Edwardian yachtsman's menu (pies do NOT count)

[dancrane]

Maybe a robust, weighted bag containing a sealed box for things like cheese, could be dangled overboard at anchor or on a mooring, to benefit from the coolness below? Likely to be cooler than anywhere on board in UK waters, isn't it?

I wonder how long Samuel Pepys had expected his parmesan to last, when he buried it to protect it from the Great Fire of London?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Great pic, John! I was going to say you're lucky to have such a son, but luck has no part in it. I wish my SWMBO had had your kids' basic home-lessons.



I tried that, decades ago. Just the one can...that was more than enough. Nice idea, but all the meaty bits were soft and amorphous. Not a success.

Funny, I recall feeling quite keen about the advertisement for sausages and beans in a can, back in the 1970s...

...it was presented (in Captain Birdseye style) as the reward for a cold tired sailing crew, with the words "better than a ship's biscuit".

Totally agree about the all day breakfast and sausage and beans; to my mind everything tastes of baked beans - and I don't really like baked beans!

However, I may be one of the few on here who has actually eaten ship's biscuits as part of my daily diet - actually lifeboat biscuits in sealed tins, which I ate for 8 weeks in the Arctic in 1972. Almost our entire diet was dehydrated meat and veg, tinned margarine and lifeboat biscuits, supplemented by things to make it taste of something, such as marmite and curry powder. I actually quite liked the lifeboat biscuits! The taste is similar to things like water biscuits, but the consistency is such that you gnaw at them; you can crunch them, but it takes a bit of effort! If I came across them today, I'd probably take a few for old times sake.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

As an aside, I grew up in a home without a refrigerator - we didn't have one until I was a teenager. I don't recall there being any problem in keeping most things for several days either in a ventilated vegetable basket or in a cool pantry. A cool, well-ventilated locker should keep most things such as cured or cooked meat, eggs, cheese and butter perfectly well for up to a week. And there are plenty of foods for which refrigeration is not advised - bananas come to mind immediately, but a lot of cheeses are actually better if not refrigerated; because of food hygiene regulations we have got used to cheese being refrigerated, but in fact the whole point of cheese is that it will keep for long periods in a cool (not cold) place!

 

[dancrane]

...lifeboat biscuits in sealed tins, which I ate for 8 weeks...

Reminds me of Riddle of the Sands...

'I lived for ten days on a big rye loaf over in the Frisian Islands.'
'And it died hard, I suppose?'
'Very hard, but' (gravely) 'quite good. After that I taught myself to make rolls; had no baking powder at first, so used Eno's fruit salt, but they wouldn't rise much with that. As for milk, condensed is-I hope you don't mind it?'
I changed the subject.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Reminds me of Riddle of the Sands...

'I lived for ten days on a big rye loaf over in the Frisian Islands.'
'And it died hard, I suppose?'
'Very hard, but' (gravely) 'quite good. After that I taught myself to make rolls; had no baking powder at first, so used Eno's fruit salt, but they wouldn't rise much with that. As for milk, condensed is-I hope you don't mind it?'
I changed the subject.

A vital provision was a BIG bottle of vitamin tablets! Essential for polar explorers and those marooned on Mars (as in "The Martian!)

 

[Gunfleet]

As an aside, I grew up in a home without a refrigerator - we didn't have one until I was a teenager. I don't recall there being any problem in keeping most things for several days either in a ventilated vegetable basket or in a cool pantry. A cool, well-ventilated locker should keep most things such as cured or cooked meat, eggs, cheese and butter perfectly well for up to a week. And there are plenty of foods for which refrigeration is not advised - bananas come to mind immediately, but a lot of cheeses are actually better if not refrigerated; because of food hygiene regulations we have got used to cheese being refrigerated, but in fact the whole point of cheese is that it will keep for long periods in a cool (not cold) place!

The difference between now and the pre-fridge 50s is my gran could say to me 'go down to the butchers for a 1/4 pound of ham and a half of butter.' Now the child would probably have to cross a dual carriageway and the butcher would be a supermarket meat counter where the 'butcher' is some random 'modern apprentice.'

ps we wouldn't put eggs or cheese in the fridge even now

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The difference between now and the pre-fridge 50s is my gran could say to me 'go down to the butchers for a 1/4 pound of ham and a half of butter.' Now the child would probably have to cross a dual carriageway and the butcher would be a supermarket meat counter where the 'butcher' is some random 'modern apprentice.'

ps we wouldn't put eggs or cheese in the fridge even now

Actually, well into the 60s! And we did a big shop once a week; we lived on the outskirts of the town, and there were no convenient butchers or greengrocers. A couple of newsagents cum tobacconists, who carried a range of tinned goods, but not much fresh food within walking distance of our home.

