Cooking aboard

[flynhi4u]

Nothing better than a nice meal aboard. With only a 20 foot boat we don't have all the luxuries of the bigger boats but we still eat well.
I have been working on my baking in the rail burner grill. I have to say it is coming along quite nicely.
Saturday night we spent the last night of the season on the water and enjoyed a beautiful sunset

While the sun was setting I had a batch of cheddar bay biscuits baking in the grill.

After about 15 mins they were done and turned out great.

After a liberal coating of melted garlic butter it was time to put the shrimp kabobs on the barbie. Only problem was the cooking stone on the lower grill rack was too hot. This is when I learned not to dip the stone in the lake to cool it off as it broke in half from the shock cooling. Lesson learned the hard way.

Sam

 

[woodster]

biscuits look great

 

[flynhi4u]

Woodster,
They tasted even better than they looked and I am proud to say I ate 5 of them.
Was going to make blueberry muffins for breakfast but the darn biting black flies were too darn annoying.

Sam

 

[Gene Neill]

Looks yummy! But then, I'd eat a SHOE if it had melted garlic butter all over it.

I bought one of those collapsible Coleman camp ovens this year, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Our Magma doesn't have that upper rack like your grill has.

 

[flynhi4u]

Here is what I have learned that made baking in the grill possible. If I just tried to use the top rack everything burnt up to a horrible death. I got a piece of unglazed floor tile and placed it on the bottom rack to act as a heat diffuser. It blocks the heat from going straight up and also seems to even out the heat. I wrap it in aluminum foil to help keep it clean as all the "flavor crystals" on the rack would make a mess of the tile if I didnt.
I added a 5 dollar temperatureguage to the lid just above the handle. It isn't a set it and forget it type device but once I had done it a couple of times I got pretty good at regulating the temperature. If there is much wind i might have to take aluminium foil and block off the up wind vent holes on the side of the grill to get it hot enough.
So far I have baked pizza, muffins, cookies, and the biscuts in the grill. Nothing like fresh biscuits and gravy on the water. I want to try baking a pie in it as I make a mean lemon meringue pie but I don't think there is room in the grill to do it.
I have one of the Coleman foldable camp ovens as well. It works pretty well but I felt like it was going to be too top heavy to use on the boat so I never tried it. I could see it falling off the stove when the boat rocked from another passing boats wake.
I did take it with us to a ski in cabin in the UP a few winters back. We carried all our gear on pulk sleds I made. The oven worked great, just wish it had a small window as most of the heat would escape when you would peak inside and unlike the grill it would take a bit to warm back up.
One of the things I am looking forward to if we get a bigger boat is a bigger galley and a real oven but for now I will just make the best of my dual purpose grill.

Sam, waiting on the first snow now

 

[Benny17441]

You can eat just as well as they do on the big boats just precook at home and freeze. Trying to do biscuits on the grill is not in my list but I have heard of some baking in a pressure cooker. Pre-cooked food will also last longer in an ice cooler.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I learned early on that it's possible to have any meal aboard even a small boat if you have a grill and do enough prep at home. Portion control is the key: bring only the amounts you'll eat. I once put marinated rack of lamb, green beans, roasted potatoes, caesar salad, an appetizer and strawberry shortcake for four people in a box that fit under the seat on an airplane...kept it cold with "blue ice" packs. Used a lot of ziplock bags and foil.

If you like salads, tear up your greens and put 'em in a ziploc bag...slice tomatoes, cukes, whatever, and put those in another bag or sealed container...salad dressing in a seal condiment cup. Put it all together in the bag of greens when you're ready to serve it...serve from the bag. Bake potatoes at home...they'll shrivel up when they get cold, but will plump right back up again when reheated on the grill. Pre-cook chicken about 2/3 done...keep it cold...finish it on the grill in about the same amount of time it takes to grill a steak. Keep drinks and food in separate coolers (or food in the fridge, drinks in a cooler. The food fridge/cooler will stay cold longer if you only have to open it to get out the food. With a little creativity and a good bit of work at home, you can eat like kings even in a row boat!

