# Merchant Navy Fare - merged threads



## John Cassels

Have long wanted to start this thread, rather dear to my heart (and stomach).
Most of us have sailed on pretty terrible feaders but on average the majority
were pretty good. Even in the 60's on the Denholm ore carriers, the food was rather good. A favourite entree was "Kromeski a la Russe .which was just a sausage wrapped in bacon the deep fried. Seemed simple but tasted great after a day on deck. Another favourite entree was devilled kidney on toast. Even after 40 years trying I've never been able to make it the same way.
Remember braised steak and onions. With a slab of bread to mop up the gravy, you hardly needed a main course. When I was super,once visited one of our ships around lunchtime. Main course was mince pie,peas and chips.
Having eaten in some fancy places all over the world,I swear I have never
enjoyed a meal like that. Ch,cook said the lads needed something to soak up the lunchtime beers. 
The point of this rigamole is; seeing some of the food which is dished out nowadays in restaurants, I don't think we fared so badly. Most of us will have pretty fond memories of good feeders.
I have even tried to get hold of a copy of the Merchant navy cookery book written by a chap called (I think) Atkinson, but still no success.
Perhaps RUUD will be able to contribute.
Anyone got any good old fashioned MN recepies?.

JC


----------



## Gulpers

John,

Omelettes always came in three varieties – cheese, Spanish or plain – or as one 4/E I sailed with insisted in calling plain omelettes, egg! 

How about oxtail for an entrée – that was always one of the favourites and Brown Windsor soup was a certainty the next day!

On the GTVs we had our first experience of microwaves – they certainly weren’t common household items in the 70s. How many eggs did you explode after carefully selecting which coloured plastic timing strip to feed into the machine? We didn’t know you couldn’t boil eggs in their shells! (Thumb)


----------



## Pilot mac

John.
yes I remember the good old Kromesky.

Another I remember is' Beef a la Mode' which was beef having been penetrated with whole carrotts and then pot roasted. Beef Olives was another .

The poor old Cornish Pasty went under a variety of names depending on what company you were in . I have come across it in three diferent guises, Armadillo, Sealed Orders and worse of all *****s Handbags (cos you never knew what was within)

regards
Dave MacVicker


----------



## john g

Coney Island Quail ? does that bring back any memories ? Thanks for the reminder on "beef a la mode"...now you've got me thinking back to the Cunard Brock days..john g


----------



## lakercapt

Serving my time in Ropners was not in the same world as good feeding (except for my last voyage on "Daleby" which had 12 passengers and we ate in the saloon.)
Thing I remember was the DUFF we were served on Thursday and Sunday. Wish I knew how the cooks did it. (what won't fatten will fill)
Closeset thing was when I had a cook from Newfoundland and his "figgy duff" was the nearly as good. Alas before that was salt fish and bruis or Jiggs dinner. Don't ask what they are as they are Newfie culinary delights along with flipper pie!


----------



## tell

Shame on you chaps! no Apple Daddy, surely there must be someone from T&J Harrisons, Terry


----------



## ruud

Ahoy,
Labscous,Boston Baked Beans,American Hash,Irish Stew,Chicken Curry,Curry 'n Rice, does that rings a bell?But there were a lot more!!!!! Mostly when those were on the menu, it was often said, 'eeh, the fridges have been cleaned' because of all the left overs, where mixed together.On the Dutch MN, it was also, "a tradition" on Saturdays having "Snert"[Thick green peas soup, with trotters,also called "Erwtensoep"] and the other saturday "Groningse Rijsttafel"[Captain's Dinner nowadays called]These were brown beans with all kind of garnitures, like different made onions,bacon,goulash,pickles,piccalily, potatoes and rice.Even in the tropes, and often as dessert "pancakes"[natural,cheese,bacon].In the early days,from the '50's on,you don't needed a calender to see what day it was, you knew it by what was been served as dinner,on Sundays always Chicken and French Fries,Garden Peas,Applesauce, and once in a while "Rijsttafel"[Indonesian way] as served as Bami or Nasi Goreng, with a lot of garnitures as well.Friday always fish, mostly flatfish like plaice.Wednesday meatballs, made from minced meat and lot of bread.(*)) Talking about bread; every morning at 04:30 made my dough,hand made!!! to get fresh bread at breakfast, which started at 07:30,and had 4 hrs. overtime each day, most of the times about 120-150 hrs/monthly:$$$, but none is left(Eat)


----------



## RCHARLTON

All in all Cunard Brocks food was pretty good. Much as I enjoyed the curries on Brocks ships however, I did draw the line at curried baked beans and curried hard boiled eggs. The Chief Steward was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with those.
Ray


----------



## cboots

When I started out as a deck apprentice in the mid sixties there was a very simple rule of thumb, if you had the twelve passengers onboard you fed okay, when you didn't it was usually crap. I put that down to a number of factors not related to the company's feeding rate which was perfectly adequate. Drunken and imcompetent cooks, likewise captains, and some rather shifty chief stewards. Perhaps the latter two I should explain. All "wine accounts" were inspected by the company head office and some of those old, and not so old masters could only survive on a couple of bottles a day; so who was best placed to cover that up? Why the good old chief steward of course, always the richest man on the boat. So when all but the rubbish cuts of meat had been sold over the wall, and you were getting shakey milk in West India Docks, who was going to complain, not your illustrious commanding officer. However, by the time I packed it in, late seventies, on the whole things had much improved and the feeding could be almost too good for someone like me who puts on weight very easily. I also agree with a previous poster that Brocks food was always pretty good though some of those curries could make you sweat.
CBoots


----------



## DMA

What about Currie & Rice at breakfast that of course after around of eggs & bacon.
This was Harrisons [ two of fat one of lean Harrisons ],who said they were hungry.
Have had me hooked on currie ever since. (Thumb)


----------



## lakercapt

Wasn't kegerre a rice and curry dish served at breakfast?


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

I ate well on a number of British ships as a kid with the requisite bottomless stomach. I started visiting ships at my small town port at the age of thirteen. I remember well chowing down on steak and chips, meat pies and some great puddings in the late 1960s and early 1970s on ships like the Pacific Stronghold, Pacific Northwest, Loch Loyal, Loch Ryan, Loch Gowan, Harpalyce, Graiggwerdd, Prometheus, Amalric, among many other UK ships with crews and cuisines mainly from India and Hong Kong. I always loved the much superior chocolates and toffees of Britain.
One thing I remember is a wall poster of what every man on board was entitled to in nutrition and meal allotments, I think it even got down to the minimum entitlement in salt. There was some colloquial term for the poster that I have long since forgotten. I really wish I had been able to get one of these posters for my collection, just as I would have loved the Indian Government's own issue of this chart. The whole thing was as big as a wide door, covered in text.


----------



## Oz.

Best feeders I had were supply boats to the Australian Rigs. Why?. NO COOKS! An AB voluntered to be cook for the three week trip, and we were lucky, we had a would be Cordon Bleau chef, He was brilliant. He did his own ordering and we were never without Sydney Rock Oysters, Lobster,Prawns and steaks that just melted in the mouth!. One time in Fremantle he had ordered 80 dozen Rock Oysters, but only 40 dozen were delivered. The crew refused to sail until the other 40 doz arrived, air express from Sydney!. Five flavors of ice cream, and even though the ships were 'dry' we never were short of some wonderful Australian red and white wines. Ah, the good old days!!.


----------



## Mac

*Kedgeree*

Capt. Bill.

"Khichri" is an ancient Indian dish consisting of lentils and rice and spices.

When the British arrived in the seventeenth century they adopted this dish as a breakfast dish with flaked fish substituted for the lentils. In time they dropped the spices, added hard boiled egg, anglicized the name and "Kedgeree " was born.

Source: The Raj at Table. David Burton, Faber and Faber 1993.

Mac.


----------



## John Cassels

Anyone ever heard of the book I mentioned in my introduction and if so where
I can get hold of a copy ?.

JC


----------



## ruud

Ahoy John,

I know a woman, Catherine Atkinson, she has written several Cooking books, but there are 1000's of them, and also with special recipes from the MN.
But my favourites still are Larousse and my best book is from Auguste Escoffier 'Le guide culinaire'


----------



## John Cassels

Thanks your input Ruud.
As far as I can recall , it was a name like Charles Henry Atkinson or very similar.
It gave all the old well remembered MN food>

Rgds

JC


----------



## R58484956

We had to rough it on the QE, only had the same as the first class passengers.


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

I remember curry & rice for breakfast in Harrison Line, mainly with Jackie Moore as Chief Steward. The 2/E, Wally Brinsdon (a Kiwi) used to have the curry & rice with his egg and bacon on top and use marmalade as chutney. Boy could he eat.
Peter Baker.


----------



## Succour

What a great thread. The two that spring to mind on Bluey's was Nasi Goreng, and Kedgeree. On Elder Dempsters Kumba we were asked if we would like to try Palm Oil Chop. We all declined the offer after seeing the Ch cook come out of the poop mixing the chop with his hands and a lady of the night hanging round his neck. Strange ship that Kumba. Opposed piston Doxford and steam recip auxiliaries, including the turning gear. 110 volts DC, and the lights used to dim when we showed a movie. West African stewards and engine room hands, boy could they swing a hammer in the crankcase, Happy days. all the best lads Succour


----------



## ruud

Ahoy,

I don't want to forget our "Iberian crew members",as they came in the Dutch MN in the early '50's, and I've served them a lot of:

_Feijoada_[black beans and pork stew]
--------------
_Cozido's_[different meat dish]
--------------
_Bacalhau à Portuguesa_[codfish fish dish]
--------------
_Caldeirada à Fragateira_[different fish dish]

And still make them nowadays, for friends. You just have to try it once!!!


----------



## paul0510

Best feeders in BP were in my opinion the Indian crew ships. The tables (not just on these ships) were always properly laid, silver napkin rings etc. and for every meal starting with breakfast the Chief Steward had prepared a menu typed on the Company Menu card. Full English breakfast with juices, egg choice, hot cakes followed at midday by, you guessed it, a curry (Kopta, Madras, Dahl.....) with trimmings or/and English Fayre finishing off with dessert and cheeses. And if that wasn't enough an omelette for tea @ 17:00? No problem. To imagine I sacrificed all this for cereals and hard-boiled eggs, gristle with Sauerkraut and Rote Grütze followed at teatime by yes, black or grey bread and sliced sausage. German Merchant Marine Fayre A.D. 1978. Mind you, some of the Stewardesses weren't bad. ;-))


----------



## neil maclachlan

Hi Folks,
When I sailed with Blue Star Lines the Food was fairly good when we had passengers aboard,but when in port it went downhill,nobody ate aboard. We used to have a salad called Russian Salad,no wonder Russia was such a happy country, During the voyage they would have on the menu a dish called colonial goose,it was always legs,we called it Blue Star centipede? They never gave you fresh milk but watered down condensed milk--yuk!
Cheers,
Neil Mac.


----------



## lakercapt

The list that was displayed on board ships was a copy of the ships agreement (articles) and that showed the minimum (chief stewards thought it was maximum) food allowances with permitted substitutes. Commanly know as your wack.
Not many went to these extremes but I all depended on whither the chief steward had enough saved to buy his retirement pub


----------



## airds

*The Nautical Cookery Book*



 John Cassels said:


> Anyone ever heard of the book I mentioned in my introduction and if so where
> I can get hold of a copy ?.
> 
> JC



Here you are John - 2nd hand at £12.50 from www.abebooks.co.uk

*The Nautical Cookery Book* - for the Use of Stewards & Cooks of Cargo Vessels
C H Atkinson

but I see it/was (ISBN: 0851741916) a title from - *Brown, Son & Ferguson* - the famous nautical publisher's - so maybe worth getting in touch with them in Glasgow .... 

(red text is direct links)


b.rdgs


ps I'll expect an invite -* Nasi Goreng  *  with peanut sauce was always nice


----------



## lofty

DMA said:


> What about Currie & Rice at breakfast that of course after around of eggs & bacon.
> This was Harrisons [ two of fat one of lean Harrisons ],who said they were hungry.
> Have had me hooked on currie ever since. (Thumb)


hi dave you forgot the griddle cakes and syrup my favourite cheers lofty


----------



## japottinger

In Brocklebank we had a coasting chief who always came into the duty mess at lunch time, "Boy, let me see the menu" Chief-"Nothing I fancy, just send some rolls and butter to my cabin" 
Behind his back we engineers and the mess boy were silently mimicing the same words as he had ordered the same every lunch time! 
Mind you it was nothing for us growing boys(then!) to go through the whole menu, soup, curry(every day of course), main course, sweet, cheese and biscuits etc etc

We had a 2nd eng,. who ordered eggs at breakfast, "Mess boy- how you want your eggs sahib?"
2nd- "Not too soft, but not too hard, but just right" 
Mess boy- " Acha sahib"
Needless to say he got them the same each day!


----------



## Tony Crompton

"They" used to say in Brocklebanks that you got a Sunday Dinner every day ans a Christmas Dinner every Sunday.
-----------------------
Tony C


----------



## John Cassels

Great to see all the input to this thread.
In Denholms it seemed (no matter what ship you were on) that the Sunday menu
main courses were roast chicken for lunch and steak & chips for dinner.
I retrospect , I think we had it good for those days. Still hoping to be able to find
out how to make devilled kidneys the way I remember them.
David, thanks info re the nautical cookery book - it's the first solid lead I've had in a long time.
Ruud ;next time your cooking on of your MN banquets , give me a call. I can't be too
far away from you.

rgds to all.

JC


----------



## Gulpers

John,

You've gone posh. What's all this 'devilled kidneys on toast' nonsense? Didn't the 'top table' refer to this entrée as 'sh*t on a raft', like the rest of us? (Thumb)


----------



## Pat McCardle

Alas! Some Cooks of old still try to follow the tradition? Fridays= Curry & Fish & chips. Sunday= seafood cocktail + Steak et al. One to remind you it was the weekend, so on the pi**, the other to remind you "Its Monday tomorrow-Turn too". These days its Scotch Pies, Beefburgers (Where's the beef) But Omelettes are still in there with Cheese & Spanish still the favourites!! S.O.S.+ Same Old Sh*T? (Thumb)


----------



## gdynia

*Baked Beans*

Sunday morning on the Stag Line had the biggest breakfast que as this was the only day Baked Beans were served - definetely a delicacy


----------



## R798780

Then there was the Hamburg Steak Malabar. What the kids call a beefburger before that name was invented, with a fried egg on top. That name may be peculiar to Brocklebanks, but the hamburgers put most of todays offerings to shame.

Later in the day our brand new PRC Chinese cook took New Yorks finest frozen hamburgers and reconstituted them. Twice the size, four times as good.

Coney Island Quail, Scotch woodcock, Eggs Florentine, Golden Buck Rarebit, Welsh Rarebit; Never said no as apprentice.


----------



## Chris Field

*Curry-munching*

A great thread, gentlemen!
My most remembered meals on the City boats in the fifties (Colchester, Edinburgh and London) were the endless variations of curries (Bombay, Madras,Calcutta,Delhi etc etc, a totally new world for the young lad from post-war Brixton!


----------



## gdynia

Chris Field said:


> A great thread, gentlemen!
> My most remembered meals on the City boats in the fifties (Colchester, Edinburgh and London) were the endless variations of curries (Bombay, Madras,Calcutta,Delhi etc etc, a totally new world for the young lad from post-war Brixton!



So why do we only call it Delhi belly when we get the runs


----------



## DMA

With all this food about on the forum almost makes me want to get a can of *Condensed Milk* for a spot of tea.
What more could one ask for after a run ashore. (Pint)


----------



## Pilot mac

The poor old catering department were often the 'whipping boy' if things wernt going too well aboard. It was a hard job especially when stores were running low homeward bound. Trying to turn out SOS (same old ****) on a daily basis was not a job I would relish.The humble potato would appear in many guises, boiled, roast, mashed(or creamed if you were P &O!), parsley,
stove, chipped, garfield, wafer, straw, croquette, lyonnaise, boulangere,
saute, I'm sure there are others?. Swede would also make a regular appearance homeward bound.

On one ship we had a particularly revolting cheese aboard which was served for ever on a daily basis, needless to say it was very unpopular. One day a diferent cheese appeared and was eaten and enjoyed by all. The next day we were back to the old revolting cheese. I asked the Chief Stewrd if there was any of the popular cheese left, he replied 'Oh yes plenty, the trouble is,
if I put it on the menu then everyone eats it!'

regards
Dave


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

I also remember Palm Oil Chop (the chop stands for food) in Palm Line. It was served to we officers only on a sunday, in port. down the coast and was made with ingredients bought by the said officers and prepared by West African crew members (rather than the ships cook). It was preceded by a few gin & Tonics and was the most wonderful meal in the world. To cut the oil after the meal one always drank a neat gin.
A restaurant in Liverpool (the Bears Paw) used to provide this dish with four days notice and a minimum of 8 persons to serve.
This all took place in the 1950's. I often wonder how long it lasted.
Peter Baker.


----------



## rstimaru

We used to get good food on the Accra in the early sixtys,I remember goig down to the seamans galley to beg the soup at smoko and if anybody sailed with E,d,s they will remember the palm stew that the kroo boy,s mamy,s used to make


----------



## KenLin39

*re: Colonial goose*



neil maclachlan said:


> Hi Folks,
> When I sailed with Blue Star Lines the Food was fairly good when we had passengers aboard,but when in port it went downhill,nobody ate aboard. We used to have a salad called Russian Salad,no wonder Russia was such a happy country, During the voyage they would have on the menu a dish called colonial goose,it was always legs,we called it Blue Star centipede? They never gave you fresh milk but watered down condensed milk--yuk!
> Cheers,
> Neil Mac.


Hi Neil, I may have missed something, what was Colonial Goose. Ken. (Ouch)


----------



## Polarum

*Blue funnel cooking manual*

The other day, I overheard a programme on the BBC discussing cookery books for Christmas and they mentioned a book that was originally written for Chinese and foreign ships’ cooks on the Blue Funnel Line by the late Patience Gray. For those who hanker after ship's grub, it might be an ideal present this Christmas. 

I was never on a bad feeder whilst on British ships, but often heard companies prefaced by the word 'hungry' - 'hungry hains' in particular.
Were these companies that bad?


----------



## billyboy

stale bread toasted wid red lead (canned tomatoes) for breakfast
Cold pilchards with mash for lunch.
veg stew for dinner. 

but on another coaster we had an old boy from Southampton who really knew how to do it. came as a bit of shock to waited on by him serving stuffed sheep hearts and other exotic fare. fresh fruit cake on the dog watch too. started putting weight on with this man.


----------



## Mac

Ken

Colonial Goose was an antipodean dish consisting of a boned out leg of mutton, the cavity that the bone occupied being filled with forcemeat.
The whole thing was then slowly roasted

The above info from a very old NZ cookbook.


----------



## fredkinghorn

Anyone remember " mock crab " ? --Grated cheddar cheese mixed with tomato sauce.
Seven Bell breakfast/dinner ? the " black pan " ?

memories, memories


----------



## trotterdotpom

*Shoreside Fare*

There were good feeders and bad feeders, even on bad ones we were often doing better than folk ashore. Hard to moan about the food when you're in Somalia! 

This thread has brought back happy memories of garfield potatoes (does that happen anywhere except on a ship?), Russian salad (yesterdays Macedoine of Vegetables with salad cream), etc. How come in Boston, the Boston Baked Beans have rum added, but they didn't aboard ship?

It brought to mind some of the great stuff, unheard of at home, which we were able to get ashore in foreign parts. Here's a ditty about that:


The Rolling Gourmet

As a boy my food was solid but boring –
Our Mam hadn’t heard of Nasi Goreng.
Meat ‘n’ two veg was our basic grub,
A packet of crisps, a treat from the pub.
Little did I know, when I went to sea,
The culinary delights awaiting me.

Bratwurst schmeckt gut and cost little brass,
Breakfast of Jarlsberg with a Norwegian lass!
Shasliks in Turkey, eagerly gobbled,
Resulted in tummy seriously nobbled!
Muchas tapas in Spain, devoured with grace,
Before Brits in hankies discovered the place.

Buckets of gumbo slurped in Jackson Square
Before Cajun nosh became “de rigueur”.
Gigantic beefsteaks in La Boca, B.A.,
Pero solo pescado on meatless Thursday.
African chillies on chicken wings made me smile
When wandering fingers made the girls jump a mile!

Bhandari’s curry from the galley’s backdoor –
My own backdoor screaming: “please, no not more!”
Newton’s Circus’ liver with ginger was Yum,
Peking Duck in China – Eeh by gum!
Hand-fed tempura prawns in Japan,
I’ll will never forget you Sumiko-san.


In those long ago days the Naked Chef wore a nappy,
The Two Fat ladies were still slim and happy.
The gourmet delights were fun while they lasted,
But look what’s left over – a great big fat bastard!
That sounds like I’m moaning and being a pain,
But you know that I'd willingly do it again!


Bon appetit

John T.


----------



## awateah2

In 1961 I was in the M.V. Aptity of F.T. Everard and Sons, a Tanker with a Coal Galley Range and Coke fired Central heating. very difficult when loading spirit at Fawley, hence Eggs boiled in the one electric Kettle kept locked away for such purposes. I think we were also charged £1. 10 shillings a week for our food although we were given an allowance of 3 shillings a day toward this cost, no fridge but a wire meshed meat locker on deck. only one fresh water tap, in the Galley and Salt water Showers, thinking back this was unbelievable for 1961. The Master was H.A.Kearns from Paisley ex British Tanker apprentice, The Mate was Jack Hadlow a long time Everard man and the Chief Engineer was a Mr 'Mad' Harris who insisted his breakfast was cooked even though he did not eat it.In the year I was aboard we must have had about 8 different cooks but I was young and fit and ever hungry, great memory of 'Corned Beef Hash' and Baked Beans after a cold day tank cleaning


----------



## Gulpers

John T, excellent, enjoyed The Rolling Gourmet very much! (Applause)


----------



## mcook

Reading the posts in this thread it seems to me that
there is a generally unanimous agreement that the
feeding standards were overall very good. I 
whole heartedly agree with this, which makes the
odd exception stand out clear in one's memory.

I am sure that most Brock's old boys will recognise
one 'Second Hand' Rose as a Chief Steward. It was
from him that I heard the phrase "I'm not going to
buy anymore of that, everyone will just eat it" and
there was no joke involved here with him. His
attitude was better summed up one evening when
the Chief, trying to munch through something
immediately forgettable, leaned across the table
to the Chief Steward and said something like
"This (whatever it was) tastes like crap."
The reply was "Well, do what I do. Don't eat
it"

These days I can blame my heartburn as a legacy
of all those curries I had as a young man; nothing
to do with drinking red wine or anything like that!
(At least my wife believes me, I think!)

Good Eating

malcolm


----------



## R798780

mcook said:


> Reading the posts in this thread it seems to me that
> there is a generally unanimous agreement that the
> feeding standards were overall very good. I
> whole heartedly agree with this, which makes the
> odd exception stand out clear in one's memory.
> 
> I am sure that most Brock's old boys will recognise
> one 'Second Hand' Rose as a Chief Steward. It was
> from him that I heard the phrase "I'm not going to
> buy anymore of that, everyone will just eat it" and
> there was no joke involved here with him. His
> attitude was better summed up one evening when
> the Chief, trying to munch through something
> immediately forgettable, leaned across the table
> to the Chief Steward and said something like
> "This (whatever it was) tastes like crap."
> The reply was "Well, do what I do. Don't eat
> it"
> 
> These days I can blame my heartburn as a legacy
> of all those curries I had as a young man; nothing
> to do with drinking red wine or anything like that!
> (At least my wife believes me, I think!)
> 
> Good Eating
> 
> malcolm



There were worse than Graham Rose. Fred thompson had similar responses; but didn't/wouldn't eat in the saloon. Then there was Dennis (the ogg) Oglevie. Seemed to have procured a permanent job coasting. Fred and Graham were super feeders by comparison. But then there was Les Flockhart who had a well earned reputation as the best feeder in Brocks. Sadly never managed to sail with him.


----------



## beejay

Hi Neil,
Vestys centipede chooks,always wonderd how the suppliers to Blue Star managed to breed chooks with so many legs.
regards Brian


----------



## R58484956

Chooks = chickens to the brits who are not familiar with antipodean words.


----------



## lakercapt

I don't think that anone has mentioned that old breakfast treat! 
Bubble and squeek.
God awaful stuff using last evenings potatoes and cabbage.
Called bubble and squeek as that was the noise it made when the cook was doing it in a large frying pan


----------



## RCHARLTON

Just had some bubble and squeek last Friday morning as part of my traditional "Day after Thanksgiving breakfast". Great stuff!

Ray


----------



## Robinj

Reading through these threads all I can say being a sparks who sailed with various outfits the food was never bad, even when on an old tramp the C/E got the D/T's and tossed all the meat over the side and we ended up eating tinned sausages for the last week of the trip. That Chief cook was a genious.


----------



## terence

looks like u where all hard done bye xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

terence said:


> looks like u where all hard done bye xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


It looks like I am not well acquainted with all forms of English from the mother country. What the heck did you just say?


----------



## neil maclachlan

Hi Ken(Lin)& Brian,
Blue Star was a good company and the food was'nt too bad(at times),Colonial Goose was chicken legs including the thigh,we all thought how did they manage to get so many bloody chicken legs,hence the Blue Star centipede as we called it. Brian say's Chooks,thats the Aussie word, we in Scotland as kids called them chookie hens,the Aussies must have cut it down to size? Anyway Guys,keep up the good work,it's great to be amongst you.
Neil Mac.


----------



## Pilot mac

what about 'puppy spew' sandwiches?

regards
Dave


----------



## gdynia

Whats happened to bacon and eggs. Our American crew give us for breakfast Grits, Hush Puppies and Corn Bread what a disaster


----------



## neil maclachlan

Hi Guys,
I sailed with Standard Vacuum and the food was streets ahead of anything we were served on Blue Star,we even had fresh milk for as long as it lasted and then it was cans of Carnation Milk. Our ships sailed under the British Flag but the company was owned by Standard Oil. On a Sunday we were give 2 beers each by the company, I think on American ships they were'nt allowed beer,but the company rule gave us free beers,we were also allowed to buy beer and spirits from the captains bond. The feeding was excellent but we still complained!
Neil Mac.


----------



## R58484956

On Union Castle cargo we had a sunday night treat, egg surprise, but after 11 months the surprise bit wore off, egg surprise= one upturned apricot with white custard.
Chief steward bought barracuda and tried to pass it off as herring, but the 12/4 had seen them in the frig room and after a few beers mentioned this to CS, we had free issue beer for a longtime afterwards.


----------



## Pat McCardle

Fear not Shipmates! Skinheads on a raft along with sh*t on a raft, cheeze beano's & Silver Dollars are still doing the rounds on North Sea supply boats......Aberdeen restaurants are the 'New' missions to seamen (EEK)


----------



## RCHARLTON

gdynia said:


> Whats happened to bacon and eggs. Our American crew give us for breakfast Grits, Hush Puppies and Corn Bread what a disaster


They must be from the Southern States. If you get a crew from North of the Mason Dixon Line (Approximately Baltimore) you'll get bacon and eggs. It may not be quite the same as good old English bacon and eggs (the bacon is a bit different) but it comes close.

Ray


----------



## RCHARLTON

tunatownshipwreck said:


> It looks like I am not well acquainted with all forms of English from the mother country. What the heck did you just say?


As George Bernard Shaw once said "England and America are two countries divided by a common language". (*)) 

Ray


----------



## Jeff Egan

On the Masters rounds we inspected the cold room one Sunday morning and found a string of sausages from Hamburg trouble was the last time we had been to Hamburg was 7 months before.


----------



## Harry Nicholson

Hugh Shuttleworth wrote:


R798780 said:


> But then there was Les Flockhart who had a well earned reputation as the best feeder in Brocks. Sadly never managed to sail with him.


Hello Hugh, 
The name Les Flockhart rings a bell, I think I sailed with him on the Mahanada in 57. was he a large fair haired chap from Dundee?
The man I sailed with specialised in Scottish meat loafs I recall; he was affable and generous and stocked up with fresh scottish salmon before we left Dundee. We would have it poached until we got to the Med when it would be served as grilled steaks, in the Red Sea he transformed what was left into the most glorious sequence of curries. Baskets of live guinea fowl came aboard in Calcutta and we had curry again, interspersed with curried bechti (a large fish from the Hughli) and then from the Sunderbunds came huge prawns which made a curry which was fit for emperors.... I'm vegetarian now but even so my mouth is watering at the memory. On other ships we sometimes were presented with curried sardines; now that was interesting and actually rather tasty.
I can see him now smoking his pipe and sitting in his cane chair.
He told me that his father had been killed in the war; as a little lad he was holding his Mother's hand on the pier at Dundee watching his fathers armed trawler putting to sea when it hit a german mine in the harbour entrance.....
regards
Harry Nicholson R/O


----------



## mick Wright

*Qe1*



R58484956 said:


> We had to rough it on the QE, only had the same as the first class passengers.


The only time we had passenger grub on this ship as a waiter we would order the best and hide it,after it had done a circuit round the dining room,under a tray of used crockery to escape the prying eyes of the chef, who checked all trays coming out of the dining room.
Even a cold dover sole is better than none


Mick Wright


----------



## mick Wright

What about shackles I think it was a stew,same as Scouse.


Mick Wright


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

RCHARLTON said:


> As George Bernard Shaw once said "England and America are two countries divided by a common language". (*))
> 
> Ray


I may need a Berlitz guide.


----------



## Derek Roger

*Les Flockhart / Queeen Elizabeth fare !*

Hugh ;
I sailed with Les and he was a good feeder ! Not from Dundee though as I was living in Dundee at that time and would have remembered . Les was an "English " but a good lad nonetheless .

