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The Galley Guide

The Cruiser's Galley Guide

It's Not The Same . . . A Few Basic Pointers

Cooking at sea is inherently different than in a stable kitchen ashore. Most yachts have a gimballed stove that stays horizontal as the boat tilts. Be aware that opening the oven door can tilt the stove and deposit your meal on the galley sole.

  • Make sure you are wedged in place or use a galley strap.
  • Wear a plastic apron to prevent injury if hot liquids are spilled.
  • Knives should never be left where they can fall or hurtle across the boat.
  • Use non-slip mats or damp tea-towels to stop plates etc. sliding about.
  • All crew should know how to safely light the stove and control the fuel supply. If it is a gas installation, then turn the gas off at the bottle when the stove is not in use.
  • Have at least one pan with a locking lid for one-pot meals in rough weather. Pressure cookers are excellent for this and greatly reduce cooking time.
  • Use lump sugar if you must have sugar on board - granulated will spill and is messy when it does.

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Some Hints and Tips for Long Distance Cruising - from David Bevan

Wash your fruits and veggies in fresh water with a small dash of bleach in it. This kills any bugs on them. Dry them thoroughly and store them in a well ventilated area that's easy to get to. I know, everything on the boat wants to be in a well ventilated place that's easy to get to but this is the food we're talking about.

Wrap your tomatoes in pieces of newspaper. I don't know why but they love it and last much longer. Be sure and don't get too many ripe ones as well. Get lots of green ones to ripen along the way.

Don't bother smearing your eggs with Vaseline. No one wants to grub around with Vaseline coated eggs. How do you get them out of the shell without getting slimed? Simply dunk your nice fresh and never been refrigerated eggs into cooking oil. Set them some where to drain and store as per usual. The whole idea is to simply close the pores on the egg and a thin coating of oil works as well as anything. Also, buy a lot of eggs.

It's hard to get excited about bean sprouts but during a long enough cruise away from fresh produce they take on a certain attraction. Get a variety and start growing them a week or so ahead of when you think you'll need them. They keep away the scurvy too, mate. ARRRR.

Remember when you are stocking up for a long cruise that you can buy staples everywhere. (Except maybe Antarctica) You don't need to take along 30 pounds of salt. Take lots of speciality items to break up the monotony of constant onboard dining. Bear in mind also that most spices turn to dirt after a period in the salt air so don't bring along more than you think you'll use in a year or so.

Cruising Recipes

(contributions are welcomed for this section - please e-mail us)

Peter Kittel's Bread Recipe
'I've been baking bread in a frying pan on a one-burner gimballed stove for decades' . . .

  1. spread oil or your preferred grease thinly in pan.
  2. add your favorite bread or pizza dough to vertically half-fill pan
  3. put lid on pan
  4. bake at the lowest possible flame until done on side one.
  5. remove bread
  6. re-oil - grease pan
  7. add bread undone side down
  8. bake once more until done
Enjoy. At sea my bread never gets cold...
ps: Every time you check progress shake the distilled water droplets off the inside of the lid.
...Peter, www.juprowa.com/kittel

Trouville's Breadmaking Recipes

Staying with a French girl found me going off to the breadshop except at the weekend when she beaks bread, cake and biscuits! And very good they are!

Now for some reason its not as walm on board as it was just a few weeks ago? So i have to heat. I thought i would try bakeing, To my total amazement its a total success!!

I found a cooking pot 30cmsX20cmsX12cms high i put a wire support used to grill fish on the bottem then a sheet of baking paper. The lid i put 2 long spikes used for barbarqs the keep the lid open just 2mm. inside i hung an oven thermometer (cost 2 euros) reads up to 220 degrees.c

First time i used flour (25cents/kilo) yeast oil and water mixed everything together left it to rise for an hour then bashed it about a bit made it into a bread shape for the pot put it on the paper in the dish to rise again, while the pot heated to 200degrees.c then lifted it into the pot on the paper, and bake for 20mins result,bread! which needed salt,umm

Now ive discoverd pre mixed bread mix (pain blanc) just add water! It has sel acidiant, yeast (carbonate de calcium hydrogéne E170!), fat, gluten de flour émusifiant(E472e) acide ascorbique!!! Cost 69cent/kilo,

With that mix im now a floating bakery!! Bread turns out just like the shop stuff!! and walms the boat at the same time! Alternatively i do do it with just flour water and dried yeast which i can add duck fat or olive oil plus knowing just how much salt is in the bread!

By useing the ready made stuff success is garenteed as unlike natural yeast the bakers stuff works at any tempreture and rives becouse of the heat so the oven could be say 300 degrees.c (not my pot though!!) to bake faster! for reall yeast that would be to hot and kill it before the rise (im told)

Anyway for the boat the pot is a real succsse the tempreture gets to 200 degres.c and even loosing the heat putting the bread in dosent stop it working once it reaches 200 i turn the gas down and with a tourch can read the dial through the gap under the lid,

Ive been told i shoud have a biscuit mix ready then put the biscuits on another paper and put then in the hot pot when i take the bread out and turn the gas off! First attempt worked well! Not crisp though,

Good bread making its really easy!!!!