Notes from the Galley of the sailing vessel “Solitaire”

Since the day Jim and I purchased our first boat together, the challenge of creating gourmet meals on board has been my hobby.  One of the captain’s hobbies is sampling the wares.  My working week frequently keeps me traveling around the country and doesn’t always allow the time for leisurely experimenting with new recipes and planning multi-course meals. My weekends on the boat let us slow down our pace and indulge in fine cuisine.

 It’s even more fun to share our culinary treats with friends and neighbors, and to sample some of theirs. At our home marina, we take turns hosting one another for feasts, holding spur of the moment dock potlucks, or even putting together progressive dinners at the Marina or while anchoring out together. When the day comes that Jim and I retire, move aboard fulltime, and set sail for points south, I imagine that an important part of our cruising life will be entertaining new friends that we meet along the way.

 Originally, the term “galley” referred to an oared fighting ship and a “galley slave” was a prisoner who was used to row the ship. In modern nautical terminology, the kitchen of a boat is called the galley, and the cook is sometimes referred to as the “galley slave”. Every so often someone around the Marina uses the term “galley slave” and I try to suppress a grin because the term may sound negative, but personally, I love being Solitaire’s galley slave. Here is why:

On any vessel, there are important chores to be done and it’s up to each crew to figure out what works for them. On one hand, there are oil changes and the constant routine maintenance and repairs - frustrating, dirty, bashed knuckles kind of work that takes place in cramped, stuffy engine compartments. On the other hand, consider sitting at the saloon table on your boat, listening to nice music, maybe sipping a little wine while you scan through cookbooks and plan interesting menus. Imagine the fun of exploring wonderful new markets in foreign ports and meeting new people while you are provisioning your boat. Picture yourself concocting (and sampling) tasty dishes in a cozy galley. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that type of slavery any day of the week.

 Speaking of cookbooks and scanning through recipes, the captain has informed me that there just isn’t room on board for my collection of nearly a hundred cookbooks. I have to agree with him. Besides, in each cookbook there are those few favorite recipes - the ones I love and the ones I plan to try at some point in the future. However, the majority of the recipes in any cookbook are dishes that just don’t fit into our personal tastes or lifestyle and that I know I will never prepare. Several years ago, I started the task of entering the recipes I want to keep into an electronic database. I’ve tried a variety of cooking software programs and find that most offer comparable features. My current favorite is “Master Cook”.  In addition to an existing database of more than a thousand recipes in a dozen preloaded cookbooks, you can enter all your own recipes, download recipes from the web, and you can share recipes with friends via email.  The software figures out nutritional values and calories for recipes as I enter the ingredients, calculates costs, changes quantities, and creates shopping lists. It will also suggest recipes if you type in the ingredients you have on hand (imagine how handy that will be when I’m digging around among the cans in the bottom of the food locker toward the end of a passage.) I can save my recipes on CDs to save hard drive space. I can even create and print cookbooks to share with friends or give as gifts.

Over the years, I have found some tried and true recipes that are easy to prepare in a galley and popular with the resident food critic and company alike.  Many of the dishes require only a single burner and no elaborate equipment. For nearly five years, I shared some of my favorites and some of your favorites as well in a monthly column for the Oklahoma City Sail and Power Squadron newsletter, “The Dinghy Painter”.  This book is a compilation of my “Notes from the Galley” columns, plus some additional favorite recipes and photos. Bon apetit!

Nancy Aadland, Galley Slave of the Sailing Vessel “Solitaire”