and underway. Joe, the Picton Castle’s cook, plans well in advance when provisioning for long ocean passages because at sea we cannot run out to the grocery store for a carton of milk. We have to make do with the resources that are already onboard. So the veggie lockers and fruit hammocks are well stocked when we leave each port, fresh meats and fish go into the freezers, and the types of food items that we run through most quickly are stocked up again (besides the essentials, our crew has a sweet tooth for packages of cookies).
In old sailing ship lingo Joe is called an “idler,” meaning he sleeps through the night and has specific duties to perform during the work day. Joe wakes up at 4:30 every morning to heat the water for coffee and tea and to make “Mug Up” (traditionally hard tack, jam and coffee, but we get muffins and all sorts of baked treats) to serve to the 4–8 watch around 5:45 AM. He then prepares breakfast for 50 people to be served in two sittings. He prepares three meals daily, paying especially close attention to details such as making sure we get a balanced diet and also tries to meet individual dietary needs (i.e., vegetarian or non-dairy options) as often as possible. Joe’s work day ends only when dinner is finished, around 6:30 PM.
One hundred and fifty years ago the position of sea cook might have gone to the youngest or least physically capable crew member onboard the ship. It was not considered a profession and consisted mainly of chopping and boiling, and cleaning the pots and pans. On a whale ship, the cook would have also had the responsibility of tending to the foresail when the ship changed tack (direction) and he would have performed specific duties aloft in the rigging.
Joe is truly a professional sea cook, having cooked on many boats, including a ship that Captain Moreland skippered years ago. Joe’s job is to provision the ship and to prepare our meals. He does not have any responsibilities in sail handling or in maintaining the rigging. Feeding 50 people three times a day, every day, is a big enough job! While Joe is responsible for planning our meals, three crew members (one from each watch) are assigned to assist Joe on Galley Duty each day. The Galley Crew (his assistants) sets up meals, cleans the dishes and the Galley between meals, and does the bulk of the chopping and preparation of sauces, deserts, and salads. The Galley Crew also cleans and stocks the scullery shelves; keeps hot water, coffee and juice flowing; and cleans used dish towels so they do not go sour or mouldy.
In the old days, a sea cook might have been treated with disdain or suspicion by the ship’s crew, but that is not so on the Picton Castle. Joe is a nice guy, and he’s fun to have around. He is a good cook. When you are nice to him, you get to lick the spoon and bowls when he makes cakes and icing, and sometimes you’ll even find that he’s slipped your favourite treat or dish onto the menu!Compared to a sea cook in the Age of Sail, Joe has a lot of help. But one aspect of the occupation has not changed in the past 150 years—the cook has to make sure all of the food and boiling water does not slide off the stove and onto the galley floor as the ship pitches and rolls on the ocean swell. To keep food on the stove, Joe has installed “fiddles” (metal bars that clamp down to hold pots and pans in place on the stove top), but that does not prevent boiling water from sloshing out of a pot from time to time! When boiling water for the night watches, I’ve learned there is an art to balancing and timing movements so that you don’t get scalded or burned—because even if the pot stays still on the stove, the water will not.
The things you will find in the Picton Castle’s Galley are very similar to what you might have in your own kitchen at home, with the exception of a few items:
- Cast iron stove (the Picton Castle’s is from the 1800s; it used to be heated by coal but has recently been converted to diesel)
- Cook (recipe) books
- Pots, pans
- Pie plates
- Graters
- Kettles and pots for boiling water for tea and coffee (we do not have electric kettles or coffee makers)
- Carving forks and knives and cake testers
- Ladles and tongs
- Cooking spoons
- Five-gallon buckets for mixing bread dough
- Baking pans
- Icing kits
- Funnel
- Chopping board/ butcher’s block
- Coconut meat scraper
The Galley supplies and the food stores in the hold are off limits to the Picton Castle crew, but the scullery shelves are lined with snacks that we can fix for ourselves between scheduled mealtimes. In the Age of Sail, when food was rationed closely, Hard tack—a rock-hard, flour-dry sea biscuit—was one of the only treats a sailor could fix for himself. If he played his cards right he could sweeten his treat by talking the cook into sparing some molasses or leftover drippings from cooked meat. Hard tack is still found in bakeries (and homes) in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Here is a variation on this staple in a sailor’s diet that you can make for yourself:
What you need:
- Paper towel
- 1 tablespoon shortening, such as Crisco or butter
- Small baking dish
- 1 cup of crushed crackers, such as saltines
- 1 gallon re-sealable plastic bag
- Drinking glass
- ¼ cup light molasses
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Fork
What you do:
- Preheat the oven 350° F.
- Dip the paper towel into the shortening can and scoop out a tablespoon-sized amount. Use this to grease the baking dish.
- Place the crackers in the bag, seal it, and roll over it with the glass until the crackers are coarsely crushed.
- Pour the crackers into the baking dish. Mix in the molasses and butter with a fork.
- Bake for 15 minutes
Makes four servings