Edwardian yachtsman's menu (pies do NOT count)

[dancrane]

By Edwardian, I just mean without refrigeration. Don't bother saying that somebody at Trafalgar had an ice-chest.

I reckon the range available on unchilled supermarket shelves today, would have thrilled our ancestors' palates.

I'm interested to know what yachtsmen like to take afloat, as luxury provisioning, without needing cold storage.

To be honest, I just had a can of Baxter's 'Cullen Skink' soup. Pure class - creamy haddock and potato. Highly recommended.

Don't lower the tone with tales of foil-packed processed stodgy pastry...the only pie allowed on my boat is Waitrose pork, ham, and chicken...which needs fridging, or eating. I can devour a whole one (3lbs) before it reaches room temperature.

 

[sarabande]

When the going gets tough, the tough eat...



























... Fray Bentos

 

[dancrane]

You're Sarabanned.

 

[johnalison]

You could survive on tinned meats, tinned butter, UHT milk, non-chilled fruit juice, packets of biscuits and canned beer. In fact, I think we did for nearly thirty years, but I think I would rather stay in harbour these days. I'm getting soft.

 

[prv]

The Edwardians almost certainly took pies very similar to that, and didn’t refrigerate them.

The skipper of the Goblin kept a tongue wrapped in newspaper in a cockpit locker, though John Walker spent a few hours standing on it and I can’t remember whether any actually got eaten after that.

If you’re just cruising around the Solent for a few days I reckon you could do alright with a lot of fresh stuff in a basic coolbox.

For non-fresh stuff, I seem to remember tins of duck confit being sent to the WWI trenches by officers’ families back home. Depends how much you enjoy galley cleaning, I suppose

Pete

 

[dancrane]

No takers? Dear me...I'm forever surprised by how many good things could live long-term in a yacht's galley cupboard.

Olives and sun-dried tomatoes and roasted peppers in oil, and anchovies, Catalan mackerel fillets, Royal Game soup...

...cheese-filled dried tortellini, (really delicious)...

...and don't forget pleasingly bright and crunchy sweetcorn, and even feta cheese (in oil).

 

[Lodesman77]

 

[dancrane]

Wow, that's a good one! The French have great things in cans. 'Petit salé' is my favourite - salt pork and lentils in rich gravy. Nice cans of ratatouille and aubergines, too.

 

[Daydream believer]

As I cannot cook even if I did have a fridge etc there is no point taking the sort of food most take.
I have a supply of freeze dried foods from B Well. Just add boiling water & wait 7 minutes. They do excellent soups, porridge, rice, various curries, shepherds pies ( not actually pies just stodge) etc
All guaranteed to give lots of energy & extra flatulence for those calm days. Bit of luck I sail single handed:ambivalence:

 

[Plum]

By Edwardian, I just mean without refrigeration. Don't bother saying that somebody at Trafalgar had an ice-chest.

I reckon the range available on unchilled supermarket shelves today, would have thrilled our ancestors' palates.

I'm interested to know what yachtsmen like to take afloat, as luxury provisioning, without needing cold storage.

To be honest, I just had a can of Baxter's 'Cullen Skink' soup. Pure class - creamy haddock and potato. Highly recommended.

Don't lower the tone with tales of foil-packed processed stodgy pastry...the only pie allowed on my boat is Waitrose pork, ham, and chicken...which needs fridging, or eating. I can devour a whole one (3lbs) before it reaches room temperature.

I usually have chorizo sausage on board and one of my favourite meals to cook underway, single handed, is a chorizo risotto. Chorizo does not need refrigeration and can be added to many dishes.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[dancrane]

Thanks Plum, SWMBO won't believe that! We were just chatting about the scallop and chorizo risotto we plan to make at home tomorrow, rather than go out and get financially massacred by St Valentine's Day restauranteurs.

The French used to sell a two-part risotto kit - sauce in a tin, arborio rice in a separate box. Once again, it had a long shelf-life but was a fabulous feast.