Brocklebanks crewed the Mahout from Newport News by sailing us all over to New York on the Queen Elizabeth . ( an error of judgement on the part of head office ; we had a ball ! ) I was 5th Eng at the time and the 3 rd mate was Alex Smith from St Monance in The Kingdom of Fife . He became a very good shipmate . He Andy Brett ( from Dundee ) and myself were all at the same Cabin Class table ; we had to wear our uniforms at meal times to impress the fare paying passengers !

First day at breakfast we were looking at the Menu and Alex Shouts out " Steward you've given me the wrong menu ; this is the luch menu ! Steward takes a look and says " No sir this is the breakfast Menu "
Alex says " Breakfast ??? Who ever heard of Oinion Spoup for Breakfast ???
Much hilarity ensued . Alex then said " keep your soup and bring me a Kipper "

The Old Man ; Chief : Mate and 2nd Eng . all were in first class ; the rest of us in Cabin except the Chippy and apprentices who travelled tourist . Talk about the British Class Distinction . ( I was OK with it when I became Chief ! )
Happy Days Derek


----------



## Robinj

R58484956 said:


> We had to rough it on the QE, only had the same as the first class passengers.



I remember this stuck in a sideroom along with the dancers etc.


----------



## Jim Yates

*M.N.Dinning*

Hi one and all
As an ex M.N Cook/chief Steward I have enjoyed reading your comments and it seems that each company had its own favourite dishes. but I remember most of them. I think I still have books and Recipes I have collected over the years.( stored in some old box not seen for years) one old favourite not mentioned is sweetbreads another devils on horseback. anyway thanks for the memories guys.


----------



## Harry Nicholson

Derek writes about class distinction which reminds me of the party held in Liverpool to see the new Mawana (1958) off on her maiden voyage. All the important people from Cunard Buildings gathered in the saloon for a sumptous evening (the catering was done by the Rembrandt Club). Only two ringers and above were invited so my cabin (right next to the saloon bar door) was full of one ringers and apprentices who decided to have our own agrieved party. We could see through the door into the saloon and were annoyed to see that while we were excluded the place was full of pretty young bints from the office typing pool whereas we were not good enough.
One of the Rembrandt caterers barmen noticed it all and said "I'll see you alright". He sneaked to us all the food we could eat and all the champagne cocktails we could stomach... I've still got a Rembrandt Club champagne glass.
I got close to joining the communist party.


----------



## R798780

Harry Nicholson said:


> Hello Hugh,
> The name Les Flockhart rings a bell, in the Red Sea he transformed what was left into the most glorious sequence of curries. Baskets of live guinea fowl came aboard in Calcutta and we had curry again, interspersed with curried bechti (a large fish from the Hughli) and then from the Sunderbunds came huge prawns which made a curry which was fit for emperors.... Harry Nicholson R/O


Les produced what, for us in Brocklebanks, was the definitive list of curries. Regional and other names with the list of main ingredients. I saw one once, in the days before photocopiers so never got a proper copy, and long regretted that ommission.


----------



## Tony Crompton

*re Harry's posting*

A similar situation happened in New Orleans on "Makrana's" Maiden voyage.

We apprentices had to greet the "Guests" on the gangway and show them up to the party in the Officers "Lounge". Every time we passed the back door into the little bar the shore bartender passed us a "Slug" of Bourbon. Needless
to say the Mate was "Not amused" with us.
-----------------------
Tony C


----------



## Ron Stringer

*Curries*

On the "City of Lucknow" the food was always excellent, especially the curries prepared and served by the Goanese catering crew. My personal favourite was "dry mince curry with dhall", which I have never seen on any menu since I left the sea.

Ron Stringer


----------



## neil maclachlan

Hi Ron,
I was interested when you mentioned Dahll Curry, that was by far my favourite Indian dish. When I sailed with Standard Vacuum we used to switch watches so that everyone got some shoreside time when in port, tankers come in on one tide and go out the next. When I would be on the 8 to 12 watch i would eat in the duty mess where I could sample what our Indian crew was eating,I always tried their curry,boy was it hot--boat gurrum high! excuse my attempt at writing hindi?
Since coming ashore I taught my wife to make Dahll Curry,very successfull,infact a number of our friends asked for the recipe and rave about it.
Neil Mac.


----------



## paul0510

Dhal curry is not to be beaten...fried onion rings an' all...Neil, scan the recipe and put it on this site, NOW !!!!


----------



## R798780

paul0510 said:


> Dhal curry is not to be beaten...fried onion rings an' all...Neil, scan the recipe and put it on this site, NOW !!!!


I'll second that request. 

In Brocks and subsequently Moss tankers (majority Brocks Pursers) it was Dry mince curry with Dhall sauce, a combination hard to beat.


----------



## JET

The worst feeder that I ever had the misfortune to sail on was the NZSC's Otaio, a cadet ship. We suspected something was not going to be right when the newly appointed 'Old Man' fronted up with his own retinue, including the Chief Steward.

The featured 'Centipede Chicken' arrived each Sunday, in fact it must have been two chickens with fifty legs apiece.
You knew where one body would finish up, the other would be a floater, if it finished up on your plate it was just like winning a raffle, a chook raffle.

Part way through the voyage the cadets (all 70 of them) complained about the quality and quantity of the food. A meeting was arranged with the Mate, the Chief Steward and the Chief Cook so that the cadets could present their list of complaints. Unfortunately the meeting didn't get very far before a copy of the Agreement was produced and they were told that they were receiving the correct food allowances. In fact, they were told that they were lucky to receive that, as cadets were not specifically mentioned on the list. All they got out of the meeting was 'food for thought'.


----------



## cheddarnibbles

Ron Stringer said:


> On the "City of Lucknow" the food was always excellent, especially the curries prepared and served by the Goanese catering crew. My personal favourite was "dry mince curry with dhall", which I have never seen on any menu since I left the sea.
> 
> Ron Stringer


My favourite also Ron........Usually served at Sunday lunch by Goanese chefs on Trident Tankers. I have not seen it in 45 years of shoreside searching, but I'll not stop looking. !!!


----------



## neil maclachlan

Paul & Hugh,
This is my interpretation of what I remember and loved as Dhal Curry.
As you probably know Dhal is lentils?
Now My Recipe.
Chop and fry two medium onions in a saucepan,
Add 1 lb of lean ground beef and when browned add
2 cups of beef stock and 1 1/2 tablespoons of Silverwoods Medium
curry powder,simmer slowly for one hour.
Add 2 teaspoons of "Bisto" to the contents to thicken.Note Bisto should be
mixed with a little cold water before adding.
Take a can(or tin) of condensed lentil soup (or French Canadian Pea Soup)
heat in a separate saucepan .
Slice some onions and deep fry till crisp.
Cook as per instructions some long grained rice( to your taste.)
When all is ready serve as follows.
Place rice on plate,
Served curried mince over rice.
Lentils or pea soup over top and add fried onions.
add to this chutney of your choice and possibly a nice bottle of wine?
Enjoy!
This might not be to your memory of what I remember
but its damned good?
Neil Mac.
Bisto and Silverwoods products are obtainable in the UK we even have them 
in Canada.


----------



## Ron Stringer

*Dry Mince Curry with Dhall*

Neil,

The dry mince curry served to me was always with the mince in the form of meat balls in a thick curry sauce. The dhall was served separately, added to the plate by the consumer. I'm drooling at the very thought.

Ron


----------



## Derek Roger

*Sweetbreads*

Ah Harry ;
Sweetbreads What a Delight ! Dont know where one would find them now ?? I do hunt deer and nothing is wasted ( so I do get a we bit now and then )


----------



## Derek Roger

*Devils on Horse Back*

I have had a lot of Spanicsh friends since I came to Canada ( In fact one was Best Man for me ) We had a wee dinner thing and I cooked Filet Steak and Chips ( with the Egg ) ; Jose ( My Pal ) said " Ah Devils On Horse Back ! A traditional Spanish dish " I was doubmfounded as I thought it was a Scots thing .
Still my favorite and with good "Filet " its hard to screw up .
Derek


----------



## Derek Roger

*Dry Mince*

Ron ; 
Sorry to tell you the Dry Mince Curry was whatever was left over ; put through the mincer and Curried . I must say that I did like it however.


----------



## Derek Roger

*Les Hanna*

I sailed with Les only once and he was a great Chief /Steward Purser. He would about mid trip on The Ras To Jazz run ( Ras Tanura to Jedda ) produce a fine meal when we had a Walpot Movie Night . He would cook himself and we would all be fed Fish & Chips wrapped in Newspaper . ( Liverpool Echo )
It was a nice touch and we all appeciated it . 
Derek


----------



## Derek Roger

*Mike Voiesey*

My first trip to sea ( Miapura ) Mike was 2nd Steward . When we had events at sea such as " Race Meetings " or Crossing the Line ; Mike would make all the officers a big "Pot of Scouse " Happy days .
Derek
Sailed with Mike later on the tankers . He was known as a good feeder !


----------



## Derek Roger

*Les Hanna / The Bar*

On the first trip of one of the tankers doing the Ratanura to Jedda Run the bar had strict closing hours much to the diffidence of the watch keepers who could not get a " Coldie " after watch.
Les solved the problem by getting a screwdriver ; removing the bar door ; and throwing it over the side . Happyness reigned !
Les was later promoted to Supt. Catering with Brocklebank Cunard. Troops were all happy as feeding generally improved which made it first class ( It was never bad unless you sailed with Fred!!

Derek


----------



## cheddarnibbles

Derek Roger said:


> Ron ;
> Sorry to tell you the Dry Mince Curry was whatever was left over ; put through the mincer and Curried . I must say that I did like it however.


No problem, how else would you get DRY mince ????? I want to know what mixture of dry spices they rubbed into it to make it taste so good.
Neil's recipe for the dhall sauce was excellent....so we are half way there.


----------



## Cunarder

The best Brocklebank curry would have to have been Jahlfreeji and Parathas -_ "Some mango chutney sahib?"_ - I seem to recall it was every Wednesday lunchtime. Ever since I've tried to reproduce it - without success - but I can still taste it 35 years later......

Alan Marsden


----------



## R798780

Cunarder said:


> The best Brocklebank curry would have to have been Jahlfreeji and Parathas -_ "Some mango chutney sahib?"_ - I seem to recall it was every Wednesday lunchtime. Ever since I've tried to reproduce it - without success - but I can still taste it 35 years later......
> 
> Alan Marsden


On Lucerna the chief cook would draw a jar of marmalade from the purser to make the jalfreeji - usually for Saturday "pub lunch", Bombay Goanese catering staff instead of the Bengali Brocklebank catering crews. The same purser declared that Jalfreezi was not an authentic indian dish. Then we went ashore in Kandla, a place definitely in India, and Jahlfreezi was on the menu. (But not that night, I know because I ordered it. Rats!!)

Morrisons supermarket do a very respectable Jalfreezi, a good curry, but it's not even close to the shipboard recipe and therefore a great disappointment first time I tried it.

Cunarder: Perhaps if you add marmalade you may get closer to your memories. Pigs fly as well!


----------



## beejay

On one vessel I sailed on rice pudding with Almond escence was a regular feature on the menu. After repeated requests to the chief steward complaining about the use of the escense nothing was done . So the two wise watchkeepers on the 12/4 decided to take matters into their own hands, by cutting a key to the store rooms. After several attempts sucsess at last. So venturing forth at 4 am the offending almond flavouring was located and despatched over the side. Nothing was ever said by the C/S or the cook about the missing goodies.
Our breakfast on the 12/4 was 2 miserable little rashers of bacon and one egg that you cooked in the duty mess. Fortunately for us the key that we cut also fitted the cool store, so from then on bacon and eggs had steak added to them, followed by canned peaches or other fruit. We were possibly the best fed 12/4 in the MN.
Brian.


----------



## trotterdotpom

beejay said:


> On one vessel I sailed on rice pudding with Almond escence was a regular feature on the menu. After repeated requests to the chief steward complaining about the use of the escense nothing was done . So the two wise watchkeepers on the 12/4 decided to take matters into their own hands, by cutting a key to the store rooms. After several attempts sucsess at last. So venturing forth at 4 am the offending almond flavouring was located and despatched over the side. Nothing was ever said by the C/S or the cook about the missing goodies.
> 
> Brian.


Do you mean nutmeg? I remember lots of rice pudding being ruined by that. Rice pudding can handle a dollup of strawberry jam or a handful of sultanas, but never nutmeg! My sister and I would have locked our Mam in the coal house if she ever put that muck in the rice pudding!

J0ohn T.


----------



## ruud

Ahoy,

Almond[essence] isn't nutmeg, and is often used in rice puddings as well canella[cinnamon].


----------



## lakercapt

When we have curry as a side dish there is Dhal.
Make it with lentils,green and yellow split peas and differant types of peas brought in an Indian store. There are plenty of them in Brampton (Brambladesh)
All washed and soaked overnight, rinsed then slowly cooked in chicken stock. Comes out like a thick lentil soup and is yummy. I aslo add carraway seeds to enhance the flavour.
There are variations on this depending on which cook showed me what to do.


----------



## Gulpers

neil maclachlan and lakercapt,

If you guys keep this up, you are in danger of having 4,097 folk (current SN membership) salivating on your your doorsteps and demanding curries! Sounds delicious! (Thumb)


----------



## billyboy

heard a tale about a rather "Feminine" cook who locked the galley up at night. after 4 days of no cuppas at night the galley was broken into (not by me, honestly) coffee, sugar and conny was stolen and put in the engine room. the purpertrator then deffacated in the cooks apron which contained his knifes. He paid off at the weekend and as he went ashore a voice from the fo'csul called "who s*** in the cooks apron" he smiled and said "I dont know but hope you all enjoyed the beef stew you had"..... Moral is "DON'T UPSET THE SHIPS COOK" yuchhhhhh!!


----------



## Cunarder

Thanks, Hugh, I'll give it a try but I think it will be in vain once more. I don't think the Crusaders had this much trouble with finding the Holy Grail.....! The closest I've been is an Indonesian dry beef curry - Close, but not close enough....!

Cheers
Alan Marsden


----------



## beejay

trotterdotpom said:


> Do you mean nutmeg? I remember lots of rice pudding being ruined by that. Rice pudding can handle a dollup of strawberry jam or a handful of sultanas, but never nutmeg! My sister and I would have locked our Mam in the coal house if she ever put that muck in the rice pudding!
> 
> J0ohn T.


It was definitely almond escence.
Brian


----------



## lofty

hi billyboy your story is actually true these are the true facts the year 1960 the ship was the mv factor t.j. harrisons the place georgetown BG the chief cook who shall be nameless always left his galley boots outside his cabin at night he discovered the s--t in his boots next morning he had a good idea who the culprits were as he had been having a bit of trouble with two particular deckhands he said no more about it until three or four weeks later we were queuing up in the saloon being payed off in liverpool the two deckhands were in front of me in the queue giggling and one said i wonder who s--t in the chief cooks boots loud enough for the chief cook who was standing behind me to hear the chief cook replied i dont know who done it but i do know who ate it in the soup by way of the galley lift to the mess room below this actually happened christmas and new year 1959/1960 when we were in georgetown who said harrisons were bad feeders cheerio for now lofty


----------



## tell

I have mentioned about the board of trade notice before, If the chief steward tried to give you short rations you could demand to have your rations weighed out , this was called your pound and pint.Terry


----------



## Cunarder

Aah - and who could resist the aroma of Somerset Egg in the mornings.....?


----------



## Peggy747

It was about 100 deg in the shade at Colon, a far off Sunday lunch time on the Tacoma Star, we were all done in after bouncing in and out of every nook and crannie between there and Curacoa, we were about to enter the canal just a bit later and we waited expectantly for the peggy to bring on the "Delights" , the soup looked awful (But it was HOT 1000deg) and the MAIN COURSE ---CREAMED TRIPE AND COWHEEL!!and needless to say it too was very very hot.and all were repulsed just by the sight of it and a "Kick" was suggested
A hastily convened "Delegation" was formed of ABs and Firemen and they sought the consideration of the Chief Stward, of course he said it was good fare, so they knocked on the Captains door (HE was from Blackpool)he sent the Chief Steward for a fork and then stood in front of us all on the boat deck and scoffed the lot, eeeeh steward thats luverly he said, nowt wrong with that lads -- steward, make sure I get plenty of that when I come in, go on lads go and eat your dinner.---It was nice duff though--HOT SAGO PUDDING (and you know what that looks like)
Happy Days???? Cheers Peter (Thumb)


----------



## Pat McCardle

Derek Roger said:


> I have had a lot of Spanicsh friends since I came to Canada ( In fact one was Best Man for me ) We had a wee dinner thing and I cooked Filet Steak and Chips ( with the Egg ) ; Jose ( My Pal ) said " Ah Devils On Horse Back ! A traditional Spanish dish " I was doubmfounded as I thought it was a Scots thing .
> Still my favorite and with good "Filet " its hard to screw up .
> Derek


Devils on horseback are prunes with smoked streaky bacon wrapped around them, held in place by a cocktail stick & roasted, as opposed to Angels on horseback which you use raw oysters instead of prunes, very British (Thumb)


----------



## edward

(K) (Thumb) i was working by on a harrison ship i think the author i was 2nd cook,we were in canada dock ,across from us was the forester with a west indian crew their cook had been taken off sick so my ch/ cook sent me over to help out when i got over there i was introduced to the gally (shock horor)right lads what do we feed you on,blackeyed peas & rice toped with a pigs trotter cooked with black peper and something else that was very hot did not taste to bad, stayed for a week,blackeyed peas & rice served with pork chops/braised steak,etc all done with the same sauce,left a happy crew behind.


----------



## jim barnes

Palm Line PEPPER CHOP now that made your eyes water? Real meat in it too?


----------



## jim barnes

*Who called the cook*



billyboy said:


> heard a tale about a rather "Feminine" cook who locked the galley up at night. after 4 days of no cuppas at night the galley was broken into (not by me, honestly) coffee, sugar and conny was stolen and put in the engine room. the purpertrator then deffacated in the cooks apron which contained his knifes. He paid off at the weekend and as he went ashore a voice from the fo'csul called "who s*** in the cooks apron" he smiled and said "I dont know but hope you all enjoyed the beef stew you had"..... Moral is "DON'T UPSET THE SHIPS COOK" yuchhhhhh!!


Always remember the saying "who called the cook a C**T" reply Who called the C**T a cook"


----------



## Tom Morton

How well I remember 'curry' for breakfast when we had an Indian crew. However on that very ship (Denholm's Naess Favorita) I was on my first trip as 3rd Mate and found out with some surprise that the 'Butler" (Ch Steward) reported to me !! Breakfasts were very boring and the 12 to 4 guys were complaining about their sandwiches at night. Talked to the Butler and told him to get some variety in breakfasts and sandwiches---we talked about breakfast curry and it was well received----we talked about boiled eggs, poached eggs etc and egg and chips. Couple of days later , breakfast was served-----boiled egg in an eggcup sorrounded by chips !!!!!! Also talked about fresh fruit for the various watches, result of that was banana sandwiches----of course the sandwiches were made at 4pm and not unwrapped until probably 2 am----by which time they were black !!!!!
It took a while but paid off in the end.


----------



## edward

what about board of trade lime juice


----------



## Chief Engineer's Daughter

All this talk of food has made me hungry!

I have memories of eggs benedict, egg mayonnaise,eggs cooked allways for breakfast, duchess potatoes, curries, syrup pudding, pear belle helene, welsh rarebit and chips, lots of chips.

We had silver service and proper linen napkins, always left on the side table, in rings with your name on it.

On one ship we knew when the young steward was on duty cos breafast was served in the reek of burnt toast! On another the Chief Steward was known as Super Angus cos he everything was "super".

Oh lots and lots of memories, including taking over the galley and cooking and the poor galley boy sitting with a bucket of tatties taking out the eyes after they had been pealed in the machine everyday. UHT milk, powdered drinking chocolate that you just added water to, lemonade from USA and trying alsorts of different things when we went ashore.

It was all so long ago!


----------



## non descript

edward said:


> what about board of trade lime juice


Edward, I heard rumours that people have in desperation actually drunk the stuff, but I guess that was just a wild exaggeration; I think it was mainly used to clean the brass and also for scrubbing the wooden deck, as it acted as an excellent bleach.


----------



## edward

i rember we sailed from liverpool to s/ africa the bosun put i think it is called cloride (not spelt it right)in the fresh water tanks,he put to much in the water, taste,d terrible,had to cook with it could not get the smell out or taste out of the food, crew had to suffer for two weeks until we got to cape town to flush out the fresh water tanks,that reminds me we even try,d to covince the crew and officers that if you put board trade lime juice in their drink,s it would make it taste better yuy/ yuk.it turned out to be a good trip, except for the engine failure tell you about that later.


----------



## lakercapt

Board of Trade Lime Juice.
Brings back memoiries that stuff. Was 10% alchol and had to be keep in the bonded store. 
Main purpose that it was still required to be on board was as an anti-scabotic measure. (Stop scurvy on ships hence British were known as "Limies).
When it was issued an entry had to be made in the ships official log book "anti scabotics issued) I saw that in shipmasters business not that I ever did it!
On a trip with raw sugar we found that mixing it with Four Bells Rum some raw sugar gave a great drink and even today a rum with a slice of lime on the rocks is my favourite potient potable.


----------



## Derek Roger

*A Big Treat ! Fresh Milk / Real Ice Cream*

In Brocks by the time we reached the Meddy we were out of fresh milk and were then reduced to the powdered stuff which at best was bloody awful especially on cereal . Made in a mechanical cow !

If we were on a trip that went to the States after the Indian Run ; first thing on the menu on the first run ashore was a pint of fresh milk and Ice Cream .

The only thing worse than the powdered milk was the ice cream made from the stuff ( Galley crew would make it with the " Ice Cream machine " a thing which consumed a lot of ice ; physical effort and was worked with a crank handle )
Fortunatley Brock food was generally excellent and we always had lots of good cheese which offset the lack of fresh milk .

Derek


----------



## John Cassels

Made Kromeski a la russe this evening for dinner.

Wife not amused , can anyone put me up for a couple of nights?.

JC


----------



## Gulpers

JC,

I sense rectal insertion of Kromeski à la Russe, perhaps? (Jester)


----------



## JOHNKITTO

As a Bank line apprentice, we "Enjoyed" Board of Trade fare E.g. one egg a day with two on Sunday. A favourite I remember was "Camel Egg" which was a piece of bread with the centre cut out and an egg fried in it. It was delicious with lashings of H.P. Sauce.
One thing I never came to terms with was Chips for breakfast.

I had been at sea 7 days, whilst sailing through the Red Sea the Steward was serving potatoes and I noticed a bead of sweat run down hid face onto his chin and into the Potatoes. From thereon it was either ignore such things or starve. Anyway 40 years later I am still here.


----------



## Derek Roger

Fried berad with centre cut out with an egg I thought was Somerset Egg ??


----------



## trotterdotpom

Derek Roger said:


> Fried berad with centre cut out with an egg I thought was Somerset Egg ??


As a lad in North Yorkshire, that was known as a 'devil egg'. Maybe because when you bit through crispy outer of the bread you got that devilishly delicious squirt of warm grease into your mouth - yum. Fortunately that was in the days before cholesterol. Anyone for dripping?

John T.


----------



## skymaster

Yes I have good memories of food at Brocklebanks especially on night duty in Calcutta and Colombo when we had run of the galley.

Mike Pikett


----------



## Redhead6

Just remember when I was with Shell in the 60's. Coming off the 4-8, breakfast time and couldn't get to the galley fast enough. The fried breakfast's were excellent, usually ate the first helping standing up and then relaxed a little for the second helping.

Regards


----------



## rstimaru

palm stew on the elder demster line it used to burn your thoat off (great stuff)


----------



## tell

JOHNKITTO said:


> As a Bank line apprentice, we "Enjoyed" Board of Trade fare E.g. one egg a day with two on Sunday. A favourite I remember was "Camel Egg" which was a piece of bread with the centre cut out and an egg fried in it. It was delicious with lashings of H.P. Sauce.
> One thing I never came to terms with was Chips for breakfast.
> 
> I had been at sea 7 days, whilst sailing through the Red Sea the Steward was serving potatoes and I noticed a bead of sweat run down hid face onto his chin and into the Potatoes. From thereon it was either ignore such things or starve. Anyway 40 years later I am still here.


If my memory serves me well , it was one egg a week in my day according to BOT rules we didn't always get one though, Tell


----------



## Derek Roger

What time frame are you talking about Tell ?? I think in the 60s it was 4 eggs per week . Chief steward used to say that included eggs for baking ???
Most companies did better than the BOT minimum .
Derek


----------



## Peggy747

In the Tacoma Star, (The worst feeder in the world) a dish of two half cooked sausages surrounded by baked beans and a strip of burnt toast was known as "Train Crash", not a pretty sight but you had to eat it as there was nothing else! Peter (Thumb)


----------



## lakercapt

Yes most did feed better than the BOT allowance but on occassion when the stores were low you went on "your wack"


----------



## Robinj

Always knew TRAIN SMASH as tinned Tomatoes on toast.


----------



## tell

Derek Roger said:


> What time frame are you talking about Tell ?? I think in the 60s it was 4 eggs per week . Chief steward used to say that included eggs for baking ???
> Most companies did better than the BOT minimum .
> Derek


er 1948 and later, one ship I was in didn't have a freezer, just an Ice box so when the ice run out we were on curried everything, we could only do 6 knots so we were at sea for very long stretches, was on her for 2 yrs. Tell


----------



## Peggy747

*Train Crash*



Robinj said:


> Always knew TRAIN SMASH as tinned Tomatoes on toast.


All the same Robin and none too tasty Cheers Peter (Thumb)


----------



## tell

Peggy747 said:


> All the same Robin and none too tasty Cheers Peter (Thumb)


Pass the train smash= tomato sauce Tell
(Cloud)


----------



## vix

*merchand Navy Fare*



paul0510 said:


> Best feeders in BP were in my opinion the Indian crew ships. The tables (not just on these ships) were always properly laid, silver napkin rings etc. and for every meal starting with breakfast the Chief Steward had prepared a menu typed on the Company Menu card. Full English breakfast with juices, egg choice, hot cakes followed at midday by, you guessed it, a curry (Kopta, Madras, Dahl.....) with trimmings or/and English Fayre finishing off with dessert and cheeses. And if that wasn't enough an omelette for tea @ 17:00? No problem. To imagine I sacrificed all this for cereals and hard-boiled eggs, gristle with Sauerkraut and Rote Grütze followed at teatime by yes, black or grey bread and sliced sausage. German Merchant Marine Fayre A.D. 1978. Mind you, some of the Stewardesses weren't bad. ;-))


Hi Paul, I was on 6 BP, 7 if you include DBS from Suez. I found some of them to be excellent feeders others not so good with some YUCK! I have had curry for breakfast and, on Br Centaur, the curry got hotter and hotter as the trip progressed after 18 days I gave in, apparently the cook was just adding extra spices to the same mixture. One BP I was going to tuck into the soup, I was advised not too. Why? Because an 15 ton shackle had been thrown into the stock pot...to see if it was ever stirred? The shackle was still there when I tested the pot, next day!! There's a lot more to that story and that ship, but 'nuff for now. Vix


----------



## John Rogers

After reading the posts in regards to Good Feeders vs Bad Feeders did you know that back in the late 40 and 50s even the worst feeder was better than some of the rations your family was getting. When we would sign off we would be issued ration coupons so our families could feed us when we were ashore,these ration coupons were three times the allowance the poor civilian families were receiving. Rationing went on until 1953,even sweets were rationed,here listed are a few items.Sugar 8oz, Cheese 2oz, 1 egg, Butter 2oz, Bacon 4oz, Tea 2 oz, sweets or chocolate if you could find them, 2oz, and this was for a week. Count your blessings when you eat that big steak tonight.
John


----------



## mcgurggle

"Should old aquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind,
They've f***ed the Chief Cook overboard,
Now he's 40 miles behind...!" (Ouch) 

RIP Doc
Course' you all know why they called him DOC............?? (*)) 
McG


----------



## mcgurggle

Oh, & there was minced collops on toast, S**t on a blanket, nig**rs nob, chinese wedding cake...Oh my god..! Memories.. (EEK) 
"Elder"........that was "mammaries" which was served with salad...oh & the "Collation of cold meats with salad" Yummm Yummm! How much of last weeks leftovers can you shift.? (egg) 
But still.....I heard junior fifth Engineers complain about only getting one egg for breakfast on a "Head Boat", . Just how many eggs did they get for breakfast from 'mummy' BEFORE they went to sea ???
McG


----------



## Ian Harrod

Tasmanian Gravy = Tomato Sauce.


----------



## vix

*MN Fare*

I think the worst feeder I was on was Cape York - had a plate of minced meat and a boiled egg (with it's shell still on) when I cracked the shell my egg was rotten. Went to galley and they sent me to see the chief steward...he didn't eat in the wardroom...word was Skipper wouldn't let him...bearded him eating in his cabin...when I told him I'd been served a rotten egg he asked me...what do you expect me to do about it?? I was so mad...I stuck it right under his nose and asked him if he would appreciate it for tea? At least...I managed to put him off his tea.
On one BP tanker, we were being served 1/2 an orange each per week...everytime the C/S walked by the 12-4 would down tools and chant...vitamin C, vitamin C...didn't appear to work so we wrote a letter to BP in Moorgate...said we were getting half and orange per man, per week, per haps! Never received a reply...but the next time we were in Bombay the messroom was loaded with fresh fruit of every type imaginable. 
But, the best feader I was ever on must be the Asia, a dirty old Cunard cargo ship; every Friday we would have a 7-course meal, this included soup, entree, main (fish & chips), pudding etc. the entree usually consisted of a pork hock each. One day Chief and Second cooks came down to the mess room and said...OK, what's wrong with the food then? We were stunned...nobody could possibly complain about what we were getting...and we said so...Chief said...Well, why hasn't anyone been up for seconds? LOL had a job to finish the firsts!
As this ship didn't carry any pasengers can anyone tell me why there was a big notice on our notice board that said...Crew are not allowed to fraternise with passengers?


