Enter the Propane Chef with a RANT.
Back when Marianne and myself had a big house in Seattle, we used to entertain a lot. We had Christmas Parties, Thanksgiving, summer parties for 20 -30. Private dinner parties for group of four to six to eight with 3-5 courses. I used to cook for all of these, sometimes spending days in the kitchen. I once prepared food for 60 people at a martial arts seminar. I cooked food for the office and had them over (Bar B Q for 20). This was a lot of fun, and cost a lot of money. A few years before we moved on board, I realized that of all the hundreds of people I had entertained, only half a dozen or so had invited me to their house and fixed me a meal. Suddenly, I realized that I had been had, but it took me 12 years to figure it out. I don’t do big parties anymore. My thanks to all those who invited me into their home and gave me a drink. To the others, may you always attend potlucks where there is noting to eat but chips and stale French bread.
All of this cooking, though, really improved my culinary skill. I could do Southwestern, Northwest, South American, or Southern, with barely the flip of a pan. I had dozen of cookbooks. I had huge pots to cook stock in all day. Giant cast iron skillets. Rows of spoons and knifes.
So – I was prepared to become the propane chef. However, the first act of the newly born chef was to store all of this kitchen gear away. You don’t need it and can’t store it on a boat – although some try. Remember, you are living a life of essential elements – that is the key.
What, you may ask, is the propane chef about.
Well – its all about cooking well, living the good life, on a sailboat. Just because you have downsized your life, gotten rid of all of the above mentioned stuff, and moved onto a sailboat, it does not mean you have to eat off plastic plates and make nothing but one pot meals.
The propane chef is about finally having time to cook. Not that I didn’t make time before – its just now it is real time, not stolen from some other task. Contrary to popular belief in the media, it takes time to cook. Not a lot of time, but more time than most people are willing to donate to it.
But hey- you live on a sailboat, you have time, there are no yards to mow, gardens to water, etc.
Second rule of the propane chef is that you don’t cook unless you are drinking. Fine wine is best to drink while you cook, and I prefer champagne in the morning. It does not matter the time of day, as long as you are not casting off. I prefer a martini or two later in the afternoon, however, but they tend to ruin the timing of a quick saute.
Hopefully, these posts will be about cooking all over the world. The different ingredients you can find, the style of the chefs and local cuisine, and how the locals cook. It takes time to find these things, and I hope to have it. No sailing around the world for this boy – I Will be too busy looking for the next mole’.
The propane chef at work – he has been in his cups too long while in the galley. He truly intends to give the "Galloping Gourmet" a run for his money. ( Not the new dry G. Kerr, but the young drunken one who helped inspire me when I was 8 years old).
Here is the happy diner, wondering what will be for dinner tonight.
Here is one view of the galley.
This is a propane stove. It has two burners of about 5,000 BTU. There is room for one 12 inch pot and one 8 inch pot, plus an oven. (more on the oven later). That level of low heat necessitates a completely different cooking style. Thus is born the Propane Chef.
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