feeding the crew

[Mike8193]

Dreaming of the day this snow has melted and I am back out on the boat. Was hoping to eat a little better this year while cruising. Have a propane two burner stove. Was wondering do any of you use a pressure cooker?
Seemed to me might be a faster better way to cook.

 

[Ross]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I am snowed in and it is 2345 hours. but I will bore you to death with my experience tomorrow.

 

[kloudie1]

I have not used one but I remembered Ross writing about doing that.. I am waiting for him to post about it!! I remember reading in a book about preparing meals in a pressure cooker.. maybe the Pardees? Or the Paysons I don’t remember..
I usually cook some some stuff and put it in Seal-A Meal boiling bags.. A great stew or Gumbo or Jambalaya .. works for lots of different meals. All cooked up and frozen in the bag.. It helps keep ice in the box and requires only boiling to prepare at the boat .. I generally freeze one or two person size bags .. really convenient.. Granted, a pressure cooker may be less of a problem in rough water than boiling in a regular pot, but the freeze bags (not the expensive vacuum one) have worked out pretty well.

 

[Patrick S/V Shangra-La]

I use my pressure cooker a lot on shore and on the boat. You can make a lot of meals, and use very little water in the process since you are cooking with pressure rather than just heat. You end up cooking at a much lower heat setting on your stove than you would when you are trying to boil a meal, and in much less time.

Experiment a little, I can make a corned beef with all the fixings in just about 2 1/2 hours. Or chicken and rice soup in 30 minutes. Once the pressure is up and the top starts to pop I can cook most vegetables in about 12 minutes. Because your cooking with the pressure the nutrients, and the taste in the veggies don't leach out into the water.

Happy cooking.

 

[Rick D]

Pressure Cooker

We use it all the time on the boat. We also use one all the time at home since we live at 5,000 feet and trying to get some things to cook up this high is futile. I went through a couple on the boat before I found one on e-bay that does not have a large handle, having two small ones instead. Better for storage.

PS: did you see the restriction Turkey is putting on boaters? Limited anchoring, lots of no anchoring, no gray water discharge, pump out logs, six knot speed limit, no cooking outside, etc. Currently for one area, to be expanded to all. Geesh, hope that doesn't catch on! (it's in the latest issue of Lats & Atts mag)

 

[Stu Jackson]

Pressure cooker recipes

Do you guys have good recipes for the pressure cooker? Links?

 

[bill326]

I think I found this link on this very forum, but it won't hurt to repeat it:

http://missvickie.com/index.htm

Lorna Sass also has a couple of good books on the subject.

 

[Mike8193]

thanks

Thanks, for the tips. I will try a pressure cooker at home, freeze the food in bags as suggested and put in refrigerator. I think after awhile when I have the recipes and technique down will then try it on the boat while cruising. Still waiting to hear from Ross, sounds like he will have more good advice. Mike

 

[sailingdog]

I'd second the Miss Vickie site... it's an excellent resource for all things pressure cooker related.

 

[larryw]

I have a pressure cooker on board, but only use it as a pot with a securely clamped lid. Good for one-pot dinners under way.

 

[Ross]

Hello everybody! My ISP has been down because of the winter storm.
Short cooking time on a boat.
When I plan a meal on the boat I consider first what taste I want and then check my food lockers to see what I have. I use my pressure cooker/canner to prepare basic foods and use those to make the meals.
From the right you see roast goose soup, a large piece of turkey and last a jar of apples for cooking into a small pie or just spicing and serving as a side dish.
In order of meals the jar of soup requires the addition of dry noodles or some leftover cooked rice to make two bowls of soup.




The turkey will be drained and the stock used to make gravy for noodles, or potatoes, or rice. Brown the meat in a skillet with some onion and cook some carrots. Serve the apples on the side. Feeds two people.