----------



## skymaster

Neil,
Just cooked up your Dhal Curry!Wow!Not grandchildren,TV, Phones,Snow Storms etc could stop me being back on a Brocklebank Ship having lunch in some exotic port.Back to reality now!!!

Best regards

Mike


----------



## exsailor

*Food Afloat*

Can't say I ever starved when shipping out of the U.K, despite eating the results from Cooks of various nationalities.
Best feeder though would be "Djatiluhur", operated by Manners, Hong Kong for Djakarta Lloyd. Capt, three Mates, Sparks, C/E and 2/E supplied by Manners, balance of crew including 2 Cooks, Baker, Galley Boy and 4 Stewards from D.L. We (officers) wrote next days menu at dinner over our coffee and free liquers.
Three course breakfast, 4 course lunch, 5 course dinner (with wine) plus biscuits and cake for afternoon tea and supper. All silver service. Even as lowly Third Mate, a Steward would arrive on the Bridge with silver tray, coffee pot and hot toast at morning tea time.
Bit of a step up after one of Manners bulkies (Pacific Saga), when the 75 year old Chief Steward had to cook after the Chinese catering dept all jumped ship in the US. On the fourth day steaming back to Japan and and being presented with boiled rice and boiled chicken at dinner for the fourth day in a row, I as Senior Cadet, took my plate (still full) and cutlery, opened the dining saloon port and threw the lot 'over the wall'. Much to the skippers consternation, four other officers followed. After being summoned by the 'Old Man' and our protest (and hunger) noted, Second Electrician (Indonesian) and myself (Kiwi) cooked for the balance of the voyage.
ex Sailor


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

exsailor said:


> Can't say I ever starved when shipping out of the U.K, despite eating the results from Cooks of various nationalities.
> Best feeder though would be "Djatiluhur", operated by Manners, Hong Kong for Djakarta Lloyd. Capt, three Mates, Sparks, C/E and 2/E supplied by Manners, balance of crew including 2 Cooks, Baker, Galley Boy and 4 Stewards from D.L. We (officers) wrote next days menu at dinner over our coffee and free liquers.
> Three course breakfast, 4 course lunch, 5 course dinner (with wine) plus biscuits and cake for afternoon tea and supper. All silver service. Even as lowly Third Mate, a Steward would arrive on the Bridge with silver tray, coffee pot and hot toast at morning tea time.
> Bit of a step up after one of Manners bulkies (Pacific Saga), when the 75 year old Chief Steward had to cook after the Chinese catering dept all jumped ship in the US. On the fourth day steaming back to Japan and and being presented with boiled rice and boiled chicken at dinner for the fourth day in a row, I as Senior Cadet, took my plate (still full) and cutlery, opened the dining saloon port and threw the lot 'over the wall'. Much to the skippers consternation, four other officers followed. After being summoned by the 'Old Man' and our protest (and hunger) noted, Second Electrician (Indonesian) and myself (Kiwi) cooked for the balance of the voyage.
> ex Sailor


Would this be the same "Pacific Saga" built in Japan in 1971, Liberia flagged? I boarded this ship once in the Columbia River in December 1971. I recall a number of times that HK crews jumped ship, to the point that if any HK crew member had never been to the US before, the company had to post a guard at the gangway.


----------



## Eric Parkin

*Buon Appetite !*

Whilst with Harrison Line, they started Chartering foreign vessels for outward bound cargo's. I was sent over to Hamburg with a Shore Marine Superintendant to take delivery of m.v. Hasselburg. (German Officers and Portugese Crew)
After inspecting the vessel and agreeing that the vessel matched the cargo storage requirements, was chartered for £652.00 a day.
That night the said Marine Super and myself, I was the ship's Supercargo, decided we would sample the local alcoholic brews.
Next morning we were absolutely wrecked, went down for breakfast, after a fruit juice, the Portugese Steward placed a plate of boiled rice, with raw mince in the middle, and produced 2 raw eggs, which he cracked, and mixed up with the raw mince and then made gestures for us to eat.
Needless to say we could'nt eat it, I survived on cheese and coffee, until we had finished loading in London, where thankfully I left the ship.
I felt sorry for the Supercargo who sailed out on her.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Eric Parkin said:


> Whilst with Harrison Line, they started Chartering foreign vessels for outward bound cargo's. I was sent over to Hamburg with a Shore Marine Superintendant to take delivery of m.v. Hasselburg. (German Officers and Portugese Crew)
> After inspecting the vessel and agreeing that the vessel matched the cargo storage requirements, was chartered for £652.00 a day.
> That night the said Marine Super and myself, I was the ship's Supercargo, decided we would sample the local alcoholic brews.
> Next morning we were absolutely wrecked, went down for breakfast, after a fruit juice, the Portugese Steward placed a plate of boiled rice, with raw mince in the middle, and produced 2 raw eggs, which he cracked, and mixed up with the raw mince and then made gestures for us to eat.
> Needless to say we could'nt eat it, I survived on cheese and coffee, until we had finished loading in London, where thankfully I left the ship.
> I felt sorry for the Supercargo who sailed out on her.


Eric, I don't think your cosinero knew what he was doing - that sounds like the "rough guide to steak tartar", it's probably a good job you didn't eat it.

The real thing is raw minced steak (i.e. not a pile of pink fat from Tesco) with onion and spices, shaped into a patty with a hollow on top. A raw egg is dropped into the hollow. It is served chilled and it's delicious! 

You'd have more chance of catching Bird Flu' on the Reeperbahn than you would have of getting Jacobs' Crackers Disease from Steak Tartar. Come to think of it, you'd have a pretty good chance of copping Bird Flu' on the Reeperbahn! 

It was a regular breakfast dish with Oldendorff's. The people who whimped out could mix the whole thing up on their plate and give it back to the cook. He would fry it up and lo and behold, it was a hamburger. They don't know what they missed, "lecker,lecker!"

John T.


----------



## Eric Parkin

*John T*

Must confess I've never had Steak Tartar, and have no intention in the future, but having a very queasy stomach from the night before did'nt help, I felt like heaving. In fact, heres an old term, " I was blowin for tugs " !.
I think that most seamen who served with Harrisons became addicted to Curry,I've been making it ever since.
The duffs served on Harrison vessels was proper rib sticker fare.


----------



## vix

Eric Parkin said:


> Must confess I've never had Steak Tartar, and have no intention in the future, but having a very queasy stomach from the night before did'nt help, I felt like heaving. In fact, heres an old term, " I was blowin for tugs " !.
> I think that most seamen who served with Harrisons became addicted to Curry,I've been making it ever since.
> The duffs served on Harrison vessels was proper rib sticker fare.


I had steak tartar in Budapest...was very dubious at first...but loved it once I got started...would definately try it again...and again...and a...Vix


----------



## trotterdotpom

vix said:


> I had steak tartar in Budapest...was very dubious at first...but loved it once I got started...would definately try it again...and again...and a...Vix



Here, here, Vix, me too! Budapest is probably the best place to get it as it originates from that area. Attila the Hun and company would ride around with a chunk of meat under their saddles all day, then, after a hard days raping and pillaging, pull it out and eat it. The meat that is.

John T.


----------



## vix

trotterdotpom said:


> Here, here, Vix, me too! Budapest is probably the best place to get it as it originates from that area. Attila the Hun and company would ride around with a chunk of meat under their saddles all day, then, after a hard days raping and pillaging, pull it out and eat it. The meat that is.
> 
> John T.


Hi Trotterdotpom...which...or should it be witch?...meat did they eat...remind me!!!
I also enjoyed the large glass of vodka I was served with my steak tartar...I drank half of it and poured the rest over the steak...we both felt much better!! Vix


----------



## pierhead jumper

Well,I,ve been reading some of these letters and had quite a laugh.But to get serious Ifound most of my old ships were so unremakable foodwise that the seaman ate solely to survive.Most Chief Stewards stuck religiously to the BOT.scale which has been previously mentioned.I can't recall it in entiriety but know it detailed the precise amount of curry powder allowed. As I said unremarkable but still remember two whichstood out.They must have been good to be remembered these years on.One was the Fanad Head,Heynes of Belfast and the other the Voco,Socony Vacuum Oil Co.
That's all for now folks. Pierhead Jumper.


----------



## Paedrig

beejay said:


> Hi Neil,
> Vestys centipede chooks,always wonderd how the suppliers to Blue Star managed to breed chooks with so many legs.
> regards Brian


They bought them off P & O. (*))


----------



## fredkinghorn

I made one trip on heap of junk named funnily enough " Greathope " The steward was so fat he could'nt get into his bunk but slept in an armchair. It was rumoured that he did all the laundry himself during the night when he couldn't sleep. The cook was a guy named Dodsworth from Hull. His claim to fame was that he could sing like David Whitfield, also from Hull. The grub was pretty poor quality, but the cook did his best with it. Board of Trade rations was the norm. One trip was enough for me .

fred

" who's on first ?"


----------



## EXAB

I sailed with Esso in the early 50's and they were definitely the best feeders eggs any way you wanted for breakfast and as many as you could eat.I found the cooks very adept in giving you a varied menu.The worst feeder I was on was the KANA a Moss Hutchinson tramp the food was rotten and the cook was a C**t he couldn't boil water.the whole crew suffered from dysentry from one day out of London until we left Alexandria homeward bound we were sh*****g blood,believe me.


----------



## vix

*Merchant navy fare*



lakercapt said:


> I don't think that anone has mentioned that old breakfast treat!
> Bubble and squeek.
> God awaful stuff using last evenings potatoes and cabbage.
> Called bubble and squeek as that was the noise it made when the cook was doing it in a large frying pan


Are you sure its not called bubble and squeek because of the noises coming after eating it? LOL Vix (K)


----------



## Ian

Anyone remember Board of Trade LIME JUICE? good for cleaning brass, they were the days, oh, board of trade where was your brain.


----------



## alastairjs

Remember BoT Lime Juice very well. In addition to being very good with tarnished brass it was also indispensable for whitening teak decks and mixing with the cement wash for the fresh water tanks. It was drinkable, just, if you added about a desert spoon of it to a large glass of chilled water with sugar.


----------



## vix

*Merchant navy fare*



edward said:


> what about board of trade lime juice


BoT Lime Juice...lovely grub...I used to take a large bottle of Rose's lime juice and mix the two together, as long as there was a little sugar it made a brilliant drink (especially with the likes of 'Bombay Gin'. I thing the rule of thumb was...BoT lime juice was issued 1 day either side of the tropics? Most C/S didn't like serving it up because of the run on sugar. (It was also a good substitute for vinegar!!) LOL those WERE the days!! (Night) Vix


----------



## calvin

Well shell used to be good feeders what about the steaks or sweetbreads currysor what about the tabnabs that had to be made for the old man afters his roundsmind you could not beat the fresh rolls and doorstep sandwiches the braised oxtail or cod portugesemy favourite though was when with w a souter and the arab firemen where having rammadan and offer of there lamb stew were a treat especially after a few tennents guinness and rums.


----------



## lakercapt

I commented earlier about BOT lime juice.
It had to be kept in the bond locker as it contained 10% alcohol.
Found out that mixing it with "Four Bells Rum" and a little sugar made an excellent portable potable.
Now I have to stick to Gosling Family Old Rum with a slice of lime and a couple of ice cubes. Wonderfull. (K)


----------



## Tony D

Was I the only person under the Red Duster who actually liked tinned sausages?,sort of square in cross section they were,nobody else seemed to like em so there were always plenty for me,I loved British Tanker bubble and squeek as well,recon I must be some kind of grub pervert. 
(*))


----------



## Keltic Star

*Two Extremes*

Some coastal company's paid the crew a victalling allowance rather than provide catering. This money was held by the Old Man and given to the cook to buy groceries in each port.

On Everards, Aquity,we caught "Ernie the Turk", our cook buying horse meat instead of beef in the market in Rotterdam. The Old Man's revenge was to sound abandon ship on the way down the Scheldt with Ernie the only one not told it was a practice. Ernie donned lifejacket and jumped overboard and we had to pick him up in the jolly boat. Don't know why, but he jumped ship on arrival in Antwerp.

On the Esso Brixham, we used to bunker the Mary and Lizzie on alternate weeks in Southampton. Our cook had relatives in the galley on both liners and both officers and crew ate like King's with enough money left over for decent wines on the tables.


----------



## Neil McInnes

Blue star had specially bred Chickens tha had mulipule with no Breast


----------



## vix

*Merchant navy fare*



Neil McInnes said:


> Blue star had specially bred Chickens tha had mulipule with no Breast


Is this a North of England chicken? (tha had mulipule) LOL Vix (K)


----------



## vix

*Merchant navy fare*



R58484956 said:


> Chooks = chickens to the brits who are not familiar with antipodean words.


I am sometimes wonder why people from Oz & NZ think that us ex-pats from UK don't know what a chook is/was??? I grew up in the west of England and always referred to chickens as chooks, especially bantams!! Some people even go to great lengths to explain 'nugget' (boot polish) and...SMOKO...now I ask you??!! LOL Vix (Night)


----------



## Keltic Star

Neil McInnes said:


> Blue star had specially bred Chickens tha had mulipule with no Breast


On Prince Line. we called them fourteen legged seagulls


----------



## trotterdotpom

*Tony, you are not alone!*



Tony D said:


> Was I the only person under the Red Duster who actually liked tinned sausages?,sort of square in cross section they were,nobody else seemed to like em so there were always plenty for me,I loved British Tanker bubble and squeek as well,recon I must be some kind of grub pervert.
> (*))


Tony, were the sausages covered in tinned tomatoes? Delicious. I liked bubble and squeek so much, I make it myself now. On Australian ships the Seamen's Union banned 'bubble and squeek' because they would not eat re-hashed food. They got 'fried vegetables' instead - I never bothered asking but I could make an intelligent guess where the vegetables came from.

John T


----------



## trotterdotpom

vix said:


> I am sometimes wonder why people from Oz & NZ think that us ex-pats from UK don't know what a chook is/was??? I grew up in the west of England and always referred to chickens as chooks, especially bantams!! Some people even go to great lengths to explain 'nugget' (boot polish) and...SMOKO...now I ask you??!! LOL Vix (Night)


That's like the 'Aussie meat pies' that I was eating years before I ever came Downunder.

John T.


----------



## patrick oc

EXAB said:


> I sailed with Esso in the early 50's and they were definitely the best feeders eggs any way you wanted for breakfast and as many as you could eat.I found the cooks very adept in giving you a varied menu.The worst feeder I was on was the KANA a Moss Hutchinson tramp the food was rotten and the cook was a C**t he couldn't boil water.the whole crew suffered from dysentry from one day out of London until we left Alexandria homeward bound we were sh*****g blood,believe me.


i think we have thatcook now


----------



## Eric Walter

*Keys and Jaspers*



skymaster said:


> Yes I have good memories of food at Brocklebanks especially on night duty in Calcutta and Colombo when we had run of the galley.
> 
> Mike Pikett



Yes. Food on Brocks was always excllent. Often had the curry and the main course for lunch (as well as the soup and sweet). However in those days it was always sweated off. The curries tasted even better after adding the spices and other ingredients that were always available.

The night duty galley key was a wonderful arrangement unless you were the poor sod who was first in. The galley was always awash with jaspers at that time of night. It was worth it though for the 3 o clock fry up.

Remember breakfast took a little longer than it ought to because once milk was poured onto the cereal (especially weetabix) you had to allow a couple of minutes for all (hopefully) the weevils to surface before disposing of them on the saloon floor and commencing to eat.

Any Manchester Liners men know a Brian Raven, who joined as deck apprentice in 1964. I was in digs with him at Fleetwood for a year during our pre-sea.

Eric Walter


----------



## vix

*Merchant navy fare*



patrick oc said:


> i think we have thatcook now


I was on a BP tanker where ½ the crew went down with food poisoning...twice within 8 days! Years later I joined a BP tanker in Bombay...on boarding I asked who the cook was? I was told I wouldn't be seeing him for a while as he was laid low...with food poisoning! I asked if he was...a short fellow, mustache...smoked a pipe? "Yes, how do you know all that?" Same cook...who called the chef a ....? Who cares? LOL Vix (Night)


----------



## pete

Southern Fried Chicken with Onion Rings and of course CHIPS. I once ordered an egg omelet and after much discussion in the Pantry and the Galley I received a 2 egg omelete containing 2 scrambled eggs, great hilarity. On another voyage we convinced the C/S that Kippers and Custard was the thing to give the troops after a hard days graft. The OM was NOT a happy person.................pete


----------



## pete

Just remembersd that on one ship we looked at the Breakfast menu to find Bopple Squeeker. Great people the Indian and Bangladeshi's, they can speak my language pretty well but be b******d if I can speak their's..............pete


----------



## Robinj

Tony D said:


> Was I the only person under the Red Duster who actually liked tinned sausages?,sort of square in cross section they were,nobody else seemed to like em so there were always plenty for me,I loved British Tanker bubble and squeek as well,recon I must be some kind of grub pervert.
> (*))


Tinned sausages. You wouldn't look at them again if you had to eat nothing else for a week after the Drunken C/E with DT's tossed all the meat overboard one night before he got stopped. Anyway you could think of we got.


----------



## sfmillsy

I well remember my first Sunday on the Border Reiver. I can't remeber ever having steak before. It was Steak, onion rings, fried egg, mushrooms, peas and of course french fries potatos..Chips.

I think I upset the Indian steward by finishing of the turin of chips so he had to go aft to the galley to get some more! His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

On one ship, the Simonburn I think, the Purser/ Chief Steward used exotic locations to name the kippers for breakfast...ie Newfoundland kippers, Tahitian kippers etc etc. On the last day before he paid of iIthink he had been on the bevvy so we just got 'kippers'. we all refused to eat them!

I reckon we did very well for grub, but then again perhaps I am just a gannet!

All the best

Steve Mills


----------



## BarryM

*Food Ashore*

I recall Nasi Goreng (with the obligatory two fried eggs and sambals) as served at the 'Madhouse' or Seamens Club outside the refinery gates in Curacao or veal cordon bleu at the Cellar Bar in Singapore, were meals that have never tasted the same elsewhere.


----------



## R58484956

wELCOME BarryM to the site enjoy it and all it has to offer.


----------



## jim barnes

BarryM said:


> I recall Nasi Goreng (with the obligatory two fried eggs and sambals) as served at the 'Madhouse' or Seamens Club outside the refinery gates in Curacao or veal cordon bleu at the Cellar Bar in Singapore, were meals that have never tasted the same elsewhere.


Cant agree more Barry used to look forward to a nasi goreng,, never had owt like it since,,, made my own many times since with the obligatory eggs(wife thinks iv lost it) can never get the same results though (Hippy) 
Jim


----------



## calvin

what about the exotic sounding soups creme du barry ..cauliflower soup potage breton...butter bean soup muligatawny and bron windsor or beef consomme ..oxo had better taste turkey and chicken al a king coronation chicken egg mayonaise boston bake beans and how many different ways to use and call potatoes or the goulash


----------



## Billy Brown

*Ships food and cooks*

On my 1st ship, Ellerman and Pappayanni 'Palmelian', The cook was from Nth Vietnam. We called him Harry. The galley range was coal fired, it was the deck boys job to get the coal the night before so the cook could leave the range on a low light. I got 3 hrs o/t for a 10 minute job, great.
Harry was a good cook and from his little stove would come all sorts of wonderful grub. At dinner we had 2 entrees, 1 was a european dish and the other was always curry, it was the first time I had seen green curry,It was fabulous.Anything was fabulous to a lad whose only experience of choice before was to take it or leave it! And only ever having 1 course.
Harry was a perpetual smoker.He would walk about the galley with the smallest end of a rollie jammed in his mouth with water streaming from his left eye because the smoke was going in it. Only God and Harry knew where the ash went.
I was Peggy on this ship and the deck crew lived aft and the galley was midships so I had to get the grub for the crowd and take it aft 5 at a time in a contraption called a kit. Those market boats were like corks in a bath and bounced everywhere, especially in the Bay Of Biscuits.
Sunday dinners every day and Christmas dinners on a Sunday.


----------



## Robinj

AHH! Nasi Goreng and the one made with noodles. (Thumb)


----------



## Eric Parkin

I don't know if ' Edward ' might be able to help me, but on Harrison Line ships, If you had a Salad, ' Mexican Cole Slaw ' was on the menu. It was not a Creamy Slaw, but one dressed in oil, I loved it. Have tried to replicate it, since my family virtually live outside all Summer, Barbequing. But I have never been able to replicate it.
Also I sailed on a Norwegian Vessel, the mv Brimanger, on charter to Harrisons, the food was brilliant, they served cheeses that were 8 years, 10 years and 13 years old, which always had covers on them, when anyone had cheese and lifted the cover, the aroma would knock a fly off a bucket of you know what !
They also served a Goat cheese that was brown in colour, very very sweet, and was delicious. For years afterwards I would get it from Reeces in Liverpool, or a shop in Chester. It was served with thick Rye Brot.
Another dish served was Mutton that had been hung for a year and a day, this was sliced thinly and to me tasted musty and of dried blood, an aquired taste no doubt, perhaps Trotterdom might be of help here. 
Look forward to replies.


----------



## Knut

Aboard AMERICA (Texaco,Norway) in the mid fifties the only fridge aft was located in the Officer`s pantry. The 4 crew messes were allowed to keep their margarine there. Jam, syrup etc. shared cupboards in the messes with millions of cockroaches. When the eggs got old and began to smell, the cook would serve pancakes nearly half an inch thick and raw in the middle. Raw coffee was bought by the bag in Brazil, mixed with peas and roasted in the galley. Of this one milktin full was given to the midnight - 0400 watch. The others has to do with what coffe was left over from supper. Of catchup we got one bottle a week for 15 men. To save money we would take on drinking water when we were off the Amazonas delta.
Discharging in Lagos there was on helluva racket going on all night just ashore. The locals were butchering cattle and next morning the mutilated carcasses were carried onboard in baskets and deposited in the freezer. A thousand Water Melons were taken on as well and for the next weeks tha fare was Lobscous, Fresh Meat with Onion Sauce and Water Melons of course. 
I had 15 months of this and I believe the Captain and C/S retired as wealthy men.
Skol, Knut.


----------



## airlie bird

DMA said:


> What about Currie & Rice at breakfast that of course after around of eggs & bacon.
> This was Harrisons [ two of fat one of lean Harrisons ],who said they were hungry.
> Have had me hooked on currie ever since. (Thumb)


what was wrong with curry for breakfast, used to love it after doing the 4 to 8 as mate, best feeder i was ever on was as an apprentice on the "Langleeclyde" all female catering staff , was there from 1951 to 1955 , carried 12 passengers round E Africa and S Africa, our cabin was right opposite the pantry , so got all the goodies after the passengers ate, have been fighting a bulging waistline ever since, worst one I was on was a theiving steward , mind you I lost 20 pounds weight that trip, 6 months! ! !


----------



## trotterdotpom

Another dish served was Mutton that had been hung for a year and a day, this was sliced thinly and to me tasted musty and of dried blood, an aquired taste no doubt, perhaps Trotterdom might be of help here. 
Look forward to replies.[/QUOTE]

That well hung mutton must have come from a ram, Eric. Perhaps Knut can help with more information.

John T.


----------



## skymaster

*Fish*

Loved Kippers and Smoked Cod and Smoked haddock when available,I think they kept pretty well as on most brock ships I seem to remember having them.

Mike


----------



## Tony D

Mebee I was lucky but I was never sailed on a bad feeder,one thing I did note that because most cooks attended the same cookery schools for their tickets,the ships curry frinstance was very simlar no matter what ship,I don't mean it was bad ,it just had a unique taste,to me anyway.
Years after I left the sea I did a lot of time on the road,used to eat in transport cafes and such, ordered a chicken curry in one and when I took me plate back a chap dressed in checks was behind the counter,nice curry I said to him,when were you at sea? he looks at me, and says how the **** did you know I was at sea?
hee hee.
(*))


----------



## dom

*dom*



Tony D said:


> Mebee I was lucky but I was never sailed on a bad feeder,one thing I did note that because most cooks attended the same cookery schools for their tickets,the ships curry frinstance was very simlar no matter what ship,I don't mean it was bad ,it just had a unique taste,to me anyway.
> Years after I left the sea I did a lot of time on the road,used to eat in transport cafes and such, ordered a chicken curry in one and when I took me plate back a chap dressed in checks was behind the counter,nice curry I said to him,when were you at sea? he looks at me, and says how the **** did you know I was at sea?
> hee hee.
> (*))


never been on a bad feeder,dont know how lucky you are,but i surpose most/all ships to day are good feeders,one ship on the aussie coast ,tin salmon,sardines ice cream biscuits you name it it was in the mess.


----------



## Wee John

As a cadet on Denholms ore boats you had the starvation bonus for the chief steward, on one we fed for 3s/6d a day. We were in a strange way rather proud of our chief thief. Baby's boke on our sandwiches at night, and " Jugged Hare" every Friday, in 8 months I never saw any one order it. But lets be honest we never starved
Wee John


----------



## tell

Polarum said:


> The other day, I overheard a programme on the BBC discussing cookery books for Christmas and they mentioned a book that was originally written for Chinese and foreign ships’ cooks on the Blue Funnel Line by the late Patience Gray. For those who hanker after ship's grub, it might be an ideal present this Christmas.
> 
> I was never on a bad feeder whilst on British ships, but often heard companies prefaced by the word 'hungry' - 'hungry hains' in particular.
> Were these companies that bad?


I was on one tramp steamer that had an ice box and a mean chief steward after a fortnight at sea we ate some wierd and wonderful concoctions, after the ice ran out it was nearly always currie, and breakfast was rice cakes and devilled kidney, the only fresh meat we got was weavils in the bread, consider yourselves lucky guys, we never even got the statuary one egg a week. Tell, bye the way we were at sea for six weeks or more at a stretch


----------



## BarryM

*Stabilised Sausages*

One Shell Tankers Master popularly known as B****** Brittain allegedly (might be lawyers reading this) instructed the Ch Steward to serve sausages cut in half lengthways "to stop them rolling off the plates". He called this a precaution; everyone else knew it as an ingenious ploy to cut sausage consumption by half.


----------



## KIWI

P&O like Cunard let us enjoy first class menus but the lunch time curries linger in the memory.On Stratheden when she came off Cunard charter was left a quantity of Escargot which duly appeared on a Aussie bound menu with very few takers.They duly reappeared on a lunch menu as chicken curry & were used up.I know this because the 2nd chef was a Kiwi & told me.Rank may have its priviledges but coming from the same place 12000 miles away certainly affected the diet. KIWI


----------



## hawkey01

BarryM, my goodness that name brings back memories. I sailed with said Capt. He hated Chinese food so we had 6 days of bad European and one good day of Chinese chow. Many other tales but must be careful!!!

Palm oil chop, well!! How about fish soup for Breakfast as served up on Greek flag tanker I was on called Argolis/6ZDC of NJ Goulandris. We had two free beers on Sunday as well. 

Great feeder Sarpedon, Blue Funnel X Denbyshire. Full silver service. (Night)


----------



## RayJordandpo

Making my mouth water reading all those replies. Couldn't beat "the black pan" and a good fry up when coming off the 4-8 watch. I even enjoyed curry in a morning. I think on the whole we didn't fair badly although you did (still do) get the whingers. 
Ray


----------



## RayJordandpo

*Ellerman and Pappayanni*



Billy Brown said:


> On my 1st ship, Ellerman and Pappayanni 'Palmelian', The cook was from Nth Vietnam. We called him Harry. The galley range was coal fired, it was the deck boys job to get the coal the night before so the cook could leave the range on a low light. I got 3 hrs o/t for a 10 minute job, great.
> Harry was a good cook and from his little stove would come all sorts of wonderful grub. At dinner we had 2 entrees, 1 was a european dish and the other was always curry, it was the first time I had seen green curry,It was fabulous.Anything was fabulous to a lad whose only experience of choice before was to take it or leave it! And only ever having 1 course.
> Harry was a perpetual smoker.He would walk about the galley with the smallest end of a rollie jammed in his mouth with water streaming from his left eye because the smoke was going in it. Only God and Harry knew where the ash went.
> I was Peggy on this ship and the deck crew lived aft and the galley was midships so I had to get the grub for the crowd and take it aft 5 at a time in a contraption called a kit. Those market boats were like corks in a bath and bounced everywhere, especially in the Bay Of Biscuits.
> Sunday dinners every day and Christmas dinners on a Sunday.


 I was on the 'Anatolian' a very good feeder. I remember the AB's would lower the peggy down a vent to 'retrieve' a few cases of oranges. The crews cabins were full of them, everbody tried to hide them on Sunday cabin inspection. I think the old man knew what was going on but turned a blind eye to that one (no scurvy on those ships). One thing I do remember about those Meddy runs in the sixties. A lot of the old timers never bothered about going ashore much - unless we did Beirut, then all hands were down the gangway, it was a great run ashore in those days.
Ray


----------



## billmaca

The grub was ok on some of the older boats but getting it aft in kits in bad weather did'nt do it any good ,the black pan was the best grub on the Carithia but I think Esso tankers in the 60's were the best I can remember


----------



## hashcookie

this thread has made me laugh and laugh. Kromeskies a la ruse, how could i have forgotten them, then there was ''tea bags in tomato sc.'', herrings in tomato sc.,and if you sailed Federal, you may remember Bloaters on the breakfast menu. In fifteen years i cannot recall anyone ever having one, and they always ended up in the rosie. Tight 2'nd stwds., i remember the greasers mess requesting strawberry jam on their stores list, and getting greengage. greengage went over the wall and request repeated next day, and up comes another tin of greengage which was again 'given a passage'. This went on for a few days until the 2'nd stwd. got the message and the requested strawberry jam arrived


----------



## Tony D

Greengage Jam,buggah one remembers thats stuff,as you say the floor of the ogan must be littered with full tins of Greengage Jam.
Bro tells me a funny story re Jam, they have a Norweigien Bosun,he is sitting in the mess room looking quizicaly at the label on a jar of strawberry jam,"wos up bos"? they enquire.
"Boggah! Took me years to be able to pronouce Strawberry Jam as Strawberry jam and not Strawberry Yam, now they change the foking name to Strawberry Yelly"
(*))


----------



## Les Gibson

No mention yet of the dreaded Bank line. Board of trade rations, it was the old man who stocked the ship. 3 eggs per week, salad was beetroot and onions with salad cream on Sunday afternoon only. HP sauce on the same day as the eggs. In 18 months we never had fresh milk or lettuce,or tomato, or cu***ber. Curry EVERYDAY for lunch. We reckoned that the only real fresh meat we ever saw was the Weevils in the cornflakes, and the watered powdered milk made them almost inedible. This in the early 60s!


