Cooking on a sailing ship

Date: 08th of March 2024
Geographical Position: 32°11.2′ N 065°00.4′ W
Etmal: 92 nm
Total: 8677 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

Cooking on a sailing ship is completely different to cooking at home, not just because of the movement but also the quantity of food we have to prepare. 45 hungry monsters want to eat at 08:00, 13:00, and 19:00. Somebody has to plan the food and make sure that everyone gets enough to eat. For that, we have our cook Rainer.

Differences between cooking on board and ashore

There’s no one on board who has more experience with cooking than Rainer. So I asked him a few questions about cooking on a sailing ship.

What are the differences between cooking on a moving ship and in a normal kitchen on land?

The constant movement. You need to be quite a dancer.

Are there any special challenges when preparing food on

Different characters, wind, and waves; the amount of food you have to manage. I need to make sure to have an emergency ration on board for my friend Kegler.

What do you like more, cooking on the Regina Maris or in a restaurant on land?

Generally, cooking on a ship is quite a challenge. That’s the reason why I’m cooking on a ship because it keeps me on my toes.

Do it yourself

There are many challenges when cooking on the Regina Maris, especially when she has a heeling of almost 30 degrees. Still, it’s quite a lot of fun. Many funny moments happen in the galley, for instance, spontaneous galley parties: Students dancing in the small galley to some great music.

When you think that cooking in a normal kitchen for four people is boring, you may want to try to cook the way we are. So, do it yourself. No, there is no need to go on a ship. Just do the steps that are named below under the headline, which imitate the movement of the ship to get a greater understanding of the cooking routine on board. But first, choose between the two recipes or do both.

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:
400 g baking cocoa
1 kg butter
2 l hot water
600 g brown sugar
1.8 kg flour
8 TL baking powder
4 TL natron
2 TL vanilla
12 eggs

Step 1: Melt the butter in the hot water and add cocoa. Mix all ingredients in a big bowl.

Step 2: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Step 3: Grease four cake pans with oil and spread out the dough in the pans.

Step 4: Put the cake in the oven, but remember you have to angle the pans. Do this to imitate the ship’s heeling. Bake the cake for 15 minutes. Then, turn the pans 180 degrees and let the cake bake for another five minutes.

Step 5: Enjoy the cake.

Rice with tomatoes (not included: Sausage)

7 kg Rice
100 Tomatoes
Herbs (you choose)
Salt
Olive oil
Parmesan (a lot)

Step 1: Cook the rice

Step 2: Cut all the tomatoes in half, sprinkle salt and herbs over every tomato. Add olive oil and Parmesan. Warm the tomatoes a little bit up.

Step 3: Ready to serve
You want to have sausage with your rice? Be creative and create your own. (On the ship, you have to improvise in many situations.)

Imitate the movement of the ship

Okay, what’s so special about these recipes, except that the amount of food is for 45 people? Well, now comes the fun part. Before you start cooking or baking, put a bit of oil, butter and soap on the ground to make it slippery.

If you have a balance board, stand on it while cooking. Open the window and ask the neighbour to take a bucket filled up with water and throw it through an open window ever so often.

Then, you have to imagine that one hotplate is broken. Make sure that there’s not a lot of space and you don’t have enough time until the food has to be ready.

What you can also do: Put a few random kitchen utensils in a box. You are not allowed to use them because the box imitates all the utensils that are broken or lost.

One of the most important things is that you use as many plates, spoons, pots, etc., as possible. Imagine you really cook for 45 people. One last thing you need to do: You have to ask your family and/or friends to annoy you with the following tasks:

1: Every two minutes go into the kitchen and ask random questions to annoy you.

2: Let them tell you that you can cook better than them.

3 (when you serve the food): Everyone wants to have special treatment. One of you wants more rice, ask for more herbs (dad), and you, my loved sister, you don’t like any tomatoes.

That can be very annoying but don’t worry. You’ll get more and more resistant and learn how to ignore all the wishes. If you‘re feeling generous, you can also relax and try to make everyone happy.

What happened today?

Sadly, when I woke up, I heard the sound of the engine. No more sailing until Bermuda. In my 09:00 to 13:00 watch, we took down all the sails and packed them. We could already see Bermuda at the horizon.

A pilot boat went alongside us (still at sea) and a pilot went on board. Together we entered the harbour of St. George’s in Bermuda. Here we could spot many beautiful houses.

The timetable for today’s class said “Arrrg“ and “Yo Ho,“ which stands for piracy. An interesting topic, which was taught by Jule and Aurelia with the assistance of Mattis. After dinner, we did an evening walk to explore the streets in the town. This was the first time we were on shore in many days.