The last picture are pints of pasta sauce, the load capacity of my pressure cooker.
The problem with using a pressure cooker on the boat is leftover food and how to keep it from spoiling. It is not practical to pressure cook an 8 ounce pot roast. But at home you can pressure can 5 wide mouth pints with 12 ounces of beef in each jar at one time and then on the boat make a pot roast just by cooking the potatoes, carrots and onion in the stock from the drained meat and browning the meat in the skillet.
The only time I would take the pressure cooker with me would be when I was cruising long term and needed to replenish my lockers periodically.
Marinades will help to preserve meat for a few hours without refrigeration because of the high salt and acid levels.
A dozen canning jars cost about 9 dollars and are infinitely reusable with new lids. Jars can be had in quarter pints, half pints, regular and wide mouth, 12 ounce, pints regular and wide mouth, Classico® pasta sauce is put up in 26 ounce Atlas® jars and you can also get quarts in regular and wide mouth.

 

[Ross]

Cut potatoes and carrots take about 15 minutes to cook tender. green veggies take about 5 minutes unless you like them grey, cabbage can be steamed tender in 6-8 minutes or it can be added to soup before you process it and it won't suffer. Pressure does not cook food--HEAT cooks food. A pressure cooker at sea level and 10 psi runs to 240 degrees f. The pressue cooker is essential at high elevations and it shortens the cooking time on tough cuts of beef.

 

[Joe]

So... Ross... you're suggesting that a couple of cases of Dinty Moore is a less than desirable way to provision a boat for cruising? I thought the pressure cooker was perfect for quickly warming up the canned beef stew....heh, heh... BTW, thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Ross]

So... Ross... you're suggesting that a couple of cases of Dinty Moore is a less than desirable way to provision a boat for cruising? I thought the pressure cooker was perfect for quickly warming up the canned beef stew....heh, heh... BTW, thanks for sharing your experience.

The last time I ate Dinty Moore stew was about 1965 at the Magnolia Finishing plant in South Carolina from a vending machine.
We provision with a half dozen jars each of beef, pork, and turkey, chicken is too tender to tolerate much handling after the canning process. We always have pasta sauce and meat spreads like deviled ham and liver spread. Of soups I prepare beef vegetable add potato and carrot to finish, turkey with onions, carrots and celery add noodles or cooked rice to finish, Split pea with ham is always on board. I pack half pints of black beans and also small red beans. Also several jars half pints and pints of stock(broth). Of dry food we have noodles, pasta in several shapes, rice, corn meal, oatmeal, wheat flour.
At home or on the boat I can have a meal on the table in as little as fifteen minutes.

Edited for spelling

 

[jibes138]

My basic meal is a can of tuna fish, a can opener, and a fork.

 

[Ross]

My basic meal is a can of tuna fish, a can opener, and a fork.

It is better with a little chopped onion,celery and some mayonnaise.

 

[william24424]

Cook @ home, reheat on-board.

I like a beef stew made at home, then I bring it aboard and reheat. I wish they'd extend the hunting season, Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth islands are overpopulated and I'd love to eat fresh venison stew.

 

[Ross]

I like a beef stew made at home, then I bring it aboard and reheat. I wish they'd extend the hunting season, Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth islands are overpopulated and I'd love to eat fresh venison stew.

If you will get the Ball Blue Book of canning you will find detailed instructions for processing that lovely looking stew into jars and be able to extend the season of enjoyment.
I also have a recipe for venison mince meat for pies.

 

[Ross]

This won't work too well on the boat but at home it is a winner. Last week I bought about 15 pounds of chicken leg quarters for about 50 cents per pound and separated them to drums, thighs and back portions. I wrapped the thighs and drums into meal size packages and put them in the freezer. The back portions I salted and packed into a pyrex dish and roasted them nice and brown. When I drained off the fat I had an even cupful that I saved and picked the meat from the bones for about 3 cups of meat. I transferred the bone to a pot and added a quart of water and boiled them and save the broth. The bones went out the back door for the resident fox. Today I made pie crust with the rendered fat, made a medium gravy with the broth added some frozen mixed veggies and the meat and made four pot pies.

 

[william24424]

Interesting

Good idea Ross, all I need is a pressure canner, I read the summary on-line www.freshpreserving.com I already ate all my deer meat this year, but next year I'll have to try saving some stew for sailing season.