----------



## pete

Hello Les.........I joined Bank Line in '65 and never once had an experience like you describe. Two eggs for brekkie everyday as many sauces as you could wish for and fresh meat and veggies at all times. Mind you we still had Curry for lunch everyday (couple of Beers, plateful of curry = 2 hours kip before 4 to 8........Heaven).....cheers........pete


----------



## Keltic Star

Remember once as cocky young Cadets, we demanded our ration of lime juice per ships articles. Captain and Chief Steward obliged, insisting we drank it in their presence. It sure wasn't Rose's and have not drank a lager & lime since.


----------



## Tony Breach

Wow - some memories here. Anyone remember betroot & onion after the tomatoes & lettuce ran out two days after sailing? How about no breakfast eggs during December as Doc was going to bake a cake for christmas? I was a sailor on the BRISTOL QUEEN where the crew food was purported to be so bad that us deckies excercised our right per articles & fed ouselves by cooking on the permitted portion of the galley range. This system was already the norm when I joined so I had no option to try the ship's grub: we just kept a big stockpot going for a week, curried the remainder on the seventh day to kill any germs, washed out the pot & started again - no one was ever sick! I found first class food in Somalia where I once purchased 20 bags of live lobsters, about 400 of the beasts on the hoof for a shilling each while loading bananas at Chisimiao. Told the Filipino cook to boil & freeze them all - it was amazing to watch about 6 Filipinos versus 400 life-threatened lobsters in a small galley but we lived like lords for some time after.
Bristol City Line was OK, Bank Line not too good, Campbells we fed ouselves, Geest were oustanding. My many later years on foriegn flag ships depended on the crews but I found Filipinos, Greeks & Morrocans to be very good. Scandinavians eat very well.


----------



## billyboy

yes Tony, campbells were not noted for crew grub. on the crested eagle (chartered by campbells for a summer season based at newhaven. one of the cooks we had was a 15 year old who only knew how to make soup for lunch and tinned tomatoes for brekie. we had several cooks that season. we even had an old retired welsh lady who was rather good though, she baked a lot and dished up some good grub bless her. when i transfered to the cross channel service i was surprised at the quality of our grub, excellent feeders them. as for south coast shipping, it depended on the cook. some were good and some were atrocious. the best i found was on the sand star, excelent grub once again. (still do a stockpot once in a while here mate. share it with our poor neighbours. they go mad over it...LOL)


----------



## john shaw

I still do myself the odd "ham and cheese beano" for an evening snack.

At South Shields Marine and Tech college it was "sandwich spread" sandwiches EVERY evening for supper for us cadets.

I still long for the steamed puddings from my first trip-- a FANTASTIC 2nd Cook and Baker, who's name i'm ashamed to say I cannot recall, used to cook these 2 feet long containers, like an aluminium torpedo, full of delicious sponge pud.

Cooked beetroot with butter was a regular vegetable on the Bamburgh Castle.

The only thing that kept me going thru the inevitable seasickness when keeping an 8/12 evening watch in the stormy North Sea in 2000dwt chemical tankers (I never got used to "small ship" motion) was a mug of hot chocolate made with lashings of "connie milk"-- I bought a can the other week in my perambulations around my local LIDL store, but it tasted vile!

My last trips were with Korean crew-- the BEST was the cook's version of Bulgogi/bulkoki, more like a stir fry-- I still have his fantastic recipe and make it occasionally-- I ordered Bulgogi in a West End Korean restaurant, there subtitled "Korean BBQ", and it wasn't a patch on the shipboard stuff. But, I'd kill for some of the crew's kimchee to accompany it!


----------



## gus warner

*merchant navy fare*

I was on the Alf Everard as a youngster in the early '50s and we had the old seamans ration books. we did our own cooking and I soon found out how to knock up a decent meal. When we went up the East coast w would be able to get beautiful fresh kippers and would toast them over the galley stove. I can still taste them. At Porthleven Iwould walk across the habour at low tide and get a bucket of pilchards off the trawlers for nix plus some "queenies" out of the nets (scallops) Happy days. Then I went deep sea on the Kana and just reading EXAB who also sailed on her I must have struck the same cook. This bloke stuffed up everything, but after that I must have got lucky because I always found most cooks were really good and came up with decent meals.
I have'nt seen anyone mention "tab-nabs" as yet. I always enjoyed a decent "tab-nab"


----------



## Tony D

Used to like the tab nab fruit cake, twer about four foot square, Manchester tart,as well cut up into squares,yer can't seem to get good fruit cake or spice loaf as some used to call it ashore,lucky if you find one raisin every cubic foot.


----------



## NZSCOTTY

*Bad Feeder*

Yes John we mostly remember the good feeders. But I also remember the bad feeders in Union Steam ship company. Cook usuallt started his morning in the galley with a beer and a ***!!


----------



## Ian

*Merchant Navy Fare*

Most ships I was on were good feeders, but it depended a lot on the Old Man. One captain, a Norwegian, (some muttered that he was an Eskimo) insisted on boiled fish everyday for lunch. We used to dread it. There was only one table in the saloon and he would sit at the head wearing a flat cap and braces. In would come the fish. We would get the fish, nothing wrong with it, but he insisted on getting all the heads. He would sit there with a fork spearing the eyes and sucking them into his mouth! I still can't look a fish in the face, dead or alive.


----------



## lakercapt

Maybe one of your Ships Cook memebers would shre their recipe for "Duff" as I survived on that when sailing with Ropners. What won't fatten will fill was the saying.
Even had a bet with one crewmember that he could eat a whole duff.
I lost but he spent a lot of time later on the throne


----------



## Geoff Garrett

The delicacy I enjoyed most when I sailed as an apprentice was the bread, baked very other morning and the smell of it coming out of the galley was mouth watering (all this of course, assuming the Cook happened to be a good baker). The slices had some "heft", and always a wonderful crust. Best as toast with lashings of butter (out of a large can!) and washed down with a mug of scalding tea after an afternoon kip.


----------



## NINJA

*Feeding*

On Gas Tankers it was a Sunday dinner everyday and a Xmas dinner every Sunday.

Certainally miss Kedgeree at Breakfast and as one contributor said Oxtail Jardinee followed by Brown Windsor soup the following day.

Also nowadays Lambs sweetbreads is not on the menu.

Ninja.


----------



## Paul J Burke

*re ships food.*



tunatownshipwreck said:


> I ate well on a number of British ships as a kid with the requisite bottomless stomach. I started visiting ships at my small town port at the age of thirteen. I remember well chowing down on steak and chips, meat pies and some great puddings in the late 1960s and early 1970s on ships like the Pacific Stronghold, Pacific Northwest, Loch Loyal, Loch Ryan, Loch Gowan, Harpalyce, Graiggwerdd, Prometheus, Amalric, among many other UK ships with crews and cuisines mainly from India and Hong Kong. I always loved the much superior chocolates and toffees of Britain.
> One thing I remember is a wall poster of what every man on board was entitled to in nutrition and meal allotments, I think it even got down to the minimum entitlement in salt. There was some colloquial term for the poster that I have long since forgotten. I really wish I had been able to get one of these posters for my collection, just as I would have loved the Indian Government's own issue of this chart. The whole thing was as big as a wide door, covered in text.


 The wall poster you refered to would have more than likely been the ships "Articles". A "classic quote" from Shipping Coys re food was "sufficient without waste"!!!


----------



## hashcookie

*steamed duff*



lakercapt said:


> Maybe one of your Ships Cook memebers would shre their recipe for "Duff" as I survived on that when sailing with Ropners. What won't fatten will fill was the saying.
> Even had a bet with one crewmember that he could eat a whole duff.
> I lost but he spent a lot of time later on the throne


Greetings Lakercapt. this is the way i remember making my most successful duff, 'Golden Pudding' on the menu.You may want to adjust the proportioms accordingly! I 'creamed ' 3 eggs with 8oz of marg and4oz. of sugar, then added a pound of plain flour, with a teaspoon of baking powder. Then add slowly Lyle's Golden Syrup untill it is the consistancy of axel grease, clinging to the hand, but dropping off when inverted. It was technical stuff! Grease a pudding bowl with marge, drop in mix till bowl half full (or half empty), cover bowl with grease proof paper and secure with string . Steam for 2 hours, serve with custard or even more syrup. Fruit duffs could be heavy. When whole duffs were thrown over the side , they hit the water with a distinctive DUFF sound, hense the name. Good luck hash


----------



## Tony D

The only critisism I have of sea cooks was their inability to make good gravy,they all made it the same way,it was passable I suppose ,but nowt like me old mums gravy.
(*))
Ah someone else took the eat a whole duff bet as well, ones biggest mistake was lack of lubricant(not enough custard) and in in eating me dinner first.
(EEK)


----------



## Philip Jones

Cold baked beans rejoiced in the name Breton salad and Potage St.Germaine was pea soup with black bits in it(ham?) on Luxor in 1963,or was it lumen in 1961.


----------



## trotterdotpom

I've just been reminded of "Roast Beef a la mode" - made from a cow which had been shot with a barrage of carrots.

John T.


----------



## non descript

NINJA said:


> On Gas Tankers it was a Sunday dinner everyday and a Xmas dinner every Sunday.
> 
> Certainally miss Kedgeree at Breakfast and as one contributor said Oxtail Jardinee followed by Brown Windsor soup the following day.
> 
> Also nowadays Lambs sweetbreads is not on the menu.
> 
> Ninja.


Ninja,
Yes, spot on with that comment, although I have to confess, with the exception of the *Joule*, we were not able to enjoy the attentions of_ "Miss Kedgeree" _ at breakfast or indeed at any other times. Was she part of the crew? (*))


----------



## trotterdotpom

Tonga said:


> Ninja,
> Yes, spot on with that comment, although I have to confess, with the exception of the *Joule*, we were not able to enjoy the attentions of_ "Miss Kedgeree" _ at breakfast or indeed at any other times. Was she part of the crew? (*))


Miss Kedgeree may have been the Indian laundry lady who came aboard in Barbados - she could sure handle a 'front loader'. Very versatile.

John T.


----------



## john strange

I still have after more than fourty years a number of menus from some of the Castle line ships. I was showing them to a chef in the local R.S.L. vclub one day and half of the dishes he had never heard of, let alone know how to cook. Never heard of Brown Windsor soup. smoked eel, chicken chop suey, or applew pie a la mode.
On a NZSC trip to Oz we had a cook who could not, nor could he make bread. It always ended up like a telescope, all outside and a bloody wide open space in the middle.
How did we ever survive?


----------



## raybnz

In general I found the food good.. Always had plenty of it and a variety too.

My first ship was the Corinthic and she carried some 80 first class passengers. So as a engineer we ate the same as the passengers in out own mess. I did a trip as 3rd fridge engineer or Junior. While doing this I was given the keys to the ships stores to check the temperatures there. I learnt how to make ice cream and also the best cuts of beef. So our black pan breakfasts were always full of nice things. With a few cans of beer we even got the nigh****chman to cook it for us. I also got on well with the chef as I did odd jobs in the galley for him.

Tabnabs were nice and always full of powdered cream.

I also came across the breastless chickens that seemed to have a hundred legs.

For supper Shaw Savill would have a single cheese sandwich delivered to the cabin. By the time it came to eat it both corners of the bread were touching and it was as hard as steel.

But when I took the 2nd Freezers job out bound for Aussie I pilfered a box of Birds Eyes cod fingers. That got rid of the hunger one way and on the way back I scored a box of boneless beef. Great steaks. We did a trip up to the east coast of the US and part of the cargo consisted of crayfish tails. Now being a Kiwi this was good tucker so a box or two dissappeared into the brineroom.

The Indian cooks on the British Osprey were also good providers. The curries were good along with being able to pick one up from the crews galley at the end of 12 - 4 in the morning before turning in.


----------



## john strange

Remember taking a coaster from Tyneside to the Medway, just the one way trip. Ships stores on loading in Tyneside, six cases of 'Newcastle brown' and one loaf of bread. Skipper wanted to know what we intended to do with all that bread?
Recall a trip with N.Z.S.C to Oz. Going through the canal the cook had to provide a big pot of scouse to feed the boat boys we had on board to see us through the canal.
Second steward had arow with the cook the night before so after the boat boys had eaten he put a ham hock in the scouse and showed the boat boys. The cook spent the rest of the trip through the canal locked in the chain lockef for safe keeping.
But he did have one skill thta I have never been able to work out. He had the ability to make bread thta we called telescopes. It was all crust and no middle.
Tinned sausuages on tankers, no thanks.
Oh happy days
John


----------



## Tony D

We ran out of tea once and the Chief Steward bought some when we docked in the Americas, weird stuff it were, huge leaves and bloody mint flavoured,unsurpassed in its awfulness,a British Merchant Vessel with no tea was a sad place.
Chiefy got some stick.
Still,not as bad as running out of ciggies.
A British Merchant Vessel with no ciggies was a dangerous place.
(EEK)


----------



## K urgess

Danske Franske Dampskib Selskap (not that DFDS)
I was the officer's messboy (still am) so I got first pickings and I love Scandinavian open sandwiches (smorbrod/smorgassbord). Drew the line at raw egg on raw hamburger which is apparently a Danish delicacy but didn't really appeal. Dry ship so the only thing to drink was Aqua Velva.

Hungry Hogarth's 
BOT allowances and no more. Bread that melted when you toasted it. First sight of American milk loaf what luxury (not)! Seven months of Heinz sandwich spread sandwiches in the bridge box every night. 6 cans of beer a week maximum and that meant everybody.

Lean & Hungy's
Good stuff but not a lot of it. Plenty to eat in Monte, BA and all those lovely little bars in Brasil.

Bankline
Curry, curry, curry, irish stew, curry. Bring your own tins of beans. The best curries were served down aft if you were lucky enough to be invited for a Pakistani or Indian holiday bash.

Please Send No Cowboys
Strange and wondrous things because of passengers. Just remember not to drink the finger bowl.

Port Line
Repeat of above but because I didn't have a monkey suit & ***merbund I used to eat seven bells dinner which meant good food that hadn't been standing for ages waiting for the passengers to appear.

Wilson's
The best fish and chips in the world and all the Hull Brewery Export you wanted!

CP Tankers
Good food, excellent prusser. Whisky club determined to try at least one different one every week courtesy of above purser. "Watney's bleedin' red barrel" on tap to misquote Bonzo Dog. Spanish crew and cook so some imagination not just chips, chips and more chips with steak or fish or steak or fish or chicken or fi......

Nile SS Co.
Much as PSNC & Portline but maybe a bit further down market.

Eat Sleep S**t & Overtime
Great grub. Wine from Portugal that I still like when I can get it. But do you really need to be reminded of the day of the week by what's on the menu?

Compass Line (Vesty charter for Blue Star)
Nice grub but in port too often in places with the best seafood restaurants (SA) or pub barbies (Oz) to remember much of it apart from CUB Draught at 6d a pint and Victoria Bitter. Fridge blokes who new just how to test the temperature of boxes of Beira prawns so that they would spoil if not eaten immediately.

Hadley's Sunshine Cruises
A Chief Steward who's two daughters appeared on Tennant's cans as pin-ups. He knew I liked baked beans so left catering tins of 'em in the midships pantry for evening snacks. Along with buckets full of deep fried chicken wings. Eat your heart out Colonel Saunders.

Watergate Shipping (Newcastle)
Good grub second trip but first trip the mash potato made our lass sick on a visit in Bordeaux. Strict bar hours and sparks wasn't a watchkeeper (!) so couldn't get a beer after last watch. Had a dining out club where we took turns to pay for meals ashore. One of those trips like where you enjoy the first movie but the sequel was rubbish.

Ellerman's City Liners
Only coasting so not enough time to form an opinion. Seemed good after previous but a bit old-fashioned (sweetbreads, oxtail, etc)

Texaco Tankships
Much the same as Eat SS & O/time. Even to the wine 'cos I joined both in Lisnave. I do remember eating a lot of lobster, crayfish and rainbow trout on this one.

Mobil Tankers
The best bread rolls ever by an Indian cook. Can't find 'em ashore and my efforts are appalling. Best after hours baine-marie ever just off the bar.

And that wraps up this culinary trip down memory lane. Time for a cuppa (egg)


----------



## Derek Roger

On Brocks MV Mahout we had a cook who made a brillant Curried Murgi ( Chicken ) I pestered him in vain for his curried chicken powder recipe ! It was his secret and he was not sharing with anyone . He did however make me a batch which he put in a coffeee jar. 
All went well until we arrived in Heathrow when custmos took great interest in the bottle and its contents ! Reinforements were called and after about 10 minutes of examination ; smelling ; tasting by about 6 customs officers it was given the OK ! 
They also took great interest in my Guitar which I had unintentionally not delared having bought it from the 2nd mate therfore in my mind it was second hand ( although he had bought it new in Germany the same trip ) They looked inside it with torches and mirrors and finally declared it OK ! 
The guitar itself was therefore " imported without duty paid " and I considered myself very lucky.


----------



## john strange

All this talk of food brings back memories of my time on the 'Vindi"
How many of you can recall the special cocoa we were supposed to drink in order to keep our sexual uges in check. Or the bread and jam we had to endure as part of the evening meal, even the seagulls refused to eat it. Porrige that was more like wall paper paste, and who knows where the soup came from.

But we live to tell the tale
john


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

*Food!*

Very surprised that there has been no thread discussing menus and recipes so far. I still try to recreate that favourite of Sunday lunch, the Dahl curry. (Then a little sleep for us dayworkers) It consisted of a bed of white boiled rice, a dollop of dahl, and topped off with a layer dry fried curried mince. Sprinkled over with fried onions. Am I correct? I like to think that my own creations are actually better than we were given, but I would very much like to compare my recipe with what was possibly taught at sea-school.

Are there any other recipes that are wanting to be done, possibly kromesky a la russe?, or that dish of beef? shot full of carrots, with an air gun, obviously.

Any catering supremmo's out there, or any one else with unrequited food desires?

Keith


----------



## Jeff Egan

Whey man, with a name like Sanddancer do you hail from Shields?


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

Off***dun sanddancer, please. Hail from Skipton, Yorkshire originally but came here as a cadet in 1965 and never managed to leave! I was stolen by a geordie lass, raised two little geordies (who have both settled in Yorkshire). I live between the college and the sea.

Off***dun - Tyke, for one who come to live from foreign parts, eg, t'next village.
sanddancer - been here 40+ years, but still not a local yet.
why off***dum and not off***dun - finger trouble when registering

Keith

ps, I'm a friend of Alan Y Purvis, you should know him.


----------



## john shaw

There's a pretty comprehensive thread "Merchant Navy Fare" running to 9 pages/ 220+ entries, if you'd care to whet your appetite!!


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

Hello John'

Thanks for that, but I cannot find that thread, well, not on my computer.

Keith


----------



## 8575

Kromesky a la russe now there's a memory. What about Boolie Hash, Potage du Barry etc. Currys - Egg, Omlette, Malayan (add pineapple chunks), Singapore (add dessicated coconut). Omlette du M****illes (corned beef in it!). The good old culinary days.


----------



## john shaw

Keith

type "merchant navy fare" into "search forums" from the bar at the top of the page-- I guarantee that pear belle helene, roast beef a la mode etc etc will have you trippin' down memory lane with a grumbling stomach all day!! Regards


----------



## Jeff Egan

Mmmmm, Alan and I go back 42 years, those were the days my friend.


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

Thanks John,

Not been here long.

Just found it and read all. Will have to post my versions of recipes, as not much on there (recipe-wise) 

Strange that a large number of postings include Dahl curry, kromeskies, beef with the carrots, all of which I mentioned in my first post!

I will transfer activity there, thanks. BTW, I also loved the tinned sausages.

Keith


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

Jeff Egan said:


> Mmmmm, Alan and I go back 42 years, those were the days my friend.


We are due for a night out soon, few pints at the Dolly Peel and then down to Ocean road for the mandatory curry. Not that we aren't adventurous now and then, Alum house and an Italian or Greek for a change.

Keith


----------



## pentlandpirate

*Indian crew*

Curries were always popular. And it used up the scraps from the previous day. On one Indian crewed Denholm boat the Chief Steward came up with an innovative way of naming the curry of the day after a member of the crew. Proudly typed up on the daily menu card, I distinctly remember Bengari curry.............and later seeing him with a chipping hammer the same day still with all his fingers and toes.

Talking of meals what did other DSM members on the Team OBO's get as a Christmas gift? We got pewter napkin rings. The 2/o looked quite fetching with them converted into ear-rings!


----------



## ddraigmor

Aw God......!

Cook's own Kate and Sidney pies, Tiddy Oggies and jam flapjacks eaten on the hoof when working anchors........into the galley door in all the kit, gloves off, snaffle them while they were hot, grab a coffe and back to chain dragging......

Oh them days!

Jonty


----------



## jonog

*Fare enough!!!*

I remember all the old favourites. Do you think that they taught all the cooks the names (but not how to spell them), at college. I also remember that with Booker Line, if you went down the card (menu) and back up again, the purser would buy you a case of Tennents. Only saw it done once though by a northern Irish AB called Davy Harris. Big man, huge appetite. We had Guyanese crew on one trip I did, and everything was almost inedible. Lost a lot of weight though. But I remember the Chief saying at dinner one night, "It takes the human body 12 hours to convert food into sh*te, but that f****** cook manages it in half an hour!!!" Great days!!


----------



## Bridie

John Cassels said:


> I have even tried to get hold of a copy of the Merchant navy cookery book written by a chap called (I think) Atkinson, but still no success.


For a while I collected books with nautical themes (MN in particualr) and I have a copy of the said book!

*"The Nautical Cookery Book for the use of Stewards & Cooks of Cargo Vessels"*
by Chas. Henry Atkinson MCA
_Silver Medalist 1925, Universal Food and Cookery Exhibition, London._
(Nautical Press 1928 - 12th Edition)

and Kromeskies are in there(Thumb) 








​


----------



## slick

All,
Well Hain's and a couple of others of that ilk were the pits to use modern argot, these are few of the remembered nicknames given to all sorts of nosh.
Tinned tomatoes aka Train/Tram Smash.
Cottage Pie aka Bungalow Duff or S--thouse on the Cliffs.
Curry and Rice was referred to by one Old Man of my acquaintance as DuckS--t and Hailstones.
Steak and Kidney Pie aka Snake and Pygmy pie.
Steak aka Wounded Cow
Sardines on Toast aka Sharks on a Raft.
Heinz beans aka Texas Strawberries.
Oxtail aka S--thouse Lids.
I am sure there a thousand others I await them eagerly.
Yours aye,
Slick


----------



## Bridie

Bridie said:


> *"The Nautical Cookery Book for the use of Stewards & Cooks of Cargo Vessels"*
> by Chas. Henry Atkinson MCA
> _Silver Medalist 1925, Universal Food and Cookery Exhibition, London._
> (Nautical Press 1928 - 12th Edition)​


Couple of recipies asked for:
*Kromeskies (click)*

*Plum Duff (click)*

_Any other requests?(Scribe)_


----------



## BarryM

*Is It Me?*



Bridie said:


> Couple of recipies asked for:
> *Kromeskies (click)*
> 
> *Plum Duff (click)*
> 
> _Any other requests?(Scribe)_


Bridie,

Click throughs do not appear to be working - but it could me my fault??

BarryM


----------



## Bridie

Bridie said:


> Couple of recipies asked for:
> *Kromeskies (click)*
> 
> *Plum Duff (click)*
> 
> _Any other requests?(Scribe)_


Thanks for that Barry.(Thumb) 
SN Team moved pictures as they were not in the proper place. Now link points to my gallery.
Hope this works now.


----------



## Bridie

*Different Recipies/Food (Them & Us?)*

I noticed that there were 2 recipies for Plum Duff with the "Cabin" version much better quality (ingredients anyway).
Remember there used to be:
*Crew Tea* and *Cabin Tea* (Crew tea was a few leaves and lots of twigs!!)
*Crew Coffee* and *Cabin Coffee*

Any other memories of differences between *Mess Room* and *Saloon*?

Some cooks I sailed with made sure the was no difference and were even biased towards the Mess Room(Thumb)


----------



## BarryM

*Panada?*



Bridie said:


> Thanks for that Barry.(Thumb)
> SN Team moved pictures as they were not in the proper place. Now link points to my gallery.
> Hope this works now.


Bridie,

I never inquired too deeply what went into a kromeskie - with some cooks it was far better not to know - but what is panada?

Thanks,

BarryM

PS. I well remember the cook found rolling out meatballs on his sweaty belly. When complaints were made he put on a (grubby) vest and continued.(EEK)


----------



## Bridie

BarryM said:


> but what is panada?


Had to go searching the internet for that:

*Panada (click)*

but should have trusted the Nautical Cookery Book of course(Cloud) 
*Panada*


----------



## Bridie

Some more requests;
*Devilled Kidneys* What about that next recipe!
*Beef Rissoles* (best I could do!)
*Braised Beef*


----------



## Taleso

*Scratch and Sniff*

Hi all Merchant Munchers,

They best ever night food and best hangover cure known to man was dry curry chicken. In a fit of nostalgia I did the business for lunch and I was just waiting for it to crisp up the skin when I found this thread our site. Lean towards the screen and breathe in the aroma of roasted spices…mmmmmmm (Eat) [=P] .

Merchant fare snippets.

The breakfast egg/bacon formulae.
One piece of bacon equals one egg. Two pieces of bacon meant no egg. Two eggs meant no bacon and that’s how it was calculated. 

Mystery Chicken
To this day I do not know how a slice of bird can be carved from a chicken 
and have it’s a**e positioned dead in the middle of the portion. 

Somebody help me here, was it called curry captian?

Happy eating,
Taleso


----------



## Bridie

*Christmas Dinner - Sydney Star*


----------



## Mike lawrence

Boston Baked Beans:
Haricot beans soaked overnight
Tinned tomatoes
Tomato puree
Belly pork
Molasses. Drain the beans mix in with tomatoes and tomato puree. Add molasses. Cut into small cubes the belly pork after removing rine fry until tender with thinly sliced onion and garlic. Add altogether in a roasting tin stir and allow to simmer on low heat in oven. Serve with crusty bread and a nice light ice cold beer.


----------



## John Cassels

Pete , just reading that menu takes one back to all those x-mases at sea.
Pity restaurants don't have menus like that.

Mike , great receipe , one to try out. Thanks.

JC


----------



## Mac

Taleso, the dish is known as "Country Captain", at it's simplest level the dish consists of chicken flavoured with chilli and turmeric.
The term "country" was used by the Raj to refer to anything of Indian, as opposed to British , origin.
From "The Raj at Table" by David Burton (Fabers 1994)


----------



## Taleso

*The Port View Restaurant*

Hi Mac,

Thanks for the info. I also use browned onion, cloves and cinnamon.

In the 19 sixties I was friendly with the chef from the Port View Restaurant then Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) through knowing his family back in the UK. He showed me how to do it Chinese/Malay style....cooking I mean.

Here we go again....Port View Restaurant.....chilli crab....honey soya pork chop.....[=P]..... spending the scrap money on big pi**up with all the lads dressed in their brand new tailored boiler suits also complements of the scrap fund.

Best regards,
Taleso


----------



## Mike lawrence

*Boston Baked Beans*



John Cassels said:


> Pete , just reading that menu takes one back to all those x-mases at sea.
> Pity restaurants don't have menus like that.
> 
> Mike , great receipe , one to try out. Thanks.
> 
> JC


Cook on the Esso Stockholm Denis Reagan (56/57) use to serve this up and it was ace. Wife wont let me near the stove, and I taught her all she knows.


----------



## terval

*Feeding Rates*

Greetings. I remember sailing on the old Ailsa Princess on an MOD charter to see if mines could be laid at full speed in any weather from the rear ramp on the car deck. Previous to this charter the feeding rate was about £2.70 a day, but it went up to £10.50 on charter. Never seen such a display of nosh at 0400 coming off watch.
Cheers.
Terry R556919.[=P] [=P]


----------



## Cap'n Pete

*Feeding rate*

For interest, the feeding rate on ex P&O Nedlloyd ships is US$5.75/day reduced by 5% to take account of the cost of procuring the cash to pay for the stores. This rate has remained unchanged now for over 5 years.


----------



## BarryM

The very first post on this thread referred to "kromeskis" and now we seem to have come full circle. I have just finished reading a restaurant review which raved about "cromesquie" - a new term to the writer - made of "molten foie gras encased in breadcrumbs". Is that the sound of cooks putting their heads into their own mincers I hear?


----------



## niggle

Having perused this thread from page one it has brought back many memories of my seatime 76/87 with many familiar dishes. Do any of our catering corespondents know of a definitive publication with recipies that we are harking back too so that we may in the confines of our shoreside catering confines (domestic kitchen) can recreate to bring a bit of nostalgia and rose tinted recollection to our sea faring days. I have great personal memories of a cook on the ACT7 namely Sandy Baird a genial scot with a great sense of humour but a damm good cook to boot.


----------



## Les_Blues

I must say the kromesky brings back memories from the 70s. Sausage wrapped in bacon, battered and deep fried! it makes a MacBurger look like vegans snack.

Egg Flourentine, Glasgow Scallops, Glasgow Caviare, Oxe-tail Jardiniere, these were classics and I must admit to making some of these dishes from time to time. Devilled kidneys are still a favourite of mine but I have moved on from the regular ships curry that was made from anything with a heap of curry powder added. Mulligatawny soup usually appeared on the menu a couple of days after the curry!

