Cooking on the Boat
We love cooking on the boat. Many years ago, I wrote and published The Great Cruising Cookbook. This website encompasses some of that book.
Writing and preparing a cookbook and all about cooking on the boat as well as curating a selection of all our favorite recipes was the ultimate self indulgence, and one had to be careful not to focus on one’s favorite foods too much and we try not to here. Nevertheless, it is a result of many years of accumulating and adapting recipes as we cruised and lived aboard. After the publication of the first edition, we have added and refined after much valuable feedback along with testing and adapting many recipes with my wife Jane. Together we established and have operated a restaurant these last 15 years as well and we use the same basic tenants of quality food, that is hot, fast and affordable and cooking afloat has many of these parameters. I have been at sea most of my life, living in some great places and experimenting with so many cuisines. My love of food has led me into some interesting part time jobs as a kitchen hand to some great restaurant chefs. Then I knew how much I had to learn and how much I didn't know about cooking on the boat. Learn more about cooking on a boat here and all about the challenges.
Cooking on the Boat
Cruising puts you back in touch with your taste buds. Remember what fresh food used to taste like before processing came along? Cruising cooking, or Cruisine© as we like to call it, is an exercise in ingenuity, experimentation and adaptation and a level of patience and practice. What is more, cooking on the boat is all about improvisation, using often strange raw materials in even stranger places under difficult and challenging circumstances.
One of the great joys of cooking on a boat and liveboard cruising is the swapping and collection of recipes from a vast range of cultures, and other cruisers. There is always someone with a great little recipe, hack or hint that makes life that much easier or more enjoyable. Valuable mementos with stories and people attached which this site includes. Far too many people miss out when cruising and you can achieve all of your dietary goals, and at the same time avoid a life of cans, processed food with some adaptability. You get to choose whatever food regime you like, but I hope this opens your eyes to some alternatives. Cooking on a boat will test your culinary skills.
Western cuisine has based many of its materials and tastes on the rewards of early explorers and sailors, who on discovering fruits, vegetables and spices, sailed home with them and incorporated them into their respective national cooking styles. Cruising and eating local foods is the partial retracing of those early voyages, and as such is part of the fun and lure of cruising.
This site therefore is all about cooking on the boat and a great variety of recipes and food ideas that steers away from a life of cans, or bland food covered with sauces. It doesn't have to be. Be bold, if in doubt then definitely try it. You will be surprised. You can buy your copy of The Great Cruising Cookbook here.
Cooking on the Boat - Galley Equipment
The Great Cruising Cookbook is out of print however these updated extracts are just as important and worth reviving and sharing as they were back then. Let’s look at the various important factors for cooking on a yacht while on board and cruising.
Galley Safety. Safety when cooking on board is of absolute primary importance, it can be high risk so check out this important safety information at boating safety tips.
Galley Equipment. This is all about the sailboat stove and cooking fuels, boat stoves and boat cookers, pressure cookers, woks, galley cookware, microwaves, galley safety, galley cleaning, trash disposal and more. Cooking on a yacht is easier with the right equipment.
Cooking on the Boat - Provisioning
This is all about planning with practical information on how to preserve food, and how to store it properly. Some advice on making a yacht provisioning checklist, some suggested herbs and spices, a bit about handling eggs, condiments and fresh food substitutes, advice cooking oils and more.
This site also has the most comprehensive worldwide
provisioning guide anywhere, I keep it updated as much as possible. It covers Caribbean Sailing, Mediterranean Sailing, European and UK Sailing, Pacific Sailing, Sailing across the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia and more. It gives you the best places for supermarkets, public markets and loads of useful cruising information.
Cooking on a Boat
– About Seafood
Of course it goes without saying that seafood is a major player when cruising and this has lots of useful information on how to catch them and many really great recipes for fish, octopus, squid, catching crabs, how to cook crab cakes, shrimp and prawns, lobster, mussels, oysters, conch, canned fish and more. Also a comprehensive section on Ciguatera Poisoning, and about ciguatera fish poisoning treatment. The experienced cruiser always heads for the nearest public fish market, well I do at least. Usually it comes straight off the fishing boat and I tend in some places to simply make going there a daily early morning routine.
Cooking on a Boat
– Pasta, Rice and Legumes
Rice and Pasta are the backbone and mainstay of cruising food and here is some good information on rice types and cooking methods, as well as many great rice and pasta based recipes. There are so many pasta types as well as many delicious recipes and pasta sauces ideas.
Legumes are also a mainstay food. There is some very practical information and cooking methods, as well as many quick and easy to make recipes on your boat. This is all about the various bean types such as red beans, navy beans, lentils, chickpeas and more and how to make quick, low cost and nutritious meals. Cooking on a yacht always has a budget and making low cost meals is a challenge.
Baking,
Rough Weather Cooking and More
Baking - Breakfast Ideas - Rough Weather Foods - Sauces, Dips and Marinades – Pickles and Curries. There is much practical information and recipes on making breads, muffins, scones, waffles, puddings, cookies, biscuits, cakes and tarts if you are that way inclined. Some really useful and quick breakfast ideas and recipes to keep the crew happy and content. Cooking on a yacht and rough weather cooking is a challenge, with practical information and recipes to keep the energy levels up when the going gets rough. All about my favorite food, and some foolproof ways to make delicious Indian food, seafood, meat and vegetarian. Also recipes for some great salsas and marinades to pep up things. Also how to make pickles from that cheap market fruit and vegetables.
Cruisine
– Fruit and Vegetables
Vegetables – This is useful information on the plethora of vegetables available around the world. This includes tubers and leaf vegetables. There are many great vegetarian recipes for corn, potato, tomatoes, okra, sweet potato, yams, breadfruit, zucchini, taro and pumpkins. Serious cruisers always head for the nearest public market to replenish with and many of these seasonal and relatively cheap foods. Again shopping for fresh becomes a daily routine when anchored somewhere nice. Fresh works well when cooking on a yacht.
Tropical Fruit – A comprehensive tropical fruit guide, from Acerola to Sapodilla and Ugli. Understand what you are looking at in the markets and what you can do with it. Great recipes for eggplant, pineapples, papaya, mangoes, avocados, coconuts and bananas. I spent some time in Brasil and got addicted to their Amazonian fruit smoothies known as Fruto da Amazonas Sucos and Vitaminas Naturais. Try Guarana, açaí and banana.
Great
Cruising Cookbook Reviews
"Here's
a book to hurl at the culinary barbarian on your crew, though it's a lot more
than a simple defense against indigestion....John Payne, who writes with wit
and clarity, makes the business of learning to be a good sea cook much more
entertaining than it might otherwise be....All in all, this is an excellent
guide to the task of providing good food afloat. Payne includes a lot of
basic-but-need-to-know stuff, like, what kind of fruits and vegetables keep and
how long, how to (really!) catch fish, galley equipment, safety, on board
gardening (sprouting), and hundreds of really excellent recipes. I've tried a
number of them, and I haven't hit a dud yet. In fact, I'd go so far as to
recommend this cookbook to folk who never go cruising at all; it's that good." Living
Aboard Magazine. Buy it here.
"Written to keep the cruiser away from a life of cans and processed food,
with over 350 recipes, a worldwide provisioning guide, rough weather cooking,
and a tropical fruit guide, his cookbook is the cookbook to have onboard. It
addresses nutrition and provides methods for improvising and provisioning in
strange places." Latitudes & Attitudes
Magazine
All you need to know about food on board your boat is here, cooking on a boat is rewarding so bon appetite and bon voyage.