Ian has worked as one of our Cooks for over five years, alongside Micah. Here he’s blogged about what a typical day in the life involves down in the galley and shares some of his favourite recipes:

***

Five years ago I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in doing some relief work as a Cook with the Jubilee Sailing Trust. Having worked in kitchens for more than 30 years prior to that, I thought why not? I’d been at sea for 16 of those years, as well as working in a huge variety of locations on land, so I thought I would have a fair idea of what lay ahead. I was both right and wrong!

In the past five years I’ve enjoyed some amazing voyages, made many friends and been part of so many of our crew’s adventures. I’ve had more fulfilment and enjoyment than on any other project that I’ve been involved in.

Let’s talk about a typical day in the life of a Cookie.

Quite simply, there isn’t one! The task is to feed our crew three meals a day plus cakes for smoko, birthdays and other special occasions. To enable Micah and I to do this we also need to plan, order and manage all the food, as well as the cleaning and admin tasks.

It’s a tough shift and it would be impossible without the help of our amazing Cook’s Assistants and the help of our lovely Voyage Crew. Every day we have a hard working, eager and interested brigade of helpers. They all come with different levels of skill, knowledge and stamina but we always get the job done. I always marvel at how the Cook’s Assistants happily volunteer to spend almost as many hours in the galley as I do!

One of the fascinating aspects of the job is the wide variety of locations we have to shop for produce. One trip I will be buying fruit from a man in a canoe whilst at anchor off Dominica, the next I could be bartering for fresh fish straight from a passing fishing boat! We have a very interesting and varied collection of Bags for Life from supermarkets and stores around the globe!

The other “interesting “ aspect of the job is coping with all kinds of weather conditions and adapting to suit! Cake making can be a very interesting task in the choppiest of waters…

Having said that, for every tough day there will always be a day to make you realise what a privilege it is to be on board this amazing vessel.

I’ve selected a couple of my favourite recipes – ones that always go down well with the crew:

Cookies Shortbread
250g Plain Flour
250g Butter
125g Icing Sugar
125g Cornflour
Pinch of Salt
Combine all ingredients and mix until into a dough.
Roll into cylinder shape (diameter depends on biscuit size desired)
Wrap in baking parchment and rest in the fridge 30 -40 mins
Remove from chill, unwrap and use parchment to line a baking sheet
Finally cut into slices, place on the sheet and back for 10-12 mins in the oven at 180C

Pulled Pork
5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4cm/11⁄2in fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped3kg/6lb 8oz boneless pork shoulder, rind removed

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/130C Fan/Gas 2.
2. Put the soy sauce, chilli powder, chinese five-spice, sugar, garlic and
ginger in a large bowl. Mix together to make a sloppy paste.
3. Put the pork in a deep roasting tray and massage the paste over the meat. Cover with foil and cook for 8–10 hours, or until the meat is so tender you can shred it with a fork.

Amazing served with:

Asian slaw
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 red cabbage and 1⁄4 white cabbage, very thinly sliced
red onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
1 red chillies, finely chopped (seeds removed if you prefer less heat)
black pepper
a fork.
1. Just before serving,mix the sesame oil and soy sauce together in a large bowl.

2. Add the cabbage, onion, carrot, chilli and coriander. Toss together until well combined, season with the pepper.
3. Serve in burger buns and add fries or baked potato for a more substantial meal.

Trev’s Date Balls ( Gluten & Dairy Free)
250g Pitted Dates
20g Sliced Almonds
2Tbsp of Dessicated Coconut (optional)
1. Combine all ingredients and blitz in a food processor
2. Roll into bite sized balls
3. Store in an airtight container.