One of the less imaginative dishes was asparagus (tinned) on toast.


----------



## jazz606

I sailed with an old chief steward who always replied when we asked him what was for lunch or tea "you'll like it son you'll like it" and quite often we did. Has anyone mentioned tramp ship hours here? Breakfast at 8, Lunch at 12, Tea at 5, sandwiches after that.


----------



## steviej

John you have whetted my appitite. Are you going to give us this recipe for Korean Stew.


john shaw said:


> I still do myself the odd "ham and cheese beano" for an evening snack.
> 
> At South Shields Marine and Tech college it was "sandwich spread" sandwiches EVERY evening for supper for us cadets.
> 
> I still long for the steamed puddings from my first trip-- a FANTASTIC 2nd Cook and Baker, who's name i'm ashamed to say I cannot recall, used to cook these 2 feet long containers, like an aluminium torpedo, full of delicious sponge pud.
> 
> Cooked beetroot with butter was a regular vegetable on the Bamburgh Castle.
> 
> The only thing that kept me going thru the inevitable seasickness when keeping an 8/12 evening watch in the stormy North Sea in 2000dwt chemical tankers (I never got used to "small ship" motion) was a mug of hot chocolate made with lashings of "connie milk"-- I bought a can the other week in my perambulations around my local LIDL store, but it tasted vile!
> 
> My last trips were with Korean crew-- the BEST was the cook's version of Bulgogi/bulkoki, more like a stir fry-- I still have his fantastic recipe and make it occasionally-- I ordered Bulgogi in a West End Korean restaurant, there subtitled "Korean BBQ", and it wasn't a patch on the shipboard stuff. But, I'd kill for some of the crew's kimchee to accompany it!


----------



## Derek Roger

Not quite at sea but ! 
When at Riversdale Tech in 62/63 and being on 14 Pounds 10 shillings a month ( plus subsistance ; which the land ladys took plus a bit ! ) 
Our lunch ( between 3 ) consisted of going to the baker and buying a loaf of bread and have him cit it into 3 and then going to the " chippie " for a sixpence of chips . All was shared and we would stuff the bread with chips and let it " moisten ' a bit then eat the dam thing .

This was washed down with a half pint of mild ( being the cheapest ale one could buy )

Oh happy days ! 

That was a "Real Chip Buttie ; alas with no butter . 
We were able after a while to collect various sauces from tables in the canteen etc . which made the thing somewhat more palatable . If "flush " we would buy a " chunk of tasteless margarine which made the exercise almost palatable .
We had to conserve our limited cash to be able to play Rugby on a weekend and have a few pints and buy a tin of "rolllie tobacco " which had to last the week .

Derek


----------



## John Cassels

Happy days indeed Derek, reminds me ............

JC


----------



## Binnacle

"one ship I was in didn't have a freezer, just an Ice box so when the ice run out we were on curried everything"

Sailed on a ship with no frig. Two ice boxes on boat deck, one for meat, the other for fish. Roast pork for lunch one day, well roasted, lovely cracknel, then noticed it was crawling with weevils. Always wary of pork ever since.
Happy Days


----------



## Joe Whelan

*Joe*

Seeking receipe for Panagalty, spelling may be incorrect.


----------



## Moulder

Joe Whelan said:


> Seeking receipe for Panagalty, spelling may be incorrect.


Hi Joe,

Think it may be "Panacalty"? - I remember having it once on a ship - the recipe was given to the cook by the electrician. Think it's a Geordie dish with main ingredients of bacon, onion and potatoe - I may be wrong - it was a lifetime ago. (Eat) 

Regards,

Steve.


----------



## steviej

Found this book of recipes available from Amazon etc.
The Centaur's Kitchen
A Book Of French, Italian, Greek And Catalan Dishes For Blue Funnel Ships 
Gray, Patience
Written in 1964 as a manual for the Chinese cooks of the Blue Funnel Line's Centaur cargo liner, this book features recipes by Gray, who died in 2005 and was the author of other recipe books. Everything from appetizers to entrees and desserts are included with illustrations, as well as cooking instructions and necessary kitchen staples and cookware


----------



## airds

*Panacalty*



Steve Chalkley said:


> Hi Joe,
> 
> Think it may be "Panacalty"? - I remember having it once on a ship - the recipe was given to the cook by the electrician. Think it's a Geordie dish with main ingredients of bacon, onion and potatoe - I may be wrong - it was a lifetime ago. (Eat)
> 
> 
> 
> Two seconds on Google
> 
> http://snipurl.com/19t8r
Click to expand...


----------



## Joe Whelan

*Panagalty*

Thanks for the info lads, it corresponds with info from Razor. Hope to have a meal of it this week. Joe.


----------



## kottemann

We had a cook from Cape Verde called Antonio he was a narky little ****er. He did not own a single cook book or have any recipes written down but if you asked him to make something he didnt even ask the ingredients its just arrived on the table at lunch, Irish Stew Shepherds pie. We decided to test him one day and asked for Coddle unless your from Dublin you probably wouldnt know what that is and he turned it out for lunch just like my Ma used to make. Have to say the Germans knew how to feed the crew cooked breakfast every morning 3 course lunch and a cold buffet for tea. Thing I miss most is pea soup on a Saturday loved the stuff maybe you can send me a recipe Ruud and Tony used to make falafel as a snack for us in the evenings magic as well as all that when we went to fishing ports we would always do deals with the fisherman for fresh prawns or sardines and fire up the barbeque happy days.


----------



## Portred

I posted this under ''SS Maidan 1963'', before I read in this posting about the infamous Fred!

"Quote";

Thu, 1 February 07 17:25 


When I sailed with Ben Lyon, from Redcar, on the Mahout in 1974 he was quite a large lad then.

He was part of ''the Gang of Three'', along with a Fred Thompson, Purser/C/O from Liverpool and the Chief officer.

All three were of similar build.

I recall that while the rest of the ship were on limited fresh food supplies, one could always observe trays of ''Fresh'', food being delivered to their respective cabins.

We actually ran out of drinks!

While in the port of Hodeidah in the Yemen, I observed crates of drinks and whisky going ashore with the agent and this was after many days being a 'dry ship'!

In the Officers Bar later that evening, with the most of us sipping mixers, like tonic etc.
I announced that I was going ashore, there was a silence in the room.

Fred the P/C/O laughted and said, ''Ashore here, there's nothing ashore here''!

I said, ''Oh yes there is, there's at least, 10 cases of coke-a-cola, 12 cases of cordial, 20 cases of beer and about 7 cases of whisky''!

Because I saw them going ashore this evening!

The silence was stunning!

Fred abused me and stormed out of the bar!

Needless to say that the remainder of my trip was a tad unpleasant when faced with any of the ''Gang of Three''!

I just couldn't stand those ''thieving baskets'', treating us like that, after all they were senior officers and should have the best welfare of the Company and it's employees in mind and not filling their own mouths and pockets!

Shame on them, even to this day!


----------



## trotterdotpom

*Bulgogi and Panackalty*



steviej said:


> John you have whetted my appitite. Are you going to give us this recipe for Korean Stew.


I tried that "bulgogi" in Korea and thought it was sh*te. It seemed to be the favourite dish to serve up to foreigners and we all came to know it as it "bulldoggy".

This may not have been too far from the truth as it was rumoured that only the dogs with brass studs in their ears were pets, the rest were fair game!

As for "panackalty", great stuff, County Durham's answer to Liverpool's Scouse - all the leftovers chucked in a pot and cooked!

John T.


----------



## shipsivanhoe

*cooks*

(K) i have enjoyed reading this post as i was a cook for 6 years.it is surprising that most of the posts were quite positive as to become a second cook & baker you only had 6 weeks training at the college.then to reach the dizzy hieghts of chief cook you had to do a year at sea then 6 weeks in college.not a lot of training if you think how much training they do ashore. a strange thing is i have put on weight since i stopped cooking [i wonder why]


----------



## Portred

I can fully understand Trotterdotpom and his opinion about Korean Bulgogi.

I lived in korea for several years and like anywhere else, it really depends on the quality of the restaurant and in particular, the cook!

Koreans will eat almost anything that moves.

If I get a fishbone in my meal then I proceed like as if it was a minefield.

Whereas, my Korean colleagues just chomp through bones, gristle, fat, skin, eggshells and sand etc.

Needless to say that their idea of a nice piece of meat and my idea of a nice piece of meat are very different indeed.

In Japan, they like Marbled Steak but I prefer lean steak.

I have cooked both ''Bulgogi'' and a hot stew called ''yukejan'' with good quality lean meat and enjoyed it very much.

The same applies to ''Kimchee'', there is ''fresh'' Kimchee, winter Kimchee and summer Kimchee, all with a different taste.

It can be made with a variety of vegetables but mostly with Korean Cabbage

I was very fussy about where I would eat when in korea.

Certain cultures have different ideas about hygiene.


----------



## KIWI

*Merchant Navy Fare*



neil maclachlan said:


> Hi Guys,
> I sailed with Standard Vacuum and the food was streets ahead of anything we were served on Blue Star,we even had fresh milk for as long as it lasted and then it was cans of Carnation Milk. Our ships sailed under the British Flag but the company was owned by Standard Oil. On a Sunday we were give 2 beers each by the company, I think on American ships they were'nt allowed beer,but the company rule gave us free beers,we were also allowed to buy beer and spirits from the captains bond. The feeding was excellent but we still complained!
> Neil Mac.


I also sailed with Standard Vacuum on Stanvac Canberra.For three months the food was out of this world & I had come from first class fare in P&O.It was really unbelievable,grills to order & the fridge at night was full of the most unusual & tasty selections.We changed skippers & the catering was still more than reasonable but no where near the previous standard.Wonder where
the savings went? We had two free beers on a Sunday but had to buy our own at each port.Would guess someone got a commission.Stocking up on Schlitz in Beaumot was a disaster.It was terrible booze. Kiwi


----------



## rstimaru

Palm stew pinched from the fore deck kroo boy,s pot on Elder dempsters ships


----------



## NINJA

When running on the South American east coast we had a chief steward who could have gone on Mastermind and his chosen topic would have been how many different names can you think of for meals made from lamb.


----------



## Ian Dickinson

Hi everyone

P& O B.S.D. fed us well, Evening meal was the full 5 course. But the food I remember best was lunchtime. China Chow Chow, Dry mince curry with Dahl sauce.


----------



## Dick S

Denholms Hong Kong Crews served up a Nasi Goring with pork satay(sic?) with a fried egg on top.... EVERY sunday lunch.
I really enjoyed my sunday roast after 6 months!!!!

Dick


----------



## purserjuk

I have just finished trawling through this thread and what memories of ship's food! No-one has mentioned Henderson Line as far as curry is concerned. All Elder Dempster pursers' staff will remember with "affection" the K boats but they has West African crews. I sailed for a year on "Bhamo" when she still had a Burmese crew. The saloon curries were passable but my Writer and I got the Deck Bhandari to supply the crew's curry to us each day - marvellous!
I also sailed on a chartered German ship ("Transeuropa") and they used to have the thick pea soup with sausages floating in it on Saturdays.
I saw reference to lime juice. We loaded concentrated lime juice at a Ghanaian surf port once. It was in wooden casks and one fell from the sling onto the deck and burst. The deck began to bubble and smoke as the juice bit into it and hoses were hurriedly rigged to wash it away. I've never touched the stuff since (except watered down with gin!).


----------



## trotterdotpom

PurserUk, I remember that thick soup with sausages from some German ships I sailed on - delicious. Can't for the life of me remember the name. Anybody help?

John T,


----------



## John Cassels

In holland they call it "snert ". Any help ?.


----------



## Tony D

Here yer go, Snert.

Erwtensoep
(Dutch pea soup)
This national Dutch glory--also called snert--is prepared differently in every household--and traditionally it is made a day ahead. Why? To improve the flavor, but also to concentrate it to the preferred thickness; viz., so that a spoon will stand upright in it. This is a time when microwave reheats are ideal--no more burning the bottom of the pan trying to reheat such a thick paste. I like the nutmeg in this recipe--it recalls the time when the Dutch had the Banda Island nutmeg trade sewn up in a monopoly. It's traditional to serve the soup with slabs of bacon on pumpernickel bread. Serve hot to 4-6 people as a hearty meal. Click HERE for more on Dutch cuisine and dining in Amsterdam at www.SpecialBites.com.

* 1 pig's foot
* 6 cups water
* 3 cups dried split green peas, rinsed
* 1 smoked ham hock
* 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
* 1/2 cup sliced leeks
* 1/3 cup sliced onions
* 1/4 cup sliced celery
* 1 teaspoon thyme, rubbed into the soup
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/2 pound cooked kielbasa or other smoked sausage, sliced thin 

Parboil the pig's foot for 5 minutes, then drain, discarding liquid. Bring the water to a boil in a large heavy pot, then add the peas, pig's foot, and ham hock. When the water reboils, reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook, partially covered, for 2 hours. Stir it from time to time.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients (except the kielbasa) and simmer for 30 more minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove the pig's foot and ham hock, cut away the meat, and return it to the pot with the sliced kielbasa. Simmer for 10 minutes or so.

When ready to serve, reheat and ladle into bowls, with lots of thick bacon and bread on the side.

(Thumb)


----------



## trotterdotpom

Thanks John - I'd read about "snert" on other SN threads by the coaster men. It sounds very similar but it was called something else on the German ships. The sausage they put in it was chopped into large pieces and had lumps of fat in it - tasted great.

Thanks for that recipe Tony - I'll pass that on the manager and see what she can do, on second thoughts, maybe I'll just do it myself.

John T.


----------



## purserjuk

Does anyone remember the "armoured" haggis served up on occasion on Henderson's "K" boats?


----------



## skymaster

*The Things We Ate Onboard-MENUS*

I was just looking back through some of the menus that are posted.Great gastronomical feeds.However questions arose.What the heck is a Chipolata
Sauce?Answer please.I am sure this is not the only question on the food we all ate long ago.

skymaster


----------



## Mick Spear

To put it in plain terms: gravy with cipolata sausages diced up in it, served with Roast Turkey.

Mick S


----------



## Chouan

The menus always looked better than they really were.


----------



## sparkie2182

yesterdays sausages left over from breakfast.... dropped in bisto

happy days.............


----------



## trotterdotpom

Chipolatas are spicy little sausages, about two or three inches long. As mentioned they used to be served with roast turkey. They can be very tasty. 

I don't know if the little sausages that come in the tins of baked beans are chipolatas or not but they taste great after a couple of years soaking up bean juice. 

John T.


----------



## lakercapt

I think that the chief stewards AKA the grocer had great poetic liscense and used to look up dictionaries to find obscure meaning to load their menus and make the most aweful muck sound interesting!!


----------



## Chouan

"Kromeskies a la Russe" for example.


----------



## Santos

All I can remember is that the soup used to start as Consomme ( clear and often tasteless ) on the Monday and finish up as Thick Pea Soup you could stand your spoon up in by the following Sunday. Various things ? being added during the week to increase its constiuent content.

Chris.


----------



## Tony D

Ah! pea soup an sippits, put hairs on yer chest that did, only ever got chipolata sauce wi the Christmas Turkey.
(Thumb)


----------



## K urgess

I can still taste that pea soup and the novel use for ancient bread. Not necessarily a bad memory.

Bit of a shock to the system for a working class lad from 'Ull. 

Hungry Hogarth's wasn't too bad. A bit like an slightly upmarket transport caff that hadn't had any fresh deliveries for a few months. 

PSNC was something completely different. Excellent nosebag at all times. The Old Man considered me a department head and therefore must sit at the big table with the passengers. Probably because he didn't want certain passengers at his table. Trouble was a lot of the menu I'd never heard of let alone knew how to eat. Managed without drinking the finger bowl but my first experience of globe artichokes and butter sauce must have been wondrous to behold.

Kris


----------



## barrypriddis

Pepper soup was a great favourite in Palm Line. Very hot and spicy with predictable results, but great on a Sunday with a few beers beforehand and deckhead survey afterwards.


----------



## Chouan

Beetroot and onion salad once you'd been at sea for a couple of weeks


----------



## Santos

How many of you bridge watch keepers remember those cold and congealed fried egg sandwiches on the tray at night time ? 

Chris


----------



## K urgess

Luxury, Chris.

I mostly remember curly dog sp..... sandwiches in greaseproof paper every night.
Still can't stand sandwich spread.

Kris


----------



## Keltic Star

Santos said:


> How many of you bridge watch keepers remember those cold and congealed fried egg sandwiches on the tray at night time ?
> 
> Chris


Never remember the luxury of a fried egg sandwich, congealed or not, all I remember were sardines or sandwich spread.


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

I remember US ships would set out a feast for the men on watch. There would always be sliced beef and ham, bread, mayonnaise, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, several types of pie, coffee, milk, chocolate milk, butter, as well as canned meals like beef stew.


----------



## Chouan

Breaking through the warm blanket of nostalgia comes the awful coffee powder, and the choice between powdered milk, shaky milk or condensed milk.


----------



## Peter4447

Two Grey Funnel favourites were Werner Schnitzel and Saute Kidney on Toast, the latter for breakfast.

Peter4447(Thumb)


----------



## K urgess

When my wife came away with me they had to increase the order for condensed milk. She loved it.

Quite a few ships I sailed on left the officer's pantry open so that you could go and help yourself to what was left after dinner. Kept warm in the baine-marie or cold in the fridge. This was mostly on tankers, from small ones to VLCCs. Especially the "world's favourite tanker" where deep fried chicken wings and catering tins of baked beans would always be available in the midships pantry.
On one, sparkies sauces were well appreciated in the "Knakkered Ned Bar" when the prawns were dished up.
The "mousetrap" on most was exceptional as well and, on one occasion, much appreciated by our brothers in the RFA.


----------



## andysk

Aaaah !

Kromeskis a la Russe

Pigs in Blankets

Clan Line Spew aka sandwich spread

Connyonnie (sp ?)

One egg a day, and picking the lock on the galley doors for more to hard boil in the bridge kettle at night.

Being on Hector Heron away from the usual routes meaning an (almost) unlimited feeding rate.

Watching the PCO, out of his brain one lunchtime, go face first into the tomato soup, then stagger off to his cabin with his shorts on back to front (how he achieved that nobody ever found out !) He was a good feeder though !

Aaah ! memories


----------



## Moulder

Chouan said:


> "Kromeskies a la Russe" for example.


Or *Oxtail Jardinaire!* = Cows a r s e in the garden!!!!

Steve.
(Thumb)


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*The things we ate onboard. Menus.*

I still remember (with fondness) a breakfast dish which consisted of chopped up kidney in a rich brown sauce served on fried bread.

I have tried for years to order it in whilst eating out, asking chefs if they had a name for it, and trying to find a recipe.

Can anybody out there help? An ex Harrison Chief Steward or Chief Cook could probabaly help.

Peter (Pat) Baker.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Probably "devilled kidneys", it was offal but I liked it too.

John T.


----------



## awateah2

Haven't we already had a thread on this subject under 'Merchant Navy Fare', I seem to recall many of the delicacies mentioned there.


----------



## Peter Fielding

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> I still remember (with fondness) a breakfast dish which consisted of chopped up kidney in a rich brown sauce served on fried bread.
> 
> I have tried for years to order it in whilst eating out, asking chefs if they had a name for it, and trying to find a recipe.
> 
> Can anybody out there help? An ex Harrison Chief Steward or Chief Cook could probabaly help.
> 
> Peter (Pat) Baker.


Sounds a bit like what B.I. used to dish up as "Kidney Turbigo." (Kidneys that have been through the turbine?)


----------



## K urgess

Always good to revisit a favourite subject, awateah2.
One of the first questions was always "Is she a good feeder?".

I did see a tin of devilled kidneys in Tesco's once. Probably been removed now under some Euro PC directive or other. I'll have a hunt next time I volunteer to brave the battleground.

Just like the army marches on it's stomach it applies even more to afloat. Our foraging trips for fresh tucker were a bit more limited.


----------



## awateah2

Totally agree , so if we re-open the original thread it avoids repetition but rekindles memories


----------



## WilliamH

When I was on Cory's ore carriers, Knightsgarth, Monksgarth and Dukesgarth, curry and rice was always served at breakfast time. Also on the Knightsgarth the highlight of the week, Saturday tea time we had salmon and chips, i.e half a tin of salmon usally still in the round form as it had come out of the can with chips.


----------



## clankie

Ah hhhh I can see and smell it now, devilled kidneys, aka s**t on a raft.
(Smoke)


----------



## alexmackinnon

clankie said:


> Ah hhhh I can see and smell it now, devilled kidneys, aka s**t on a raft.
> (Smoke)


Hi Clankie, I remember the first time I heard it called s**t on a raft, I almost choked on it.


----------



## clankie

Ah hhhh I can see and smell it now, kidney turbigo, aka s**t on a raft or "babies heads" also known as steak and kidney pudding. (Smoke)


----------



## ARRANMAN35

*Devilled Kidneys*



Marconi Sahib said:


> Always good to revisit a favourite subject, awateah2.
> One of the first questions was always "Is she a good feeder?".
> 
> I did see a tin of devilled kidneys in Tesco's once. Probably been removed now under some Euro PC directive or other. I'll have a hunt next time I volunteer to brave the battleground.
> 
> Just like the army marches on it's stomach it applies even more to afloat. Our foraging trips for fresh tucker were a bit more limited.


Hi, No longer stocked by Tesco, have been told that Morrisons have them, Happy hunting.
Archie.


----------



## sparkie2182

snake and pygmy pie.............

and on the brock boats............

indian crew curry................there was always a "less powerfull" european version available, but the bandhari always supplied the nuclear powered indian curry for the more discerning palates........straight from the crew mess.......


----------



## Ian

*MN Fare*

Surely all hands here assembled must have been told at signing on ANY 
Ship , That the food was "Sunday dinner Every day" and " Christmas Dinner Every Sunday", at least thats what we were promised .........
Most Tankers were great some of the Cargo vessels left a lot to the imagination.
But Steak on Saturday afternoons was best..
regards 
Derby[=P]


----------



## sparkie2182

with cunard it was pub lunch on saturday..............

and steaks for dinner...............


yum


----------



## K urgess

Although the food was great on VLCCs, including free wine, you could tell the day of the week by the menu most of the time.
If it was steak it was either Thursday or Sunday.[=P]


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

I did once order devilled kidney for lunch in a very upmarket pub.

This turned out to be a couple of whole kidneys fried (or grilled) in some sort of hot spices.

Whilst it was quite decent it was not a patch on the s..t on a raft of glorious memory.

I am still hoping that somebody will be able to supply us all with a recipe.

Peter (Pat) Baker.


----------



## andysk

Hi Pat ...

Here's one : http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/devilledkidneysontoa_85068.shtml

Not sure how many Cooks would have done it this way, it's probably a bit upmarket for most of them of my acquaintance !

I did stay at a great B&B in Osmington Mills (near Weymouth) a few years ago, she served them for breakfast without warning, nobody else was very happy, but I thought it was great, and managed four portions !

Cheers

Andy


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

Andy,

many thanks for your reply, and the recipes.

They sound great and I will definitely try them.

However, the dish I am thinking of was chopped kidney in a rich brown sauce (beefy) and served on fried bread rather than toast.

I will live in hope that we may all receive that recipe eventually.

As I said earlier and old Harrison Line Chief Steward or cook may supply this.

Regards,

Peter (Pat) Baker.


----------



## Moulder

I sailed with a chief steward - John "Raviolli" Rout - in Kuwait Shipping Company - what a character!
Apparently on one ship he put on Sausage 'n Mash for evening dinner and the Old Man took offence and said it was a dinner only fit for peasants - "Ravi" then repeated this meal (after I'd joined) but called it *Peasants Delight!* - I was on the quick 15 meal break then back to get the Portishead traffic list - so read the menu as *Pheasant Delight* - "Ummm - I'll have some of that" thought I.
What a disappointment.

Regards,

Steve.
(Thumb)


----------



## Mick Spear

Folks

Most dishes/fare has been mentioned and it's a great thread. Different companies had their different specialities; the recipe for the MN renowned 'Cheese Beanos' varied from both company and cook. But has anyone heard of "chuck Wagon Grinder"?

This was a dish associated with Shell tankers - well when i was there anyway in mid eighties. Not sure if it's known outside of MN circles? It consists of:

1.Half a bread bap (made fresh on board), this is then slightly grilled (i prefer to grill both sides as it keeps it crispy). A spreading of butter is optional.
2. A circle of processed ham is placed on this.
3. Then a ring of pineapple (drained of juice) placed on the ham.
4. Spoon an even layer of freshly made coleslaw on top (not too drenched with mayo).
5. Grate some chedder cheese on top.
6. Then place under the grill untill the cheese is bubbling and slightly brown in colour.

Is your mouth watering? It's good folks, believe me.

Mick S


----------



## Chouan

Joe Whelan said:


> Seeking receipe for Panagalty, spelling may be incorrect.


My mother's (Gateshead), and grandmother's (Hartlepool) version:
Potato, onion, corned beef, sliced and layered in a dish, well seasoned with salt and pepper, covered with stock and then cooked in an oven until the potatoes are done. Ideally served onto slices of bread to soak up the sauce. I never had it at sea.


----------



## Ron Stringer

*Panacalty*

Don't know the correct spelling either but if you Google "panacalty" you come up with more recipes than you will cook in a month. Mostly the same ingredients, with only minor variations.

Enjoy.


----------



## Chouan

Derek Roger said:


> Hugh ;
> I sailed with Les and he was a good feeder ! Not from Dundee though as I was living in Dundee at that time and would have remembered . Les was an "English " but a good lad nonetheless .
> 
> Brocklebanks crewed the Mahout from Newport News by sailing us all over to New York on the Queen Elizabeth . ( an error of judgement on the part of head office ; we had a ball ! ) I was 5th Eng at the time and the 3 rd mate was Alex Smith from St Monance in The Kingdom of Fife . He became a very good shipmate . He Andy Brett ( from Dundee ) and myself were all at the same Cabin Class table ; we had to wear our uniforms at meal times to impress the fare paying passengers !
> 
> First day at breakfast we were looking at the Menu and Alex Shouts out " Steward you've given me the wrong menu ; this is the luch menu ! Steward takes a look and says " No sir this is the breakfast Menu "
> Alex says " Breakfast ??? Who ever heard of Oinion Spoup for Breakfast ???
> Much hilarity ensued . Alex then said " keep your soup and bring me a Kipper "
> 
> The Old Man ; Chief : Mate and 2nd Eng . all were in first class ; the rest of us in Cabin except the Chippy and apprentices who travelled tourist . Talk about the British Class Distinction . ( I was OK with it when I became Chief ! )
> Happy Days Derek


The "Officers' Club" at the American owned Alcoa loading facility at Paranam in Surinam was for Masters and Mates only, so snobbery is not only British.


----------



## captkenn

calvin said:


> what about the exotic *sounding soups* creme du barry ..cauliflower soup potage breton...butter bean soup muligatawny and bron windsor or beef consomme ..oxo had better taste turkey and chicken al a king coronation chicken egg mayonaise boston bake beans and how many different ways to use and call potatoes or the goulash


We had a cook who made superb soups but he gave them exotic names according to where we were. 'Consomme de Canal' (Suez), 'Soupe a la tete de Pierre' (Peterhead) [=P]


----------



## captkenn

Steve Chalkley said:


> Hi Joe,
> 
> Think it may be "Panacalty"? - I remember having it once on a ship - the recipe was given to the cook by the electrician. Think it's a Geordie dish with main ingredients of bacon, onion and potatoe - I may be wrong - it was a lifetime ago. (Eat)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Steve.


The Geordie dish is called *Pan Haggerty*

450g (1lb) Potatoes 
110g (4oz) Cheddar or Lancashire Cheese 
2 medium Onions 
25g (1oz) Butter 
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil 
Salt and Pepper 

Thinly slice the potatoes and onions and grate the cheese. 
Combine the butter and oil in a large frying pan. 
Remove the pan from the heat and place layers of sliced potatoes, onions and cheese, reserving a little of the cheese. 
Cover and cook gently for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes and onions are cooked. 
Pre-heat the grill five minutes before the end of the cooking time. 
Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top of the mixture, place under grill until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. 
Serve straight from the pan.


----------



## Bridie

captkenn said:


> We had a cook who made superb soups but he gave them exotic names according to where we were. 'Consomme de Canal' (Suez), 'Soupe a la tete de Pierre' (Peterhead) [=P]


On the Dorsetbrook the grub was nothing to write home about (that's me being diplomatic!). The "cook" ("who called the cook a ****?" "who called the **** a cook!") had 3 catering size tins of Knorr soup mix - Chicken, Spring Vegetable and Onion. He also had a continuous soup pot that he added all sorts of dubious things to and then topped it up with water. If you asked what the soup was, he added a single spoonful from one of the tins and that became the "soup de jour" (EEK)


----------



## Steve Hodges

Bridie said:


> On the Dorsetbrook the grub was nothing to write home about (that's me being diplomatic!). The "cook" ("who called the cook a ****?" "who called the **** a cook!") had 3 catering size tins of Knorr soup mix - Chicken, Spring Vegetable and Onion. He also had a continuous soup pot that he added all sorts of dubious things to and then topped it up with water. If you asked what the soup was, he added a single spoonful from one of the tins and that became the "soup de jour" (EEK)


Ah, soup! always tastes best if nicked from the galley and brewed up on the HP turbine nozzle box at 2 in the morning.
I spent a few weeks in the old Mariner's Hotel on Commercial Road in London,many years ago. The evening meal always started with soup which uncannily resembled the remains of the previous days main course. When asked what flavour it was, the dear old waitress invariably replied " Mariner's Soup!"


----------



## John Campbell

There was the famous story about the "Goose for Christmas".
In the 1950s ships used to carry chicken coops on the poop deck and on my first ship there were two between the docking bridge on the stern.