 

[flynhi4u]

Our problem isn't so much with eating like kings as it as much as gaining weight. We took a back country ski trip to the UP, pulled all our gear in on sleds, skied 15 plus miles per day, and still gained weight. Might have had something to do with all the bottles of wine we brought in with us to the cabin. It was 5 below and it would have froze if we left it in the car. That was our excuse anyway LOL!
When it comes to the boat my calorie tracking exercise app says I burn like 500 calories an hour sailing. I seriously doubt that. After a good weekend aboard we both feel like a couple of cows that have been out grazing all weekend :-( Portion sizing is not one of my strong suits

Sam

 

[WayneH]

On our 21' boat, we (the Admiral) did a lot of precooking and vacuum sealing before a trip. The sealed foods were then chilled in the refrigerator or frozen in the freezer. All of this was packed in the Igloo cooler as "ice". Boiling water in a pot provided the reheating and you can use the hot water for coffee and tea and any leftover water was used for washing up.

Menus are only limited by your imagination. Fried bacon without the mess, soups, stews and even gumbo can be frozen and reheated for that "oh so gooood" meal at the end of a long day.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Our problem isn't so much with eating like kings as it as much as gaining weight

You'd have had to eat and drink like king Henry VIII to gain weight on that trip, Sam! I spent a week alpine skiing--which doesn't burn half the calories that Nordic does even if you're skiing black diamond slopes--with friends in Colorado...ate like a farmhand and drank enough beer and wine to float my boat and lost 5 lbs!

 

[Kermit]

Our problem isn't so much with eating like kings as it as much as gaining weight. We took a back country ski trip to the UP, pulled all our gear in on sleds, skied 15 plus miles per day, and still gained weight. Might have had something to do with all the bottles of wine we brought in with us to the cabin. It was 5 below and it would have froze if we left it in the car. That was our excuse anyway LOL!
When it comes to the boat my calorie tracking exercise app says I burn like 500 calories an hour sailing. I seriously doubt that. After a good weekend aboard we both feel like a couple of cows that have been out grazing all weekend :-( Portion sizing is not one of my strong suits

Sam

Sam, Sam, Sam. Have you learned nothing from me? Change "we" to "I" and *maybe* Cindy will start speaking to you again.

 

[flynhi4u]

Well Kermit, technically speaking "we" should have really been "her" as I lost a couple of pounds but considering Cindy just said yes to my marriage proposal while standing on cross country skis on a trail in a hemlock grove during a blizzard at midnight with a air temp of -5 and a wind chill somewhere south of -20 I told Cindy I gained a few too just so she did not feel alone LOL!!!

Sam

 

[Sailm8]

Clever idea Sam, don't let her back in the cabin 'till she said yes. Congrats.

 

[Kermit]

Well Kermit, technically speaking "we" should have really been "her" as I lost a couple of pounds but considering Cindy just said yes to my marriage proposal while standing on cross country skis on a trail in a hemlock grove during a blizzard at midnight with a air temp of -5 and a wind chill somewhere south of -20 I told Cindy I gained a few too just so she did not feel alone LOL!!!

Sam

*sigh* I give up.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Well Kermit, technically speaking "we" should have really been "her" as I lost a couple of pounds but considering Cindy just said yes to my marriage proposal while standing on cross country skis on a trail in a hemlock grove during a blizzard at midnight with a air temp of -5 and a wind chill somewhere south of -20 Sam

Some people might consider that to be holding her hostage!

 

[flynhi4u]

Clever idea Sam, don't let her back in the cabin 'till she said yes. Congrats.

Never thought of it like that. It is a long story but that was back in 2014. You can read all about it at http://adventuresofthememorymakers.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-trip-we-will-remeber-forever-day.html?m=1

Amazingly were married now so she must have forgiven me for the chilly conditions I proposed under LOL.

Don't give up so easy Kermit, I listen to everything you say ;-)

Sam

 

[Benny17441]

Speaking of weight control, lets face it sailing, the way mot of us practice it, is a sport where the physical activity is limited. It may be smart when taking a trip to reduce the food intake to 2 meals a day or one meal and snacks. That also will help the logistics aboard.

 

[flynhi4u]

That is a good idea Benny and we tried that on our North Channel trip. I don't think it was the food intake that got us much as it was the liquid nurishment on the hook. How do they say "empty calories " LOL!

Sam

 

[kito]

Topic says "cooking a board" I am still waiting for this "board" recipe.........I need the fiber.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Just cook a thin cheap steak well done if you want to chew on a board.