Daydream, I never said I could actually cook. The benefit of all these excellent imaginative improvements upon beans and pies, is that they're mostly ready to eat.

No need to be limited to the modern equivalent of hard-tack.

My buddy used to sell those boil-up dehydrated rations. A bit salty, I thought. The army seems to have proved they last forever, but this thread is supposed to be primarily about pleasure!

 

[Uricanejack]

Not Edwardian.
I don't have refrigeration on my boat. Most of the time, I plan on going to the pub or some other suitable establishment.

I do keep a few emergency tins on board JIK. along with some pasta & rice.

I take Knorr Sidekicks when I go of with a back pack. Much cheaper and better than the packs from MEC.
Eggs. keep well for quite a while without refrigeration.
The usual root veg potatoes, carrots, onions,
Dried or cured meat. I like salami.
Canned soups.
Canned meats chicken fish ham,
Spam.
Chicken goes bad pretty quick. Not quite as quick as fish. fresh meat will last a couple of days.
Packed Bacon will last a few days.

I have tried making Bannock. It wasn't very good.
pancakes,
Porridge
oatmeal.

If I was an actual Edwardian Yachtsman. I wouldn't be to worried. I would just leave it for my cook or my man to organise.

 

[TLouth7]

At uni and on the boat I used to be quite partial to spamcakes: chop some spam into a pan and fry until crispy, pour pancake batter around it and cook pancake as normal. No need to grease the pan. Maple syrup on top really completes the experience.

Well now I guess I will have to buy some spam on my way home...

Corned beef hash is a staple on our boat: one tin each of corned beef, potatoes and peas. All fried up together.

 

[dancrane]

Corned beef hash...I haven't had it this century!
I wonder why I haven't?

Your description certainly sounds appetising.

I suppose if one can tow a line and catch a few mackerel, even the most basic long-life rations can form the backdrop to a memorable feast.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I don't have a fridge, so the coolest place on my boat is under the cabin sole. There you will find, on a long cruise, dry cured bacon, chorizo and eggs. Tomatoes keep well if individually wrapped. Potato scones seem to last a lot longer than the package recommends. Onions keep seemingly forever in a net. Mushrooms, if kept dry, slowly desiccate instead of rotting and can be fried up after a week or two.
And then there's porridge. For speed and no mess convenience these porridge pots are good (bit pricey though).

That's breakfasts sorted for a couple of weeks.

Midday Lunch.
These part baked baguettes you can buy in supermarkets (Iceland's seem to be the cheapest) keep forever in their sealed, protective atmosphere packets. 15 minutes in the oven and you have fresh bread for soup or sarnies.

Evening slap-up meal.
M&S canned steak, mince and chicken are vastly superior to anything the other supermarkets have to offer. No 'tubes', bone or gristle and more meat than gloop.
Potatoes keep well in a bag under the bunks. Pasta in any form is indispensable. Rice as well.
Root vegetables keep as well as spuds. Peas, sweetcorn and carrots come in tins.

When in port eat fresh food.

 

[pmagowan]

I always thought that for a long journey aboard you couldn't go far wrong with having a cured ham (parma style) hanging up, a couple of wheels of aged pecorino and some dry Tuscan bread/ingredients for making same. With some olive oil and red wine I could quite happily survive on that for some time with some lime in my rum for the prevention of scurvey!

 

[Tranona]

Ultimate solution is an everlasting stew in a billycan lashed to the mast and placed on the solid fuel stove every evening to heat up. Set going at the start of a cruise with a couple of hock ends and some vegetables and topped up with swede, carrot and celeriac plus the odd rabbit trapped in a field or fish caught on passage etc.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Wow, that's a good one! The French have great things in cans. 'Petit salé' is my favourite - salt pork and lentils in rich gravy. Nice cans of ratatouille and aubergines, too.

As do the Spanish; Cocido Andaluz, Lentejas , etc.

 

[PowerSlapper]

You're Sarabanned.

Is that something like being "lakesailored"?

 

[Caladh]

When the going gets tough, the tough eat...



























... Fray Bentos

.....or Vesta meals - lurvely !