The oldman decided when we were in Freemantle to purchase two live Geese and so have fresh goose on the Xmas menu. One goose was for the Deck Dept.and the other for the Engineers - we had Indian Crew. It was the Deck Apprentices' job to feed the birds and they used to let then out for a a little walk about sometimes. There being some ten days until Xmas - we were heading for Beira at the time.

The Captain and the Chief Eng were having a yarn one day standing on deck looking aft at where the Apprentices were engaged in taking water and corn to the geese when suddenly a goose was seen to flap its wings and flopover the side into the sea. Watching the bird disappear rapidly astern in the wake the Master was heard to say "My god , there goes the Engineer's goose".
JC


----------



## timeout

Having never been in the service, but having suffered Merchant Navy Fare selected by FGM acting as Marine Superintendent in West Africa, and still thinking they were running a ship, ( 2 bob a day per man for food, and proud to tell you they were in budget!!!!)

Palm Oil Chop after the bar on sundays, Chicken a la King on fridays, yuk you needed 4 large ones just to smell it, and woe betide anyone going in to the fridge and making a sausage sarnii for supper, or perhaps scoffing an Haiwwian Toast somebody hadnt fancied as a starter,i got away with it because i wasnt a "gentleman" i hadnt been in the Merch, and therefore didnt understand protocol, and my strange ways were tolerated and questioned only once in 5 years (i dont know if he ever did manage to extract those sausages)


----------



## captkenn

Grace

"For what we are about to receive may the Cook be duly forgiven."


----------



## tillo

Have you ungrateful buggers never heard the phrase " Never bite the hands that feed you?" 
Only said b'cause you never knew when the damn things had last been washed!
Why do you think there was so many very tasty soups?


----------



## kernewekmarnor

i have just 2 words for you................chessie beano's
classic British Merchant Navy fare(Eat)


----------



## Steve Woodward

Cheesy Hammy Eggy


----------



## K urgess

Sardines on toast.

Usually sardine on toast definitely singular and the toast soaked in oil.
Perfect for stormy weather[=P]


----------



## tillo

*Chessie beano's...?*



kernewekmarnor said:


> i have just 2 words for you................chessie beano's
> classic British Merchant Navy fare(Eat)



"Chessie" What's Chessie?

Now Cheese Beano's, Ham or spam, Beans, cheese and to make it seem posh....A Pineapple ring,
But don't tell that bloody grocer before hand.


----------



## Allan Wareing

tillo said:


> Have you ungrateful buggers never heard the phrase " Never bite the hands that feed you?"
> Only said b'cause you never knew when the damn things had last been washed!
> Why do you think there was so many very tasty soups?


tillo, Why is a hotdog the best kind of dog?-----because it feeds the hand that bites it. Allan.


----------



## tillo

Nice one skipper,

Always willing to learn something new from my peers!

Tillo.


----------



## kernewekmarnor

whats "chessie" he says, you been down under too long me old sausage.
pineapple ring? (EEK) on a chessie beano? not on a blue star ship brother, never.


----------



## tillo

Wind up a Grocer and watch him panic, Yep I do know about Vitamin 'c' deficiency on star boats, We liked to think that was the reason they could never beat NZS crews at footy!!!!
Well it must have been some such reason because we were c--p!


----------



## offcumdum sanddancer

I posted this in the BP forum, but after talking to various people I now realise that this recipe is common throught the Merchant Navy, and as far as I know has never been seen in an Indian, Pakistanni or Bangladeshi curry house?

BP DAHL CURRY

Dahl curry. This was a favourite for Sunday lunch menu during the mid seventies, if I remember correctly. Sunday lunch for us dayworkers (and 4-8 watchkeepers) then was followed by a study of the deckhead followed by a closer study of the back of the eyelids. I had not seen it or heard of it for many years and, when real spices were available here in sunny South Shields I decided to have a go at recreating it. If you have had a search for it on google or the like you will only find recipies for the dahl bit, rather than the BP creation or 'made up BP only' recipe, as a whole.

First on the plate is a bed of plain white boiled rice, I find that basmatti rice gives the best results.

The dhal or dal or dahl is the lentil puree bit next on the heap, and can be made from either one, or a mixture of various dahls. You can experiment to get the best result. Try standard red lentils, or any of these:- Toor, chana, kala, mung, urad, masoor or rajma dahls. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal

Third up was the dry fried minced meat. Try either beef, lamb, or even turkey. I think that beef would be most authentic, if authentic is the correct description for what I think was a wholy contrived dish, devised at sea school?

Topped off with crispy fried onion or battered fried onions.


Now for the recipe which is my latest try:

Rice. 
You don't want me to tell you how to cook rice, do you? T'will be directions for sucking eggs next!

Dahl.
6 to 8 ounces of dahls
1 large onion chopped up finely
couple cloves garlic
spices - teaspoon each of ground ***min, coriander, tumeric, chilli, black pepper and garam masala. If these are not readily available try buying a packet of Shan dal curry mix, (available from Ahmed's food supermarket, near the mosque in Laygate) If not living 'on Tyne', try a couple of tablespoons of mild curry paste mix such as Nazir's or Patak's.
1 -2 tablespoons concentrated tomato puree.


Clean and soak desired dahls for minimum of an hour. Drain. Cover with water to about twice their volume, and bring to the boil. Cook until the water is absorbed by the lentils and they are quite soft. Add boiling water if necessary to keep from becoming too thick and burning on the bottom. Not too much water either, don't want it too runny. Meanwhile, cook the onion and garlic in a little oil or ghee and when transparent add the curry paste or powder. After a few minutes, when the spices are infused, tip the lot into the boiling dahl. Stir in the tomato puree. You may also want to add a very small pinch of MSG (I do) The dahl is done when it becomes a smooth puree. This is assisted by using one of those high speed mini food mixers such as the Moulinex turbomix, whilst still in the pan, though not required if lentils soaked enough and cooked long enough.

Curried minced meat.
10 to 15 oz minced meat
Large onion chopped fine
Curry paste, hot, 2 - tablespoons.
Oil or ghee

Fry the onion in the oil until transparent, add curry paste, cook for a few minutes and then add the minced meat. Cook on low for a few minutes until the mince is cooked, stiring it to stop it sticking. Add a little oil if required. Try not to let it get too oily though.

Fried onions.
I buy mine ready cooked, from speciality asian foodstores.

Build the meal. 
Spoon a bed of fluffy white boiled rice onto a plate, spoon over a layer of dahl puree. Next, an ample helping of fried mince. Sprinkle over the top a little (ha ha) layer of fried onions. Eat, drink lager, and proceed to ones scratcher for a little shuteye.

Enjoy, Keith Perriman


----------



## Ali Bain

*12/4*



Steve Hodges said:


> Ah, soup! always tastes best if nicked from the galley and brewed up on the HP turbine nozzle box at 2 in the morning.
> I spent a few weeks in the old Mariner's Hotel on Commercial Road in London,many years ago. The evening meal always started with soup which uncannily resembled the remains of the previous days main course. When asked what flavour it was, the dear old waitress invariably replied " Mariner's Soup!"


Aye Steve, it did not matter where you were the 12/4 used to eat and survive pretty well as I recall.
Regards-Ali. Bain ex. professional 3/e(Thumb)


----------



## Duncan112

Cooked my girlfriends's 8 year old son cheese beanos for breakfast this morning - polished off 2 of them and he is a notoriously fickle eater!! Obviously a young lad with taste. 

I had clean forgotten about them until this thread started. BP pub lunch staple as I recall.

Duncan


----------



## Bill Davies

I could never understand why anyone complained about ships food. It was invariably better that what one received at home if the truth was told.
The biggest complainers were usually those whose diet at home only varied with what they were having with chips and peas (Pie or Fish).


----------



## Landlubber

This would be the case if the same standards applied to every vessel. I have sailed on ships where the catering was to the standard of a five-star hotel. I have sailed on others where it was not fit to feed to pigs. It did not depend solely on the type of vessel. I have sailed on a cargo ship where the food was better than that served on a passenger vessel. Some of the best food I had was on a drill ship owned by a British coastal company, some of the worst was on other vessels of that same company.

Ed.


----------



## quietman

Whilst on board Stevie Clarkes Ashington the cook served up mint potatoes. They turned out to be a large dollop of bright green mashed potatoes. My wife was on board at the time had a hard job controlling her laughter.


----------



## john strange

Bridie said:


> On the Dorsetbrook the grub was nothing to write home about (that's me being diplomatic!). The "cook" ("who called the cook a ****?" "who called the **** a cook!") had 3 catering size tins of Knorr soup mix - Chicken, Spring Vegetable and Onion. He also had a continuous soup pot that he added all sorts of dubious things to and then topped it up with water. If you asked what the soup was, he added a single spoonful from one of the tins and that became the "soup de jour" (EEK)


Ther are three types of cook, Cooks, cuckoos, and wilful bloody murders.(K)


----------



## Bill Davies

Judging from the above, would it be fair to say that the poor feeders were those with British cooks/catering staff???


----------



## Landlubber

Not from my experience. I've had good and bad food with British, Indian, Chinese and West Indian cooks.


----------



## Chouan

Bill Davies said:


> I could never understand why anyone complained about ships food. It was invariably better that what one received at home if the truth was told.
> The biggest complainers were usually those whose diet at home only varied with what they were having with chips and peas (Pie or Fish).


The number of times I've heard that one, usually from an Old Man, or a Chief Steward to justify poor feeding, and I feel embarrassed to read it on this forum.


----------



## Binnacle

[QUOTE The number of times I've heard that one, usually from an Old Man, or a Chief Steward to justify poor feeding, and I feel embarrassed to read it on this forum.[/QUOTE]

Chouan,
I thoroughly agree with you, the reflection on our home feeding standards I also found to be particulary distasteful, my mother having fed the family well on a lowly wage budget. Provision related Merchant Shipping Acts necessary to enforce minimum compliance were and are very necessary.


----------



## John Campbell

I sailed with an Irish Master who graded the lunch time Caltex Curry as HOT, BLOODY HOT or BEJESUS. Nothing ever could beat a good lunch curry followed by an afternoon kip - when you were mate and on the 4-8.
JC


----------



## Chouan

Landlubber said:


> Not from my experience. I've had good and bad food with British, Indian, Chinese and West Indian cooks.


Exactly, quality was dependent upon the honesty and character of the Chief Thief and the Old Man, the ability of the cook, and the culinary imagination of all three.

For example, when Havtor (I won't name the particular ship to avoid embarassment) took over the P&O Gas Tankers, the P&O people who stayed on wanted to keep their Saturday curry lunches. Good for them (I wasn't one of them), I could understand their feelings, but the crew were Filipinos, who don't "do" curries. They do excellent rice and spice based food of their own of course, but not the Indian curries that the ex-P&O people were used to and wanted. But, rather than compromise, we had the Saturday curry lunches, with Filipino versions of the traditional Indian curries, without the proper recipes, with the same complaints every Saturday "These Filipinos are no good, they can't cook a proper curry". Suggestions of Pork Adobo instead were greeted with "But we have curry for lunch on Saturday wth P&O".


----------



## dredgeman

In my many years on Dredgers i found that the majority of complaints regarding food nearly always came from the crew members that were fresh from Deepsea, maybe they were pampered too much there and thought they were slumming it on a small Boat...


----------



## Orbitaman

captkenn said:


> The Geordie dish is called *Pan Haggerty*
> 
> 450g (1lb) Potatoes
> 110g (4oz) Cheddar or Lancashire Cheese
> 2 medium Onions
> 25g (1oz) Butter
> 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
> Salt and Pepper
> 
> Thinly slice the potatoes and onions and grate the cheese.
> Combine the butter and oil in a large frying pan.
> Remove the pan from the heat and place layers of sliced potatoes, onions and cheese, reserving a little of the cheese.
> Cover and cook gently for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes and onions are cooked.
> Pre-heat the grill five minutes before the end of the cooking time.
> Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top of the mixture, place under grill until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.
> Serve straight from the pan.


'Panacalty' as I remember it comes from Hartlepool and consisted of sliced corned beef, potatoes and onions, layered in a roasting tin and then cooked until the potatoes are cooked. The top is then grilled to brown the top layer of potatoes.


----------



## John Campbell

When we apprentices in Bank Line lucky enough to get to Buenos Aires got a run ashore in the early fifties we dined on the sizzling bife de lomo (filet mignon) and juicy sweetbreads with papas fritas the like I have never seen since. Washed down with a bottle of lovely red wine or a cerveza Quilmes. All for a few pesos. Does anyone else recall those lovely meals.?
JC


----------



## Landlubber

I remember the bife lomos from my couple of Royal Mail trips down to B.A. They were really cheap. Even cheaper were the eye fillet steaks which we would pilfer from the cargo, whilst on cargo watch, and cook in the P.O.'s mess. I have never tasted steaks as good as these since. I never will now as I am a vegetarian.


----------



## K urgess

Oh Yessss! Most definitely.
Bifi de lomo completo a dos huevos i patatas fritas, por favor. 
(apologies to our Spanish members [=P])
About the quivalent of 3 bob when I was there and more than you can eat.
The bars up the Avenida as well where a round of beers got you prezels and a round of Cuba Libres got you the table full of goodies in places like the Sam Houston.


----------



## Bob Preston

Yes.

Bob


----------



## Ray Mac

You poor boys never been fed so bad!! Sheeps heed and stottie.

Get real.


----------



## Tony D

Beware the shops of the north are awash with forged stottie now,they look like stottie they feel like stottie but stottie they int.(EEK)


----------



## Chris Isaac

Also in BA I remember when on night cargo going to a little cantina in the docks for bife sandwiches. A thick crusty baguette with a fantastic steak in it!!
I was in Saint Line then and outbound we were in the old docks which is where the cantina was. Then we went up river to Rosario and back to BA to the new docks. Each time we stayed in BA for about 2 weeks... fantastic...me just a cadet then. This is back in 63/64


----------



## Govanbill

Sunday breakfast on BI ships was Fried york ham , egg and chips. It was indeed a treat


----------



## tedc

Christmas Dinner, on board ship, remains the most memorable for me.

It was always (in my experience) an excellent meal, mixed with lots of very heavy nostalgia, super stories being told, etc, etc.

As "Sparkie" a key role was to get the Queen's Speech down to the mess wherever the ship was - not always the easiest trick to complete! Pretty much always achieved though although static interference was commonplace .
The speech still brings a lump to my throat!


----------



## Peter Martin

Pilot mac said:


> John.
> yes I remember the good old Kromesky.
> 
> Another I remember is' Beef a la Mode' which was beef having been penetrated with whole carrotts and then pot roasted. Beef Olives was another .
> 
> The poor old Cornish Pasty went under a variety of names depending on what company you were in . I have come across it in three diferent guises, Armadillo, Sealed Orders and worse of all *****s Handbags (cos you never knew what was within)
> 
> regards
> Dave MacVicker


Anybody remember "Palm Fruit Sundae" - ED's special - was ice cream with crystalised fruit mixed into it - never been able to replicate it so any hints most welcome!


----------



## Peter Martin

A fellow Middy had a theory about Roast Beef a la Mode - He said the cook had a sort of carrot firing gun which was used to pump the beef full of carrot as oposed to lead!


----------



## TIM HUDSON

Chouan said:


> Exactly, quality was dependent upon the honesty and character of the Chief Thief and the Old Man, the ability of the cook, and the culinary imagination of all three.
> 
> For example, when Havtor (I won't name the particular ship to avoid embarassment) took over the P&O Gas Tankers, the P&O people who stayed on wanted to keep their Saturday curry lunches. Good for them (I wasn't one of them), I could understand their feelings, but the crew were Filipinos, who don't "do" curries. They do excellent rice and spice based food of their own of course, but not the Indian curries that the ex-P&O people were used to and wanted. But, rather than compromise, we had the Saturday curry lunches, with Filipino versions of the traditional Indian curries, without the proper recipes, with the same complaints every Saturday "These Filipinos are no good, they can't cook a proper curry". Suggestions of Pork Adobo instead were greeted with "But we have curry for lunch on Saturday wth P&O".


i joined Havtor at P & O change over to them and was amazed at wonderful living i hadn't seen since leaving Ellermans 12 years earlier.! The Filipino crew were OK but maybe they were as surprised as me. Christmas Day was a mess
especially the mince pies made with....you guessed it .....mince beef. think someone had been too ambitious when submitting menu. tim H


----------



## pete the pirate

During the 70's, Esso deep sea fed very well, proper menu's at every meal.
Fresh bread and rolls' every day.
Wine on Sundays, with steaks, Kromeski and Nasi goreng often appeared as starters, also 
Shark on a raft, (sardines on toast)
Train smash,as part of the main course ( fried potatoes with tinned tomatoes, supossed to represent the gory bits from a train accident).

Usually a choice of 2-3 starters, 2-3 main courses, and 2 sweets, so a possible 7 courses available, especially on a Sunday evening.

Heard 2 new cadets joined one ship a Sunday, and thought you had to eat the lot, so waded through all 7 courses.

Also the breakfast menu was considerable, but certain things you did not order, young third engineer's wife on her first day, looked at the menu and decided on the hot cakes and syrup for breakfast, (no one ever asked for it).

Loads of banging and noisy crashing of pans in the galley, with smatterings of bad language coming out, when the steward took the order through, a very red faced young lady at the table, ( I think the galley staff where just doing it as a wind up), she got her hot cakes, but never ordered them again.

On the other side of thing, lobster Thermidor would appear on one ship after taking stores at capetown, so goodness knows what the feeding budget was.

On coasters, the best cook i can remember was Maltese, and gay, but one of the few that cooked his own bread every day, instead of today's buying it and freezing, which seems to be the way it is now done on a lot of ships.


Some happy memories


----------



## Tony Morris

When I was with Ropners on the Stonepool mid 70's the Grocer (C/Stwd) had a motto "I'm not here to feed you, I'm only here to keep you alive".


----------



## K urgess

I agree with the Esso feeding, Pete.
Stored up in Lisbon leaving drydock and again in Capetown.
I used to know what to expect because I had to send the 500 word storing message.
Texaco were almost as good.
Got to have something to beat the boredom.
I hadn't seen anything like it since PSNC.
Best bread rolls by far were by an Indian cook on a Mobil tanker.


----------



## lakercapt

Tony Morris said:


> When I was with Ropners on the Stonepool mid 70's the Grocer (C/Stwd) had a motto "I'm not here to feed you, I'm only here to keep you alive".


Guess they never changed since I sailed with them in the 50's.
It was duff that kept us going. What won't fatten will fill.
Bill R


----------



## jAdUwallah

Anyone remember TANG? High it Vit-C.
I went down the Falklands on the British Trent, blah blah, no land-fall for 4 months. We ran out of fruit 'n' veg after a while (most food-stuffs actually),
as there was nowhere to take stores on. We were a bit desperate. Eventually, when we took a load of armed forces people on board for repatriation, a load of fruit appeared .We fell upon it like wolves.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Couldn't you have popped into Buenos Aires?

John T.


----------



## jAdUwallah

trotterdotpom said:


> Couldn't you have popped into Buenos Aires?
> 
> John T.


Good one mate,(Jester)


----------



## Duncan112

Now the "Turkey Fever" season is reaching its close can anyone oblige with a recipe for Turkey Kazwalla, a sort of curry *** soup *** stew that used to appear shortly after Christmas in both BP and P&OCL?

Many thanks,
Duncan


----------



## trotterdotpom

Hands up who liked pea soup and sippets? It turns out you can still get it if you ask for "croutons".

Duncan, is it possible the BP Chief Steward who invented Turkey Kazwalla moved to P&OCL with you? Personally, I reckon the best part of the turkey is the gobble.

John T.


----------



## John Cassels

trotterdotpom said:


> Hands up who liked pea soup and sippets? It turns out you can still get it if you ask for "croutons".
> 
> Duncan, is it possible the BP Chief Steward who invented Turkey Kazwalla moved to P&OCL with you? Personally, I reckon the best part of the turkey is the gobble.
> 
> John T.



Yes John , Pea soup and sippets - a classic.
Bye the bye , still hoping someone can tell me how to make devilled kidney.
Have tried numerous times but still cannot get it to taste like it used to be.


----------



## K urgess

I'm sure the devilled kidney we got served on toast was out of a tin, John.
Used to be able to get it in Tesco's but not sure now what with the mad cow scare and offal, etc.


----------



## John Cassels

Marconi Sahib said:


> I'm sure the devilled kidney we got served on toast was out of a tin, John.
> Used to be able to get it in Tesco's but not sure now what with the mad cow scare and offal, etc.


That would be great Kris , except that we don't have Tesco's over here.
( remember a previous thread).
Maybe something else for the shopping list when we're back in the UK in
April !.
Good new year to you.


----------



## K urgess

Have to revisit my appraisal of Texaco feeding.
My letters to the Memsahib show that the food had taken a turn for the worse on the way from Rastan to Genoa in November 1974.
Apparently we had nearly run out of everything but hoped this would be rectified at Capetown when we stored.
A catering superintendent was joining in Capetown to assess the situation and everyone was keeping their fingers crossed in the hope that things would improve.
My next letter, written as we approach Genoa in December 1974, reports that the Chief Steward had been "confined to his cabin and sacked for cooking the books". My next comment was to the effect that we wished he'd done that literally 'cos we might have got something tasty to eat.
He not only fiddled the company but had been getting cheques made out for bond & bar bills to himself by crew members. One such trusting crew member had even given him his cheque book.
My next paragraph complains that we'd run out of cigarettes and were running out of beer. (EEK)
Apart from that the auto alarm had given up the ghost for 40 hours and we'd been going slowly for weeks even spending a day drifting aimlessly totally busted.
Just goes to show how the memory can make everything rose-coloured.
Apparently Texaco deck officers were not to be trusted with strong drink so I had to buy it ashore in Genoa. Luckily the Danish technician that fixed up the broken engine room had been bribed with a bottle of whisky to tone down his report and, since he didn't like it, he gave it to me.
Attached are my flimsies for typical stores SLTs to Capetown. Probably a bit naughty but at least 30 years old and now historical do***ents.[=P]
These are not a patch on the Esso ones I used to send and I'm sure this was my second trip with Texaco. I remember the rainbow trout!(==D)


----------



## Ron Stringer

Kris,

Seeing Robbie Armstrong's name at the bottom of the message took me back in an instant to 1966. I sailed with Robbie on the Regent Pembroke (later Texaco Pembroke), which was my last ship before taking a shore job.

We fed like kings during the 18 months that I was on her, so things must have slipped in Texaco by your time.


----------



## K urgess

Sailed with Robbie twice, Ron.
A true gentleman.
A pity he crossed the bar so soon after retirement and didn't get to enjoy his favourite pastimes.
So you'll recognise him 8 years on.


----------



## sparkie2182

marconi sahib......... 

always a little tricky sending such a list on w.t.

but why bother with s.l.t.?

couldnt texaco afford full qtc tariff?


----------



## K urgess

I supose they thought a couple of quid for the two as SLTs would be a saving on the hundred quid they would've cost to SA as MSGs.
I've got some charging info somewhere that I can't find but I think it was about 10p a word coast station charge to SA for a standard MSG. No ship station charge for MSGs of course but still a hefty bill for a couple of stores messages like that. 
Besides there was no rush in a VLCC doing 10 knots at the time.[=P]


----------



## sparkie2182

fair enuff.........

just hoped they didnt get lost in the post...........eh?


----------



## Riptide

WE had a varied diet on most of the ships I sailed on,more than can be said for most people these days.I enjoyed most of it.Kenny.[=P]


----------



## jaydeeare

I apologise for resurrecting this older thread and for this not being Nautical but it seems to fit the bill.

One dinner time at R.A.F. Henlow in Bedfordshire, I had the last portion of meat pie. As the cook entered the kitchen with the empty tray, he called out to the other cooks, "They've eaten it! They've damn well eaten it!" I looked at my plate and still wonder what it was.

There was a corporal cook there, and whenever we had roast chicken, he always insisted on carving and serving it. The only roast he did this. The reason was quite simple. When a WRAF girl came and asked for chicken, he could then legitimately ask if she wanted stuffing!

Generally the food in the RAF was good. Plenty of choices, but I found that the bigger the Station, the more choice the was, but the quality went down.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Has anybody mentioned Boston Baked Beans? The shipboard version was baked beans with chopped up spam chucked in it, but the real McCoy should have rum and all sorts in it. I've tried to find a recipe but they all just come up with molasses - could I be kidding myself here? Is there anybody from "Beantown" with the proper recipe?

John T.


----------



## Landlubber

The authentic Boston Baked Beans *should *contain molasses. Here are a few New England recipies:
http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/recipes/a/aabakedbeans.htm


----------



## trotterdotpom

Thanks Landlubber, I'll check it out - isn't it OK to little bit of rum in it?

John T.


----------



## Landlubber

I don't think that there's anything to stop you putting rum in your baked beans. In fact you could even put it on your breakfast cereal, if you want.


----------



## Tony D

Brown Windsor Soup? haven't seen that since I left the sea,forgot what it tastes like although I do recall I liked it, don't think Mr Heinz or Mr Baxter makes it or anybody else for that matter.


----------



## Chris Isaac

If you are going to add rum to the baked beans then for goodness sake do not bend over, and if you do the be careful not to aim at anyone.


----------



## Chris Isaac

Brown Windsor soup is not made...... it just ac***ulates!


----------



## John Williams 56-65

One of the best stews I ever had was cooked by the Chef on the old Devonshire especially for the Liverpool dockers when they came aboard to unload passengers baggage on our return to UK. The chef had an arrangement with the boss docker for this. I think it had just about every sort of meat in it with with plenty of vegetables, and it was delicious. After a few beers in the mess a couple of us would raid the galley late at night and help ourselves as it was left on the stove to simmer overnight. Not tasted anything as good since.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Landlubber said:


> I don't think that there's anything to stop you putting rum in your baked beans. In fact you could even put it on your breakfast cereal, if you want.


What a Lubberly idea - I could be cornflaked out by morning tea time!

John T.


----------



## K urgess

An idea worthy of a first tripper, John T.? (Jester)
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lubber
A word that hasn't sprung up in one of our many quizzes.


----------



## derekhore

Chris Isaac said:


> Brown Windsor soup is not made...... it just ac***ulates!


Actually, a recipe can be found here! ......

http://www.soupsong.com/rwindsor.html


----------



## sailingday

I was on the avonwood (constantines of middlesbro), one morning I served the 2nd engineer a shredded wheat, he poured milk on it added sugar, broke into it with his spoon, unfortunatly cockroaches had made a nest inside it, and they fled in all directions. This was 1952, and I remember the engineer's name was Geddes


----------



## jodalo

Baked beans and rum.......fatal!


----------



## Tom McNeill

With stars like Alex Rougie the Denholm food could be better than any restaurant and I never came across the legendary potatoes that were only suitable for "Pigs and merchant seamen". One thing still puzzles me; when there were three or four choices of main course how did they always seem to know how many of each were needed? Never seemed to be much waste and costs were kept low.


----------



## JimC

Saw a remark about chicken legs. As I remember them; they were termed 'Board of Trade chicken' as no matter how many were sitting down - every single person got a leg (the 'old man' got two!).
It has been remarked earlier that feeding on the Denholm ships was pretty good. By MN standards I would agree but there were times in the early days when things 'could be better'. I am reminded of a pair of cooks on one of the tramp ships on the S. Pacific run. They were named 'Bill and Ben' after a (then) new childrens TV programme. Both had been captured by a german Raider while on a Denholm ship and handed over to the Japs. They spent the rest of the war in a prision camp. Nowadays it would be politically impolite to criticise these lads but not so in the early 50's when most of the senior members of crews had served throughout the war! These two were outstanding. When asked for bread and butter pudding they stated it was not possible as there was no stale bread. Food on board was almost inedible. We had to fight the weevels in the corn flakes for a share. The popular belief was that the two of them had been greasers when captured but had graduated from the camp cookery academy with flying colours. One thing we did learn was that when you add 'shaky' milk to tea it becomes a trap for trocus flies (little flies which feed on the leftovers in a trocus shell). As soon as the milk hit the tea it was immediately covered with this delightful but un asked for adition to our protein daily recommended doze.
However, the Denholm cooks rewarded those who trained them on one specific occassion. 
After the Suez invasion; ships which took part were not allowed to enter N. African ports to re-supply. All the ports in Cyprus, Malta and Gib. were full of naval vessels. Our ship had been one of the amunition ships and also an R&R vessel for army patrols as we had done in Cyprus for the previous three months. We had not taken on dry stores since the beginning of the three months when we were stationed in Famagusta bay. It followed; that by mid November, we were running out of everything. We were therefore ordered to return to Middlesburgh in the UK to re-victual.
The day before we arrived at Middlesborough; we had about two dozen eggs and a sack of flour left. The cooks made a load of flour/egg type pancake sort of things which was rationed out to all hands on the morning before the day of arrival. That following morning we arrived at Middlesborough to be met by the Denholm Marine Superintendents and a truck loaded with bacon, eggs, potatoes sausages and fresh milk.... what a feast!

Jim C.


----------



## Riptide

What about good old Hotcakes at breakfast & board of trade Duff at lunch & then beef curry with a cover of salad cream for dinner."great".Kenny.


----------



## CEYLON220

The breakfasts that come to mind on some of the RN ships were:
(1) Kidney on fried bread.
(2)Yellow Peril(smoked haddock)-put me off it for life!!!
(3) Sheeps hearts
(4)Kippers.
(5) Tripe
(6) Tinned Australian sausage----these were triangular shaped.
All washed down with pussers tea and tinned milk which if in the Far East/Middle East contained the usual cockerroaches which you spooned out of your tea sometimes , the odd one would go down with the tea.
Oh, happy days.


----------



## jaydeeare

This isn't MN, but at R.A.F. Henlow when I got up in time to have breakfast I always liked to have a beaker of juice from the grapefruit tray.

One morning, a corporal cook got at me for doing this saying It was there for grapefruit not as a drink. so I promptly sponed out a piece of grapefruit and plopped it into the beaker. He couldn't argue with that!