 

[Humblebee]

A propos ship's biscuits, a few cartons of oatcakes never goes wrong and they keep well. With a jar of honey one can snack healthily for quite a while.

 

[DownWest]

Going back to a trip from Vilamoura to Gib in '83 ish; We ordered assorted work to be done with canvas and the autohelms. Skipper's G/F assumed she would cook, but she couldn't, apart from heating tins. I wandered around the markets and produced a stew. Well, the 'cook' anounced it was the best thing thing she had ever tasted. Guess what my job was for the next three weeks, after the bank screwed up the money transfer and we were stuck there for much longer than planned?
That little interlude put me off Gib for life. Not the cooking, it was fun, but Gib was a very mixed bag back then. Seems V05 is not about now to give the place a positive slant, But perhaps Stu can fill the spot....

 

[solent clown]

As an aside, I grew up in a home without a refrigerator - we didn't have one until I was a teenager. I don't recall there being any problem in keeping most things for several days either in a ventilated vegetable basket or in a cool pantry. A cool, well-ventilated locker should keep most things such as cured or cooked meat, eggs, cheese and butter perfectly well for up to a week. And there are plenty of foods for which refrigeration is not advised - bananas come to mind immediately, but a lot of cheeses are actually better if not refrigerated; because of food hygiene regulations we have got used to cheese being refrigerated, but in fact the whole point of cheese is that it will keep for long periods in a cool (not cold) place!

We do not have a fridge at home. We have a cold pantry under the stairs. Nothing lasts long enough to warrant refrigerating, and chilling food seems to rob it of taste, and either make wet stuff dry, or dry stuff wet. Old crock pots with lids do for most perishables

 

[dancrane]

I refer you all to a spin-off thread, "The no-tech fridge"...
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...dge-(well-cheese-store)&p=6342757#post6342757

 

[Cactus Sailing]

canned whole chicken anyone?

 

[dancrane]

I...I'm now vegetarian.

 

[prv]

I actually quite liked the lifeboat biscuits! The taste is similar to things like water biscuits, but the consistency is such that you gnaw at them; you can crunch them, but it takes a bit of effort! If I came across them today, I'd probably take a few for old times sake.

Try buying a pack of Lithuanian army rations on eBay. They have biscuits which sound quite similar to that.

Also a tub of honey to dip them in, some nuts, and some really quite good chocolate.

The main meals are all pretty similar - a pouch of stewed meat with either kasha or barley - which I imagine would get boring pretty fast if you were living on them. But as an occasional thing I find them perfectly pleasant.

(Not suggesting them as boat food, I just bought a couple out of curiosity. When sailing I'm lucky enough to have a friend who enjoys having people to cook for and likes to challenge the assumption that boat food has to be basic )

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

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.

Does tinned butter still exist? Jenners food hall in Edinburgh used to stock it, but I haven't seen it on sale for twenty years.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Does tinned butter still exist? Jenners food hall in Edinburgh used to stock it, but I haven't seen it on sale for twenty years.

It's on Amazon!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I assure you, this will persuade you that you have misjudged them:

I agree. It's the best tinned soup ever and we never put to sea without an ample supply.

 

[JumbleDuck]

It's on Amazon!

Where? All I see is are a million types of butter bean, a few soups with butternut squash and a solitary 1kg tin of ghee ...

 

[JumbleDuck]

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

Dan, you have to buy the sublime "How to Build and Manage a Canoe", published in 1949 (not quite Edwardian) by Brown, Son and Ferguson and currently available as the 1975 4th edition. Because they never increase their prices, it's ludicrously cheap.

Volume 1 (£4) covers building and voyaging in a canoe including provisioning and cooking on expeditions.

Volume 2 (£4.95) gives you a set of full size paper plans for the canoe design in volume 1.

You'll enjoy it. Trust me on this.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Where? All I see is are a million types of butter bean, a few soups with butternut squash and a solitary 1kg tin of ghee ...

Here: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Feather-PURE-CANNED-BUTTER/dp/B004RR8Y0A

Admittedly it's the US one.