I must admit that the breakfasts in the R.A.F. were really good. Plenty of everything.

At Fleetwood College, morning breaks were always either toast or fresh made potato cakes - loved 'em!


----------



## lakercapt

Sailed from Italy with a full load of stores (we were told) on Ropners 
s.s. Ingleby to Newport News to load for Rotterdam.
Past Gibralter and several days into Atlantic got a change of orders to go to Porto Ordaz (where ever that was) in Venezvala. This was in 1956 and that port had not been long in operation and there was nothing there. 
First noticed that the Ch. Steward was concerned and found out why. Only enough stores to get to N.N.
Got to the mouth of the Orinoco river and had to wait several days for a pilot to take us up to the loading berth in the middle of nowhere. Not a thing ther but iron ore and a gazillion bugs the likes of some I am sure Darwin would have collected. No stores there and a very worried c/s.
It wasa few more days before we set out for Sparrows Point and the food now was abysmal (thats saying something for Ropners standards were not cordon bleu).
Menu of these tinned triagluar sausages (brought to mind in above post) and rice three meals (sic) a day.
Long message for stores on arrival and when we arrived there was a truck waiting.
Crowd informed the mate no unbattening until we had a decent meal so we unloaded what the cook wanted had our first meal for days then unbattened.
Never ate rice for years afterwards and never did see those triangualar sausages again. The C/S was soon ashore sick and another of the same ilk joined. There was never a fat soul on board


----------



## Big Kezza

I can remember back in the Sixties when i was at sea here on the Aussie coast Sundays was always Omelettes sausages bacon and chips for Breakfast for lunch it was a Chicken soup (noodle,rice or vegetable) Roast seasoned chicken all the vegies also baked ham and ice cream tea was Grilled steak ,chips Cold chicken and ham along with salads and the ubiquitous Big Sister fruitcake. Some of the cattle that was slaughtered for their beef i dont think they were slaughtered i think they surrended needless to say the cold chicken Ham and salads were the go. The Ice cream was made by the cooks from a mix and it was like breaking into a block of concrete.
Once on the River Burnett being one of the Delegates we fronted the Chief Cook and asked him why we were getting Pea Soup 4 times a week his reply was well you having Ham, Pickled Pork, Corned Beef i have to use the bones up etc . I ask you where the hell are the bones in corned beef.


----------



## spongebob

MERCHANT NAVY FARE

All this talk of food gets the salivary memory glands going.

The “Rangitane was in Lyttelton about to load frozen cargo for Britain and I was promoted/demoted from Junior Engineer to 3rd Freezer for watch keeping back to the UK.
We set 8 hour watches while in port and as my stint was the midnight to 8 am watch, it was my responsibility to ensure that the hold and tween deck locker temperatures were within limits when work started in the morning
Too cold and the “Wharfies” would not enter, too hot and the Ministry of Agriculture inspectors would not allow loading to start. Thank goodness for a good experienced Fridge Greaser to hold my hand on my first watch
My other overnight task was checking the cheese. A rake of railway wagons filled with NZ tasty and mild Cheddar had arrived alongside just before midnight and the Second Freezer had quickly shown me how to sample and check the produce. The cheeses were packed in slatted crates each holding two 56 pound round cheeses wrapped in the old fashioned cheese cloth rind and the drill was to use a sampling auger, rather like a apple corer on a long stick, to bore into a few random cheeses in each wagon and extract a core sample for inspection as to odour, moisture, texture and lack of mould etc.
It was a pretty quick lesson, he had more pressing business elsewhere, but I knew my cheeses from way back and I was confident that I could handle this task
Around 2 am I was on the wharf boring away, sniffing, viewing etc and finding no faults when along came the lonely figure of the local Bobby on the night beat. He took an interest in what I was doing and on completion of the job I invited him on board to the Engineer’s pantry where we brewed a cup of tea and melted a few sticks of cheese over some toast, a very nice early morning tea indeed.
The Chief Freezer checked my remaining samples in the morning and approved my judgment so it was off to bed with pride over my first watch.
The next night, same procedure, a new rake of wagons to inspect so at 2 am I am down on the wharf sampling again and who should appear but the same constable but with another and his Sergeant, the whole watch house. I wasn’t slow, I caught on as quickly as they did and I soon made an excuse that I was needed below.
I often wondered what was thought when the odd corner grocer in Britain sliced through a big Cheddar to find it looking more like a Swiss cheese.


----------



## salvina

In Salvesens a popular item on the breakfast menu was Norwegian black pudding made from whale blood, not so popular was the white fish which was generally referred to as "Fairtry rejects". On the La Colina we had a cook who made the best mullagatawny soup I have ever had, you could almost stand the spoon in it! Any Ben boat I was on always had Bombay Curry on the breakfast menu. No wonder I have digestion problems now!(Thumb)


----------



## Mike Vanko

*MN food*

How about:-

Oxtail aka 'S--thouse door' 
Sardines on toast, aka 'Sharks on a raft'
Also, I have never eaten a black eyed pea since leaving the merch as one 'Board of Trade' chief steward bought bags of the things on the cheap and we had them with every meal until they ran out weeks later.(Pint) (Pint) (Pint)


----------



## Riptide

Food glorious food,412 posts on food alone.Kenny.[=P] (Thumb)


----------



## Big Kezza

Hey Rippy
414 posts now. Lunch time here my stomach is starting to rumble and my tastebuds are getting the juices running think i'll go and get my lettuce leaf and tomato on wholegrain sanger.
Big Kezza


----------



## marinero

sailingday said:


> I was on the avonwood (constantines of middlesbro), one morning I served the 2nd engineer a shredded wheat, he poured milk on it added sugar, broke into it with his spoon, unfortunatly cockroaches had made a nest inside it, and they fled in all directions. This was 1952, and I remember the engineer's name was Geddes


On our ship cockroaches were classed as fresh meat, so by rights you should have taken the shredded wheat back.
Regards(Jester)


----------



## pete

Mike Vanko said:


> How about:-
> 
> Oxtail aka 'S--thouse door'
> Sardines on toast, aka 'Sharks on a raft'
> Also, I have never eaten a black eyed pea since leaving the merch as one 'Board of Trade' chief steward bought bags of the things on the cheap and we had them with every meal until they ran out weeks later.(Pint) (Pint) (Pint)


We used to call them S**t House Lids but it all comes down to the same thing......S**t (Frogger)


----------



## Ray Mac

(Thumb) You never had it so good[=P] Ashore now back to your mince pies and chips(Jester) 


Kromeskies
Beef Olives
Ox Tails
Chicken a la King

Who called the cook a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![=P]


----------



## tabnab2

*Yarmouth bloaters*

One of the worst jobs i had as a galley boy for blue flue was to prepare the yarmouth bloaters for breakfast. The smell was awful. The only consolation was that only a few had to be prepared because not many people liked them.


----------



## Dimondd

Things have changed so much these days to what some lads had to put up with in the 50's and 60's. But even in the late 70's when I was on a container ship running up the "gulf" we had a "grocer" who replied when asked (by a very shy mess boy) "hey Chief can I have some more Nescafe for the messroom?" He looked at his calender for a long time and then said to me "come back on the 14th that is when they are due more" Going back to the lads and telling them they had to wait another few days before they were allowed more coffee was not fun...and I am not takin the piss here...that is what he said to me...not fun being a mess boy on that ship!!!!
Things are so much better these days...companies still try to squeeze the budget as much as they can because the catering department is the one that costs money and does not make money (I beg to differ, but that is what the peanut counters say!!!) so it is the first target in an attempt to cut costs, sad but true, fact of life.


----------



## omcgarry

On one deep sea trip what was nearest to hand in the store is what you got as a result you had 7/8 days of the same fare till it was all gone breakfast was ham n eggs and water melon / dinner ham cabbage /potatoes ,tea ham n eggs again then pork beef etc and so on even when stores came on there was just the same carry on and it turned out to be a 6 month trip but over the years with various outfits some great fare & excellant cooks


----------



## Jim Harris

John Cassels said:


> Have long wanted to start this thread, rather dear to my heart (and stomach).
> Most of us have sailed on pretty terrible feaders but on average the majority
> were pretty good. Even in the 60's on the Denholm ore carriers, the food was rather good. A favourite entree was "Kromeski a la Russe .which was just a sausage wrapped in bacon the deep fried. Seemed simple but tasted great after a day on deck. Another favourite entree was devilled kidney on toast. Even after 40 years trying I've never been able to make it the same way.
> Remember braised steak and onions. With a slab of bread to mop up the gravy, you hardly needed a main course. When I was super,once visited one of our ships around lunchtime. Main course was mince pie,peas and chips.
> Having eaten in some fancy places all over the world,I swear I have never
> enjoyed a meal like that. Ch,cook said the lads needed something to soak up the lunchtime beers.
> The point of this rigamole is; seeing some of the food which is dished out nowadays in restaurants, I don't think we fared so badly. Most of us will have pretty fond memories of good feeders.
> I have even tried to get hold of a copy of the Merchant navy cookery book written by a chap called (I think) Atkinson, but still no success.
> Perhaps RUUD will be able to contribute.
> Anyone got any good old fashioned MN recepies?.
> 
> JC


 

Don't have any old fashioned recepies, John, but I used to enjoy
the onion and chilli omelettes that Andrew Weir's would serve
for breakfast! [plus chips!]

And rightly or wrongly, I've got this philosophy that the dreaded
cancer that whispers around us all, is scared off by the eating
of hot chillis....
The hotter the better.

Regards,

Jim.


----------



## Dave Wilson

omcgarry said:


> On one deep sea trip what was nearest to hand in the store is what you got as a result you had 7/8 days of the same fare till it was all gone breakfast was ham n eggs and water melon / dinner ham cabbage /potatoes ,tea ham n eggs again then pork beef etc and so on even when stores came on there was just the same carry on and it turned out to be a 6 month trip but over the years with various outfits some great fare & excellant cooks


Sounds like Irish Shipping to me.


----------



## Lewis

Make custard so thick it sets solid. Cut it into slabs 4in by 3in. Dip in batter and deep fry. Serve with syrup.
We were served this on the Vennachar and the old man threw it at the Chief Steward.
Same ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia river to load logs in Portland for Japan, just at the start of the salmon run. The C/S bought so much salmon that we were eating it for months. Still not keen on fresh salmon but OK with the "real thing" from a tin.


----------



## Shipbuilder

Aboard the iron ore carrier SAGAMORE in the early 60s, the 3rd mate & myself (sparks) would invest in a quantity of canned baked beans at sixpence per tin. In the late evenings, after I had come off watch at 2200gmt. The bridge watchman would go below & prepare two one-inch thick slices of toast that we referred to as "deep sea toast." By the time it came up, we had heated up two of the small cans of beans in the kettle. These were poured into the hollow in the middle of the toast & we were able to eat them "with care" without dropping a single bean. Those feasts remain in my mind as sheer culinary luxury that is seldom surpassed even today, more than 40 years on.

Similarly, aboard the reefer RICHMOND CASTLE (1944 vintage)a few years later, I would exchange the odd can of lager to the pantry boy for a couple eggs that the 3rd mate & myself would boil in the kettle. The RICHMOND CASTLE was a very "hungry" ship in 1964 & these small illicit feeds kept us going.

After RICHMOND CASTLE, it was "full & plenty" aboard the U-C Mail steamers.

The best Christmas dinner I ever had at sea was aboard the Silver Line log carrier BANDAMA in the late 70s - Adrian Cooper (Chief Steward ex U-C). All hands pitched in to help make the meal what it was & I never forgot it. Philippino Cooks & Stewards invited into the saloon for a drink in appreciation - Captain Norman Tuddenham presiding. A very happy ship.
Bob


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

Lewis said:


> Same ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia river to load logs in Portland for Japan, just at the start of the salmon run. The C/S bought so much salmon that we were eating it for months. Still not keen on fresh salmon but OK with the "real thing" from a tin.


Yes, I feel your pain. That's why we set up a smoker. Yum.


----------



## Derek Hughes

*New Zealand Panty Soup*

I remember on Nzs...Hertford....favorite soup was Potage Garbure in the salon named by the infamous Chief Steward Geogie Ford...made from the stock pot ....absolutly wonderfull ...said Mate Charlie Whale....has some delightfull flavors that linger on the tongue.....spot on Charlie thanks to the ABs passing through the galley having dropped 3 pair of ladies panties in the stock pot.....I allways wondered whether the girls from Ma Gleesons missed them.fondest memories....Derek Hughes.


----------



## Pat McCardle

Welcome aboard Derek. Luckily you never kept the recipe hey, or did you?


----------



## Walter Clarke

Cannot believe no one mentioned PLUM DUFF & Custard. I always asked for seconds on Megantic. Capt. Wheatley placed a bet on me when they put a full tureen of it in front of me. Needless to say he won cause I ate the lot.
Best regards,

Walter


----------



## Norm

On Nigerian National Line you could try the Nigerian food if you wanted. Being adventurous I tried out the Pepper Pot Soup and ready made Garri a few times. It stood me in good stead when i went to work later in Nigeria for Phillips petroleum. As the boss of the production station I gave the cook a good work out on day one by asking to see the pepper pot soup and garri.
Being made a chief by the Oba is another story however. I had sailed on the Oba Overami, the great great grandfather of the current Oba (king). However I am rabbiting on a bit, so I'll stop now..


----------



## spongebob

jaydeeare said:


> This isn't MN, but at R.A.F. Henlow when I got up in time to have breakfast I always liked to have a beaker of juice from the grapefruit tray.
> 
> One morning, a corporal cook got at me for doing this saying It was there for grapefruit not as a drink. so I promptly sponed out a piece of grapefruit and plopped it into the beaker. He couldn't argue with that!
> 
> I must admit that the breakfasts in the R.A.F. were really good. Plenty of everything.
> 
> At Fleetwood College, morning breaks were always either toast or fresh made potato cakes - loved 'em!


Johnny, 
Your mention of good RAF food reminds me of my brief stint in the RNZAF as a compulsory military trainee. The NZ Air Force had just "imported" Grahame Kerr from the UK to act as chief catering officer and to brighten up the services menus.
He went overboard and we had wide ranging and delicious meals including one meal I well remember and that was roast leg of lamb with the joint studded with baked apricot halves, so delicious that I went home and asked my mother to copy the idea. Prime rump or fillet steak was on the menu at least three times a week.

Grahame Kerr did not last long in the job, perhaps he blew the defence budget, but he later appeared on NZ television with his own very popular cooking programme.
I believe that he eventually went back to the UK and carried on with a TV cooking programme there.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

Regarding breakfast; in my experience in the MN, cooks specialised in rubber fried eggs. Was this part of the curriculum in cook's school?
Pat


----------



## Dave Wilson

My fondest memories were breakfast after the 4-8. Never had a complaint.
Complaints from the galley wondering if I had hollow legs.
Cooks could vary from being top class (usually on Tankers) to the darn right awful. No experience of Passenger ships where I would expect high standards.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

Re Passenger Ships.
The quality of the food depended on where you were in the pecking order. Officers got the same grub as the passengers, but the stuff served up in the crew galley bore no relationship to food.
when I was in the Empress of Britain, I discovered on day one that if you wanted decent nosh, you paid a steward, and he would get you a passenger meal.
On that ship, almost everyone had some kind of racket going on. There were bookies, bookies runners, shoeshine guys, shirt pressers, and even one bloke who rented out sexy books and magazines.
All these guys paid someone else to do their real job.
Pat


----------



## Dave Wilson

Pat Kennedy said:


> Re Passenger Ships.
> The quality of the food depended on where you were in the pecking order. Officers got the same grub as the passengers, but the stuff served up in the crew galley bore no relationship to food.
> when I was in the Empress of Britain, I discovered on day one that if you wanted decent nosh, you paid a steward, and he would get you a passenger meal.
> On that ship, almost everyone had some kind of racket going on. There were bookies, bookies runners, shoeshine guys, shirt pressers, and even one bloke who rented out sexy books and magazines.
> All these guys paid someone else to do their real job.
> Pat


Pat,
Intrigued! If you started a new thread appropriately named maybe some from the catering department could contribute.
Dave


----------



## Norm

Grahame Kerr did not last long in the job, perhaps he blew the defence budget, but he later appeared on NZ television with his own very popular cooking programme. I believe that he eventually went back to the UK and carried on with a TV cooking programme there.

Graham Kerr - AKA The Galloping Gourmet popular on UK TV around 1970.


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

Galloping Gourmet was also carried on US tv in 1970 and later. He toned down his humor as he got more religious and the show got dropped by most tv stations. He came back with a more sedate cooking show called "Take Kerr" around 1980. A few years ago he was doing something more like the old Galloping Gourmet.


----------



## grant1

Not sure if this is the right link,but why were "Tabnabs" so called.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

grant1 said:


> Not sure if this is the right link,but why were "Tabnabs" so called.


I dont know the answer to that one, but on some of the ships I was in, they were the only edible food in the whole day, along with the cold meat and salad left out for the watchkeepers


----------



## John Cassels

Marconi Sahib said:


> I'm sure the devilled kidney we got served on toast was out of a tin, John.
> Used to be able to get it in Tesco's but not sure now what with the mad cow scare and offal, etc.


Kris ; Tried everywhere , Tesco's in Greenock and the new super Tesco in
Port Glasgow . Even tried Asda , Morrisons and Saisburys but no devilled
kidney.
Filled the car up with Frey Bentos steak and kidney pies though !!.


----------



## albert.s.i

i remember one ship i was on the lord gladstone 1949 there were no freezers just loads of ice and salt boxes full of herring and a veg room and the most popular meal was irish stew and battleaxe tins of corned beef and the 2nd cook and baker made bread every 10 days there was no al la carte but plenty of al la crap there were moans and groans but no improvements but times have changed and did improve cheers. albert.s.i


----------



## K urgess

I'm disappointed, JC.
Must be something to do with mad cow disease, maybe.(Jester)
Glad you found the Fray Bentos on your extended shopping trip!
Geniet van uw steak en nieren vlaaien.
(Before you say anything that's cheating using Google) [=P]

Cheers
Kris


----------



## Ray Mac

Pat seems to have had a raw deal regarding the nosh in the MN:sweat: 
Never mind Pies and Mushy Peas went down well after the Ale in the bar!!![=P]


----------



## trotterdotpom

John Cassels said:


> .....Filled the car up with Frey Bentos steak and kidney pies though !!.


Thanks for reminding me about Fray Bentos, don't think their products are available in Australia. Weren't they tied up with Vesty in Argentina?

At the beginning of the Falklands war, I remember reading about a yobbo tossing a can of Fray Bentos corned beef through the window of the Argentina embassy in London. At his court appearance he said: "I'm not a vandal, I'm a patriot!" 

The name Fray Bentos comes from the name of the port (in Uraguay) where the meat for the pies was exported from - it is on the Uraguay River bordering Argentina.

Good luck with the search for Devilled Kidneys - have you Googled "666"?

John T.


----------



## John Cassels

Yes John , Fray Bentos were indeed part of the Vesty group.

Like you , they are nowhere to be found in Holland so took the chance to 
fill up when we were back in UK.
In fact , any sort of meat pies are not part of Dutch Cuisine !.


----------



## david young

*cookery book*

all galley boys who went on to become cooks alway had to buy
practical cookery by cesserani and kinton


----------



## trotterdotpom

John Cassels said:


> Yes John , Fray Bentos were indeed part of the Vesty group.
> 
> Like you , they are nowhere to be found in Holland so took the chance to
> fill up when we were back in UK.
> In fact , any sort of meat pies are not part of Dutch Cuisine !.


Bad luck, John, I'd find it hard to live without the odd meat pie - luckily we have the famous Aussie meat pies here, even though I've never been able to tell the difference between them and English ones, also passable pork pies have made an appearance in Australia in the last few years. 

I'm sure things aren't all bad there - a young Dutch lady gave me some home made Ollie Bollen the other day - yum yum.

Keep piling the mayonaise on your chips.

John T.


----------



## jaydeeare

david young wrote:


> all galley boys who went on to become cooks alway had to buy
> practical cookery by cesserani and kinton


From a number of the above posts, I thought "Home Cooking" by Lucretia Borgia would have been more apt!


----------



## John Cassels

Thanks John , but mayonaise on chips is one Dutch custom I have not taken
over.

Must admit , the Dutch customs guy at Ijmuiden did give me a strange look
when he looked in the boot and saw what I had brought back !!!.


----------



## holland25

trotterdotpom said:


> Thanks for reminding me about Fray Bentos, don't think their products are available in Australia.
> John T.


Just been in the local branch of Safeway here on the Mornington Peninsula Victoria, and there are 6 tins of Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney pies for sale,pricey though at $5.25. They also have Steak and Mushroom. Mind you we are a bit of a Pommy ghetto down here,


----------



## trotterdotpom

Thanks Holland, I'll have another look.

John T.


----------



## Norm

<At the beginning of the Falklands war, I remember reading about a yobbo tossing a can of Fray Bentos corned beef through the window of the Argentina embassy in London. At his court appearance he said: "I'm not a vandal, I'm a patriot!" >

During the falklands war Fray Bentos changed the labels of the corned beef cans from: Product of Argentine to Product of Brazil.


----------



## 24039062

Can't help with cooking but can remember sailing around the Panama Canal area in August with a Chief Steward who (apparently) had seven menus - one for each day of the week. Soups, Roast Pork, Beef, Lamb, Chicken etc. and an array of "Board of Trade Duffs" for puddings. Strangely, when we were coming back up the English Channel in November he decided to break out the ice cream (Truly !!!)


----------



## martinh1

Does anyone recall ' cheesey beanos'. This was a Bank line special treat,
beans on toast with cheese on top! Top class!!
Or how about ' Whales on rafts'?.........happy days.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Quote.....During the falklands war Fray Bentos changed the labels of the corned beef cans from: Product of Argentine to Product of Brazil.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Norm. Funnily enough, at the time of the Falklands' war, Fray Bentos were a British owned company - business is business. At least they didn't show the Argentinians how to arm Exocet missiles - c'est la guerre.

John T.


----------



## grant1

Maiden voyage Shaw Savills Majestic,Chinese cooks,and chinese food. Didnt like foreign food in those days so ate "ordinary" grub, foolish boy.


----------



## ron fletcher

On the British Gannet we always had a curry on the breakfast menu. Just the thing after a run ashore the night before.


----------



## Harvey Williams

When I took my Cooks ticket in 74, the Cooks Bible was Practical Cookery by Cessarani & Kinton, and also The Theory of Catering by the same authors. I have still got mine hidden around the house somewhere.


----------



## John N MacDonald

For Breakfast one morning on the LT Cortesia we had scrambled egg with ravioli. I didn't think I'd enjoy it but I did!
I tried it myself on returning home but it didn't taste as good maybe it was the brand of ravioli!


----------



## tunatownshipwreck

John N MacDonald said:


> For Breakfast one morning on the LT Cortesia we had scrambled egg with ravioli. I didn't think I'd enjoy it but I did!
> I tried it myself on returning home but it didn't taste as good maybe it was the brand of ravioli!


I used to try cooking at home what I ate on the ships, but it usually tasted bad. Found out my oil had gone sour.


----------



## spongebob

One ship that I was on had an elderly radio operator that had a yen for spicing up his breakfast of bacon and eggs with loads of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce plus Colemans hot English mustard.
I normally sat with him at the mess table and was drawn in to copying his habit.
Very good one you got used to it and, on rare occasions, I sometimes do the same today


----------



## Pat Kennedy

Bob, 
I discovered Lea & Perrins worcesteshire sauce while at sea, and found it could improve the taste of almost anything. I particularly like it with scrambled egg on toast.
Pat


----------



## Dave Wilson

Tabasco with everything!!!


----------



## Chouan

During the falklands war Fray Bentos changed the labels of the corned beef cans from: Product of Argentine to Product of Brazil.[/QUOTE]

Not strictly true, the labelling was changed to "Packed under the supervision of the Brazilian Government", otherwise they would have been subject to prosecution under the Trades Description Act.,


----------



## david freeman

*good food.*

The trips could be routine the company faily predictable and the menu, Inpirational. Like all ex seamen some of the menu delights are expressed. Heres one 'n*****s in the snow' sounds good filled you up and made your bowls open. (Prunes on rice or ground rice). Not PC these days, however.


----------



## jaydeeare

> Heres one 'n*****s in the snow' sounds good filled you up and made your bowls open. (Prunes on rice or ground rice). Not PC these days, however.


Following on from this, in the RAF, current pie was always known as 'dead fly pie'.


----------



## degsy

When I went to sea, the food language barrier was quite a hurdle. Going threw this thread has brought a lot back. Kromskies a la Russe, S**T on Shingle, Burma Road and Landmines ,Puppy Sick Sarnies and the old faithful Tab Nabs . I came from a family of plain feeders so when I saw the menu's it was like the doors of heaven had opened. Complainers used to p##s me off. Luckily I never sailed on a bad feeder, only once during the fuel crisis 5 weeks across to China then 4 weeks at anchor in Dairen, got a bit dire then. 
A thing I will never forget is strong coffee with conny onny, best thing in the engine room. Degsy


----------



## Philthechill

*Taff the panch-sahib! (Fifth Engineer).*

We had a Welsh bloke, all of 35 years old who, in his own words, "had always wanted to go to sea".

When National Service was knocked on the head, in 1960, he was able to fulfill his dreams as loads of pukka, shipyard-trained blokes left the MN as soon as the abolition happened, leaving many shipping companies short-handed, engineer-wise. Brock's, where this all occurred, being no exception!

Anything remotely connected to engineering was acceptable and so entered, "Taff, Typewriter Mechanic"!

The very first morning, of his MN "career" got him off to a bad start as he never turned-to, with the rest of us, and only deigned to grace us with his presence at breakfast, in the Engineer Mess.

Not only was he late for work his dress-code wasn't exactly aimed at "looking-too-keen-to-get-stuck-in" and he appeared in the Messroom in his PJ's, and Paisley-pattern dressing gown, looking like an economy version of Noel Coward!

The 2/E (Ben Lyon) gave him a bollocking for (1) not turning to and (2) coming into the Messroom looking as if he was about to turn in! He then said he would overlook the Noel Coward look so's he, Taff, could get his breakfast.

Taff steadily worked his way through the menu having first, the cereal, then the kipper, followed by egg, bacon, sausage etc.etc.

When we all thought he'd finished he said, in his Welsh lilt, "I'll try some of them preserves please!"

When he was presented with "them preserves" he said, in great disappointment, "Well it's only marmalade!"

Just about every meal was a source of wonderment to him so God knows what his diet in Welsh-Wales had consisted of!! (Probably lamb, lamb and lamb and, obviously, marmalade!!!!!). 

By the way does anyone know how to make Cod Portugaise? It was a great favourite of mine in Brock's. That, devilled kidney's and braised sweetbreads! 

Incidentally Taff did 11 voyages----------------1 out and 1 home!!!Salaams, Phil(Hippy)


----------



## Tony D

I remember a dish called Fish Portugaise do not recall any particular fish being specified,it seemed to involve some white fish portions soused in tomatos and onions,I never liked it so I didn't really take note of how twere manufactured.
Now a dish I did like was Boston Baked Beans,but taking into account the length of this thread it has prolly been covered already.


----------



## degsy

*Tabasco*

:sweat: :sweat:


Dave Wilson said:


> Tabasco with everything!!!


SAILED WITH A THIRD ENG EVERY MORNING HE HAD 6 hard boiled eggs covered in tabasco. As he put it it was a good opener. He had been down the West Coast for years a real BUSH Man . 
 Degsy


----------



## Duncan112

Philthechill said:


> By the way does anyone know how to make Cod Portugaise? It was a great favourite of mine in Brock's. That, devilled kidney's and braised sweetbreads!
> 
> Salaams, Phil(Hippy)


This sounds familiar - got my doubts about the wine though 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bakedcodportuguese_12217.shtml


----------



## Jim Yates

Merchant Navy Food.
As a cook/Chef on all sorts of ships cargo passenger container. I have at one time cooked them all (and heard all the comments been called all the names)
Sadly 30 years in the oil rig catering trade had robbed me of the receipes. 
Plus the rig food is not all that good nowdays (Budgets to keep. cheap stores.)would put old merchan navy food up against rig food anyday.
regards Jim


----------



## Jim Yates

Cod Portugaise.
Cuts of white fish covered in tinned tomatoes lightly drained with a dash of perrins sliced onions sprinkled (now and then) with mixed herbs.
Own Receipe..
Braised sweetbreads
Calf or lambs sweetbreads. soak with water for 30 mins.drain cut in half dip in seasoned flour panfry in butter/oil untill brown both sides cover and cook slowly for 20 mins blend in a little seasoned flour with water and add to Pan cover and cook for a few min more
receipe from Purnell,s Complete cookery about 1955/60.
Devilled Kidneys.wash kidneys cut up into pieces dip in seasoned flour.cut up onion and cook in butter or marg removed onion add more butter /marge add kidneys cook until brown add onion salt pepper beef bouillon (A dash of tobasco optional) small amount of water boil approx 15/20mins add small amount of sherry or white wine.seve on toast..
receipe from above book..
Cannot remember last time i saw or cooked above dishes
regards JIm Y


----------



## John Cassels

Jim , thanks for the recepies......... great stuff.


----------



## John N MacDonald

I was looking through a Rickmers in house publication when I noticed that one ship had 4 Eastern European crew members one of whom was the cook.The rest of the crew were Filipino. I could just imagine a hulking great Ukranian telling the Filipinos that they did like his food!(==D)


----------



## Jim Yates

Ceserani and Kinton.
Hi Harvey Wiliams I have a copy of that book (Sixth Edition 1982) Quite modern for me. But a good book all the same.Was in the Vndi with a Harvey Williams in 60 and sailed with him on the Port vindex. in 69 until71. not you was it.
regards Jim


----------



## Harvey Williams

To MrJim Yates.
Hello Jim, like I said I still have my books around the house somewere, cant put my hand on them right now, but great books all said and done.
Sorry I am not the Harvey Williams of 60s Vindi, I only joined up in 1965 and left in 1978.
Looking at your list of ships you seved on Jim the only two we have in common are the Elizabeth and the Mary, 65 to 66, where you on either just then? 
Kindest Regards.
Harvey.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Jim Yates said:


> .......
> Devilled Kidneys.wash kidneys cut up into pieces dip in seasoned flour.cut up onion and cook in butter or marg removed onion add more butter /marge add kidneys cook until brown add onion salt pepper beef bouillon (A dash of tobasco optional) small amount of water boil approx 15/20mins add small amount of sherry or white wine.seve on toast....regards JIm Y


Jim, just tried your devilled kidneys - great stuff, I could have been in the mid-Atlantic. Gordon F. Ramsay, eat your heart out! My "dash" of Tabasco may have been a little large - wife said "Aaaaaaaagh" (probably Australian for "yum"), but it is called "Devilled Kidneys" after all.

Thanks. John T.


----------



## Clive Kaine

Wow, what a great thread. I sailed in P&O Bulk Shipping in the 70s, with Goanese catering crew, and this has really brought back some of the old favourites. 

Cheese beanos I still enjoy to this day. 
Dry mince curry and dhall - I'd completely forgotten about that, how is that possible? I have to have a go at making that.
We used to have a curry option at lunchtime every day of the week, as well as a "European" dish and salads. Sunday lunch was *always* chicken curry and poories, there'd have been a mutiny if we'd been served anything else.
I remember Hamburg steak and Vienna steak, both essentially home made burgers, I could never tell the difference.
But my personal, absolute favourite was Lisbon Steak - thick slices of steak braised in a hot, spicy, tomatoey paprika sauce with potatoes and sliced tomatoes - I'm salivating just thinking about it. Anyone else remember this?


----------



## Doxfordman

Clive,

I'm with you mate, I sailed with BSD and with GCD on Indian crew ships, Goanese catering crew, absolutely brilliant food - still eat curry at least a couple of times a week.


----------



## degsy

*Lisbon steak*



Clive Kaine said:


> Wow, what a great thread. I sailed in P&O Bulk Shipping in the 70s, with Goanese catering crew, and this has really brought back some of the old favourites.
> 
> Cheese beanos I still enjoy to this day.
> Dry mince curry and dhall - I'd completely forgotten about that, how is that possible? I have to have a go at making that.
> We used to have a curry option at lunchtime every day of the week, as well as a "European" dish and salads. Sunday lunch was *always* chicken curry and poories, there'd have been a mutiny if we'd been served anything else.
> I remember Hamburg steak and Vienna steak, both essentially home made burgers, I could never tell the difference.
> But my personal, absolute favourite was Lisbon Steak - thick slices of steak braised in a hot, spicy, tomatoey paprika sauce with potatoes and sliced tomatoes - I'm salivating just thinking about it. Anyone else remember this?


Lisbon steak sounds good , any chance posting a recipe.


----------



## tom roberts

Hi sailed dek boy British Supremecy 1954 polish cook made some wonderful meals out of crap ingrediedents second cook and baker was i think called Mc Cabe best ive ever come across we had jam on her made of water melon i as peggy was the only one who ate tins and tins of it it has taken me almost 55yrs to find it again and i found it on holiday this summer in France oh such joy fond memories another great cook John Cole crew chef and he deserverd such an honour made a dish CHICKEN POT PIE it is said the old man held galley inspection on the day he put it, on just to sample that glorious dish ,and finaly BEEFY LOMO ? and BEEFY COMPLETE?in B.A who can forget such meals for half a crown or whatever it was in pesos


----------



## Clive Kaine

I can't find a recipe that matches the Lisbon steak we used to get, Degsy - believe me I've looked! There are some recipes out there if you google, but they all seem to involve mushrooms and cream - nothing like the dish I remember.


----------



## tom roberts

Re my comments on John Cole a great chef i ommited to say that he was onthe Parthia, I near caused my doctor a heart attack the other day when i told him i had a bowl of burgoo every day for breakfast he thought i said burgers mind you like me old age is playing tricks on his hearing


----------



## tom roberts

Oops computer jumped ahead of me wanted to add a bit about a cook on one of Johnny Monks coasters Sprayvilleused to give him 30 bob a week for food he went ahore and blew the lot on ale and came back with a bag of carrots i wonder how many other coasting lads have sufferd the same exprience?


----------



## degsy

Clive Kaine said:


> I can't find a recipe that matches the Lisbon steak we used to get, Degsy - believe me I've looked! There are some recipes out there if you google, but they all seem to involve mushrooms and cream - nothing like the dish I remember.


Thanks Clive , I shall EXPERIMENT , let ya know what happens if I survive.(Thumb)


----------



## ROBERT HENDERSON

*Merchant Navy Fayre*

In answer to Tom Roberts, I spent almost fifty years at sea most of the time on coasters. I have only sailed on two really bad feeding ships, one was the Baron Douglas about 1949.
The other an Everard ship where we paid fifty bob a week for feeding, we had egg, bacon, sausage, beans and tomatoes every morning for breakfast.
One day the egg, next day the bacon,next the sausage, then beans on toast followed by tinnned tomatoes on toast. I was 1st mate and complained to the master together with the second and third engineers, the ABs also complained, the two engineers were sacked as soon as we tied up to the buoys at Greehithe on a Sunday evening, I went for a drink with them in the evening and got sacked the next day after Everards office had closed. The second mate was promoted to mate.

Robert
(Jester) (Jester) (Jester)


----------



## BLADECHEF

Great stuff


----------



## Pampas

1st ship I remember for breakfast the routine, was fried egg every other day or you could have poached egg every day, (Never worked that one out) Fish every meal on Popes day. I loved the duff with custard,can taste it now. Gordon


----------



## ALAN TYLER

*Alan T.*



Harvey Williams said:


> When I took my Cooks ticket in 74, the Cooks Bible was Practical Cookery by Cessarani & Kinton, and also The Theory of Catering by the same authors. I have still got mine hidden around the house somewhere.


I also had this cookery book when I took my ticket in 1968, unfortunately it was never returned after I lent it to a 2nd cook. It was a very good cookbook, I wonder where mine ended up!!!


----------



## Baulkham Hills

Hi there,
I sail on ships where quite often I am the only european onboard, the cooks
are Pakistani and have usually been with P&O many years ago.
Cheese Beano, Welsh rarebit, Apple pie a la mode, Oxtail jardiniere, Manchester tart and various duffs appear on a regular basis,.
I can't say I have ever eaten any of these dishes anywhere else except on a ship, but the traditional dishes of English ship's cooks are alive and well, and of course if you don't like these there is always the mandatory curry and dhall.

Cheers


----------



## Clive Kaine

Sounds like good grub, BH, and very familiar to an ex-P&O hand! What flag are the ships you sail on, and what do the non-europeans make of such delicacies?


----------



## Baulkham Hills

Clive Kaine said:


> Sounds like good grub, BH, and very familiar to an ex-P&O hand! What flag are the ships you sail on, and what do the non-europeans make of such delicacies?


Hi Clive,
I sail on Saudi flag and owned ships, the non-europeans as a general rule seem to be happy with it. 

Rgds


----------



## R58484956

Sailing on the QE(1) we had Dover sole out of Southampton, Cherbourg sole out of France and Boston sole out of New York. All put on board in Southampton.


----------



## ernhelenbarrett

In the B.I. ships on the Indian Coast we used to give the Bhandari live chickens to cook us a proper Bhandari curry. We would strip off to just a towel and polish off the curry with a cold beer...lovely. Think the two worst feeders I was on was the British Gratitude/MAGQ back in 1955, lunch was a very weak curry...and if you want any more, bring back what youve got left!! and the Hamilton Sleigh/VRBO where the fridge door seals didnt seal, the cook
(Chinese) cut the green mold off the carcases..and curried it!!. I used to buy my own Noodles/grub in Japan to last me to the Persian Gulf and back to Japan
Salaams Ern Barrett


----------



## Huytonbrian

Harvey Williams said:


> When I took my Cooks ticket in 74, the Cooks Bible was Practical Cookery by Cessarani & Kinton, and also The Theory of Catering by the same authors. I have still got mine hidden around the house somewhere.


My Practical Cookery book was purchased in 1962,( I think that this was the 1st edition ) for the start of my twelve months training at, The Nautical Catering College, Oldham Street, Liverpool.

This little green book and the other book of culenary terms by, Escoffier, where the two bibles according to Mr Beggs, the Principal of the college at the time. 

These books went with me on every ship I sailed on, and when I left the sea to get married my Wife took owner ship of the books and used them for over thirty years.

The Practical Cookery book became a health hazard with all the tab nab stains and was looking a bit worst for ware, so for her last Birthday I purchased the 10th edition from Amazon, and the book still has pride of place in our kitchen.


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Hi Brian, noticed the picture on your posting, is it the Carinthia I sailed in her in 1965 to 1968 in the bakehouse. Jimmy Mac was 2nd baker from Huyton, staunch Evertonian!. Did you ever sail in her? Anyway all the best from an ex Cunarder Alan T.


----------



## Huytonbrian

Hi Alan, was on the Sylvainia, late 1964, then on the Carinthia, Jan 1965 - April 1966. I got a VNC after leaving her on sailing day via ferry in mid river during a seamans strike early in 1965, do you remember that.

I do remember Jimmy Mac, John Butterworth butcher, Jago in the scullery and the infamous Joe Stanton tourest class winger who was one of my blood's. Plus many more, I have some photo's packed away some where of various members of the crew on one of our footy matches ashore.


----------



## lakercapt

Its our Thanksgiving today where we serve Roast turkey.
Seem to remember it was always Roast Tom Turkey with chipolatta sause but memory fails as I don't know what that was.


----------



## john fraser

lakercapt said:


> Its our Thanksgiving today where we serve Roast turkey.
> Seem to remember it was always Roast Tom Turkey with chipolatta sause but memory fails as I don't know what that was.


Chipolata Sauce.-Chipolatas,were a small sausage.similar to a cocktail sausage.They were added to the turkey gravy.If no chipolatas on board.chop up a hot dog or frankfurter.The ships culinary experts never knew the difference.


----------



## trotterdotpom

john fraser said:


> Chipolata Sauce.-Chipolatas,were a small sausage.similar to a cocktail sausage.They were added to the turkey gravy.If no chipolatas on board.chop up a hot dog or frankfurter.The ships culinary experts never knew the difference.


Yes we did, we just appreciated your efforts and were too polite to criticise.

John T.


----------



## orcades

Like Cunard we on the Orcades had to eat same as the first class, even in the engineer mess, it was hard but someone had to do it, was once told by the steward , sorry sir you cant have that its the name of the ship and no thats the date. well we tried,


----------



## ALAN TYLER

*Carinthia*



Huytonbrian said:


> Hi Alan, was on the Sylvainia, late 1964, then on the Carinthia, Jan 1965 - April 1966. I got a VNC after leaving her on sailing day via ferry in mid river during a seamans strike early in 1965, do you remember that.
> 
> I do remember Jimmy Mac, John Butterworth butcher, Jago in the scullery and the infamous Joe Stanton tourest class winger who was one of my blood's. Plus many more, I have some photo's packed away some where of various members of the crew on one of our footy matches ashore.


Hi Brian. I certainly do remember the strike as I,d just had the previous trip off to get married (the good ladies still with me!). I remember John&Joe, struggling a bit with Jagne character that I remember is Freddie Over (FWO) who used to make Lobster men. He always used to say the FWO initials had something to do with not working overtime!! I think he ended up in the crew galley. Jimmy Mac used to run the Tote outside the bakehouse. Happy memories.
Where did you work? Best go now the breads burning!! Alan.


----------



## Huytonbrian

Hi Alan, I worked in the larder with Freddie Over, and shared a cabin with him for a while, he must have been in his sixties then, spent many an hour making drums. trumpets and guitars for his lobster men's bands that he did for the midnight buffets, he taught me how to make them and I could still do it today.I also worked on the sauce corner and first class grill.

When I packed in I went to work at Ford's and shortly after Joe Stanton, also came to work there, he had got fed up and probably to old to defend his title as hardest crew member.

Jago, was a great guy, he had a terrible stutter brought on by being torpedoed two or three times during the war working on the Atlantic convoys.

I am sure other names will come flooding back to me now that this enjoyable chapter in my life has been revisited.

Take care,

Brian.


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Hello again, Its starting me on a nostalgia trip now. I was big mates with Gavin Newport (veg chef) and Derek Charlton (confectioner). We were the famous D.A.G. or so we thought!! Gavin went into the pub trade in north Wales, unfortunately Derek passed away several years ago. One person I think you,ll remember is "Gloria" a winger, one night in the midships pig&whistle she was getting earache from a greaser. I,ve never seen a bloke laid out so quickly to this day!! Oh such happy memories. Were you on board the night she took the big "roll" in the St Lawrence, that was scary. I,ll leave on that note hoping a few more memories might be jogged. All the best, Alan.


----------



## Huytonbrian

Gloria, I remember her well also Sadie and I think the name was Tony Keogh, who were also wingers, hard as nails all three.

I was not onboard for the big roll you mention, but I was when she done it homeward bound in Liverpool bay, I sh*t myself, I heard that the cause was due to a malfunction in the stabiliser mechinisim as they were bringing them in one stuck in the out position.Talk was that one more degree and she would not have righted herself, it happend during first tourist class sitting it was absoloute chaos as it was fairly calm nothing was tied down or railed off on the ranges in the galley.
Cheers Brian


----------



## degsy

Huytonbrian said:


> Gloria, I remember her well also Sadie and I think the name was Tony Keogh, who were also wingers, hard as nails all three.
> 
> I was not onboard for the big roll you mention, but I was when she done it homeward bound in Liverpool bay, I sh*t myself, I heard that the cause was due to a malfunction in the stabiliser mechinisim as they were bringing them in one stuck in the out position.Talk was that one more degree and she would not have righted herself, it happend during first tourist class sitting it was absoloute chaos as it was fairly calm nothing was tied down or railed off on the ranges in the galley.
> Cheers Brian


Hi Brian I never sailed on the passenger boats, and did'nt get away to sea till 1969. Is Sadie you talk of did she work in Caledonian an alehouse on Lime Street in the sixties long gone now if its the same guy she also worked in the Big House (Vines)


----------



## Huytonbrian

Degsy, I believe that she did work in pub's in Liverpool, so I think it wiill be the same person.
Brian


----------



## David W

In the late 60's Sadie also worked in a pub at the top of Ritson Street, Lodge Lane, Liverpool 8, I think it was the Grovenor. It was a proper local family ale house until Sadie and her friends arrived, it was never the same afterwards. I can still see the faces of the locals, gobsmacked wasnt in it


----------



## stuartc

paul0510 said:


> Best feeders in BP were in my opinion the Indian crew ships. The tables (not just on these ships) were always properly laid, silver napkin rings etc. and for every meal starting with breakfast the Chief Steward had prepared a menu typed on the Company Menu card. Full English breakfast with juices, egg choice, hot cakes followed at midday by, you guessed it, a curry (Kopta, Madras, Dahl.....) with trimmings or/and English Fayre finishing off with dessert and cheeses. And if that wasn't enough an omelette for tea @ 17:00? No problem. To imagine I sacrificed all this for cereals and hard-boiled eggs, gristle with Sauerkraut and Rote Grütze followed at teatime by yes, black or grey bread and sliced sausage. German Merchant Marine Fayre A.D. 1978. Mind you, some of the Stewardesses weren't bad. ;-))


Sailed With Texaco for some time Indian Bhadari's were superb chefs great chappatis and the tine potatoes in the curry, bar lunches with chicked marinated in curry....drool drool


----------



## Fieldsy

Huytonbrian said:


> Gloria, I remember her well also Sadie and I think the name was Tony Keogh, who were also wingers, hard as nails all three.
> 
> I was not onboard for the big roll you mention, but I was when she done it homeward bound in Liverpool bay, I sh*t myself, I heard that the cause was due to a malfunction in the stabiliser mechinisim as they were bringing them in one stuck in the out position.Talk was that one more degree and she would not have righted herself, it happend during first tourist class sitting it was absoloute chaos as it was fairly calm nothing was tied down or railed off on the ranges in the galley.
> Cheers Brian


Was Gloria Jimmy Sanderson? Think he's been dead quite a few years now. Knew him in Harrison Line but he also worked in the Crown (Lime St) occasionally.


----------



## Huytonbrian

That's him, I also knew him fom my time with T&J Harrisons, worked with him on a shore gang once.


----------



## olddog96

I remember my first trip as a galley boy the drunken chief steward instructed me to give them plenty, one each. I think I was the only person on the ship that he trusted the storeroom keys with.


----------



## Kevin Wright

Does any one remember "Bubble and squeek"" I myself did not really like it but a lot of the crew did, however in the Aussie Merchant navy it could not be called Bubble & squeek it had to be called ""Pan fried Fresh vegertables" if you tried putting on the menu and calling it Bubble and squeek there would be a meeting called straight away.


----------



## olddog96

Hi Kevin, I remember "bubble and squeek" even before I went to sea,It mostly depends on who cooks it ,if you like or dont.We always had it on Mondays at home left overs from Sunday tea which was nearly always roast Beef and yorkshire pudding and all the veg. Leftovers monday cold beef "bubble and squeek" and pickled onions always good . Vern.


----------



## doric

*Marine Fare*

I sailed with Shaw Savill & Albion for five years, otherwise known as "Slow Starvation & Agony. But I had no complaints, the food was excellent on every ship I sailed on. 

I then sailed with The British Phosphate Commission for four years, Their food was well above excellence. Terence Williams. R538301.(A)


----------



## ALAN TYLER

olddog96 said:


> I remember my first trip as a galley boy the drunken chief steward instructed me to give them plenty, one each. I think I was the only person on the ship that he trusted the storeroom keys with.


A drunken Chief Steward I find that hard to believe!!! Whats this one each,, surely you meant "Give them plenty one between twenty"
Happy days Alan.


----------



## chrisw789

when I worked for blue star line you could tell the day of the week by what was the main course in the dinner menu, Sunday was always Steak! and was a bloody work -up for us Stewards and Cooks,........


----------



## double acting

See the menu amongst my pictures. I remember a Chief Electrician sending the lobster salad back because he had been served South African crayfish instead


----------



## FrankGil

when I was in Denholms with philipinne crew we used to get Nasi Goreng with satays,it was a favourite but everyone checked each others plates to make sure we all got the same number of satays otherwise there was much muttering


----------



## ray.c

*ray.c*

I joined the Emporer(glasgow)at Tilbury to south shield and onto glasgow
just before we sailed on xmas eve the cook deceided to pay off as i was
galleyboy of just 16 i was promoted to cook, on chistmas day at breakfast
i told the skipper i did't know how to cook the chicken, c.eng said when
its brown its done and when black its f d helpfull bugger, so i f d one
of the legs and give to him. the skipper laught so much he nearly choked
and i ran[=P]


----------



## jim.child

off***dum sanddancer said:


> Very surprised that there has been no thread discussing menus and recipes so far. I still try to recreate that favourite of Sunday lunch, the Dahl curry. (Then a little sleep for us dayworkers) It consisted of a bed of white boiled rice, a dollop of dahl, and topped off with a layer dry fried curried mince. Sprinkled over with fried onions. Am I correct? I like to think that my own creations are actually better than we were given, but I would very much like to compare my recipe with what was possibly taught at sea-school.
> 
> Are there any other recipes that are wanting to be done, possibly kromesky a la russe?, or that dish of beef? shot full of carrots, with an air gun, obviously.
> 
> Any catering supremmo's out there, or any one else with unrequited food desires?
> 
> Keith


sandddancer Ilive between the college and the sea could why we are called sandancers ? I do


----------



## Lofty Shears

anyone mention *Kedgeree* for breakfast, favourite on't Shell Tankers


----------



## jim barnes

Lofty Shears said:


> anyone mention *Kedgeree* for breakfast, favourite on't Shell Tankers


I remember it well Lofty, must have got a liking for it as i often make some for myself for breakfast out of left over boiled rice mixed with plain sardines or yellow fish and add a bit of curry powder.......definatley a aquired tast(==D)


----------



## willmac

I remember having Corned beef Fritter which was wedge of Corned beef done in batter and deep fried


----------



## willmac

Just had a though what about the great Salads? i e Russian salad consisting of i think a tin of mixed veg and a dollop of salad cream


----------



## ALAN TYLER

*Salads*

My favorite was Cole Slaw, cabbage, carrot, apple and onion made with a proper dressing. Oil vinegar, lemon juice sugar pepper. Not like the rubbish you get in pub grub made with mayonaisse or salad cream.


----------



## ccurtis1

What about savoury croquets.
What on earth were they and what went into them. When on the menu a rousing version of "savoury, savoury crockets, kings of the bad cuisine", sung to the tune of Davy Crocket


----------



## degsy

ALAN TYLER said:


> My favorite was Cole Slaw, cabbage, carrot, apple and onion made with a proper dressing. Oil vinegar, lemon juice sugar pepper. Not like the rubbish you get in pub grub made with mayonaisse or salad cream.


Splash of TABASCO went well innit


----------



## ronmac6

hi all

What a great thread, brought back a flood of memories. some reflections :

Nasi Goreng on Denholms ship every Sunday Tea- times, 2 days later you were still enjoying it every time you belched! 

China Nav _ Usually a Sunday Buffet featuring various strengths of curry, I used to visit the galley whilst the O/M was doing the Sunday rounds & found the cook finalising his curries. The OM had insisted on the Curries being regulated & rated as Hot, very Hot & Mild. You all know what I'm going to tell you! Yes All curries were dished out of the same huge pot to their various different dishes. I found it hilarious when the experts would comment on the different Strengths & attributes of the exactly identical curry.

On a slightly different note I remember (Denholms ship ?) when the mates wife arrived on board & the HK Chinese steward tried to be effective by labeling her napkin ring with what he thought was the appropriate tag.
Unfortunately Chief Officers Wife transcribed as COW.


----------



## jg grant

*B&Sqeak*



lakercapt said:


> I don't think that anone has mentioned that old breakfast treat!
> Bubble and squeek.
> God awaful stuff using last evenings potatoes and cabbage.
> Called bubble and squeek as that was the noise it made when the cook was doing it in a large frying pan


Tenakwe laker capt.I think the term bubble and sqeak referred to the noise the bowels made for a day after the consumption of said B&S. Cauliflower natural was the one that always got me a smile. In one stroke doc could flourish his culinary French while doing absolutely SFA! Brilliant. Regards Ronnie


----------



## Ray Mac

(Thumb) Ahh the good old days, When first trippers could not fathom the Knifes and forks plus Fish knifes and forks, plus demi tasse coffee cups on the table(Jester) never mind the menu(Jester) (Thumb)


----------



## trotterdotpom

What's happened to fish knives? I've never seen one in Australia, even in quite flash restaurants. They were great for lifting the fish meat from the bones with a bit of style and in one piece.

John T.


----------



## Tony D

Still have a set of fish knives and forks in me cutlery draw,inherited from the folks,can't say I ever saw them in use since I left the sea,or even before I went to sea for that matter.


----------



## alex clark

John Cassels said:


> Anyone ever heard of the book I mentioned in my introduction and if so where
> I can get hold of a copy ?.
> 
> JC


Hello John.Yes i still have a copy of this book,and i was with denholms for many years.Still some good old fashion receipts in it. Reg alex clark


----------



## John Cassels

alex clark said:


> Hello John.Yes i still have a copy of this book,and i was with denholms for many years.Still some good old fashion receipts in it. Reg alex clark



Thanks Alex ; might ask you for a few recepies some time.


----------



## 22logan

*Hello Everyone, you all know your food.*

I've been lurking for a few weeks, and this is my first post. You see where my mind is; on my stomach. I've never been a part of a ships crew although I've been aboard a few and eaten on them (not cruise ships) USN. Also, I've spent a little time doing grunt work at the Naval War College at Monteray California. Since it's a flag officers school I imagine I was exposed to some of the best food the USN had to offer. The EM mess looked practically like a three star restaurant and even had the little refrigerated merry-go-round for slices of desert pie. Boy they had good lemon merange(SP?) pies.

Reading through this entire thread, it sounds like there's enough knowledge to start three or four five star restaurants. 

What I'd like to do if everybody's up to it is to compile a short recipe list. So, with all of the culinary masters (and I do mean that as a compliment) here could some of you all chime in with the names and recipes of some of the best fare you've had in your combined thousands of years at sea. 

We're in the US so I know some of the ingredients might be slightly different, and/or differently named. Man, this chow sounds good.

Thanks for any of your help.

Logan

(Thumb)


----------



## kevjacko

ccurtis1 said:


> What about savoury croquets.
> What on earth were they and what went into them. When on the menu a rousing version of "savoury, savoury crockets, kings of the bad cuisine", sung to the tune of Davy Crocket


Hi ccurtis 1. Look on the BP forum there's a thread there BP culinary triumphs. I recently posted the recipe, on request I might add, for savoury rissoles (same thing as croquettes) with onion gravy. There's even a photo of dickyboys finished product, which don't look to bad for an AB.


----------



## kevjacko

Kevin Wright said:


> Does any one remember "Bubble and squeek"" I myself did not really like it but a lot of the crew did, however in the Aussie Merchant navy it could not be called Bubble & squeek it had to be called ""Pan fried Fresh vegertables" if you tried putting on the menu and calling it Bubble and squeek there would be a meeting called straight away.


Bubble and squeak is a great hangover cure, as is the previous days leek & potato soup which will have thickened over night and can be served on toast.


----------



## Alistair Macnab

I always believed there had to be a cooking school in Calcutta and Chittagong for cooks who were assigned to Indian-crewed British-flag ships. The menus were always along the same lines so they have to have been learned somewhere.
Looking at some of the white-crew menus mentioned in this thread, makes me realize that somehow we all had the same unusual items - for example I certainly remember a curried Krumeski a la Russe!


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Alistair Macnab said:


> I always believed there had to be a cooking school in Calcutta and Chittagong for cooks who were assigned to Indian-crewed British-flag ships. The menus were always along the same lines so they have to have been learned somewhere.
> Looking at some of the white-crew menus mentioned in this thread, makes me realize that somehow we all had the same unusual items - for example I certainly remember a curried Krumeski a la Russe!


Hi Alistair, Kromeski a la rousse curried!!!! Is that the same Kromeski thats sausage wrapped in bacon and deep fried in batter? Original if nothing else, what did it taste like?


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Just been looking through my old B.O.T. cook book. " Sakusta", Take an oblong block of ice and place it in a napkin on a silver dish. Range on the block of ice a row of Oyster shells filled alternately with Caviare and Prawns, a layer of sliced tomatoes and thin slices of Ham (smoked). Sausages are next ranged on either side, garnish with sprigs of parsley and thin slices of lemon!!! Has anyone ever had the pleasure of this dish, if so when and where?


----------



## TonyAllen

Alan.Never seen it or heared of it but my wife says if you have a spare hour or two you can come and prepare it ,she will supply the ice, the same block shes going to hit me with if I read out any more mouth watering delicacies.You wont find many of them in the high street resturants. Regards Tony Allen


----------



## billyboy

ALAN TYLER said:


> Just been looking through my old B.O.T. cook book. " Sakusta", Take an oblong block of ice and place it in a napkin on a silver dish. Range on the block of ice a row of Oyster shells filled alternately with Caviare and Prawns, a layer of sliced tomatoes and thin slices of Ham (smoked). Sausages are next ranged on either side, garnish with sprigs of parsley and thin slices of lemon!!! Has anyone ever had the pleasure of this dish, if so when and where?


Never tried it Alan.
But I will leave the door open if you want to pop over and demonstrate mate...LOL (Thumb) 
Sounds delicious


----------



## ALAN TYLER

I,d love to prepare this lovely dish for you mates but I,m busy scrubbing the new potatoes for Sunday lunch and then I,ve the washing up to do. I,m the boss in this house!!!!


----------



## TonyAllen

Alan.now dont forget the dobi after the dishes.sounds like we are both the bosses in our houses.Regards Tony


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Hi Tony, Its getting worse the good lady has gone off to Wimbledon for the week. No ready meals in the fridge,oh woe is me. Looks like pub grub, life is tough!!!!!


----------



## marinero

ALAN TYLER said:


> Hi Tony, Its getting worse the good lady has gone off to Wimbledon for the week. No ready meals in the fridge,oh woe is me. Looks like pub grub, life is tough!!!!!


Hi Alan.
We were never out of the pub. Can you remember the meals we used to supply for the party nights at the "Wolsingham" outside the Dock Gates in North Shields? Your big pots of curry went down a treat. Also the vast quantities of meat we supplied for the old folks of North Shields. I also remember Bruce who worked nights but went ashore and brought us back cans of beer for morning smokoes. Oh Happy Days and Lock Ins.
Regards (Thumb)


----------



## George Simpson

ALAN TYLER said:


> Hi Tony, Its getting worse the good lady has gone off to Wimbledon for the week. No ready meals in the fridge,oh woe is me. Looks like pub grub, life is tough!!!!!


Alan your spoiling her next thing you know you will be letting her do the hoovering and ironing lol


----------



## George Simpson

Leo I still remember Alans currys and the lock ins at the Wol and Wullie Ross serving behind the bar pissed. I also remember playing pool winner got first choice of girls at the Jungle (I made sure I lost) lol


----------



## marinero

George Simpson said:


> Leo I still remember Alans currys and the lock ins at the Wol and Wullie Ross serving behind the bar pissed. I also remember playing pool winner got first choice of girls at the Jungle (I made sure I lost) lol


Hi George.
Yes, we certainly had some good times there. Wullie Ross was a real character. The girls at the Jungle were from very good families in Shields i'll have you know and the fact that they wore donkey jackets and wellies was just to blend in with us low life.
Regards
Leo (Thumb)


----------



## G0SLP

Apologies if it's been mentioned before, but I still remember a certain B & C Purser's notorious Cauliflower Fritters...


----------



## George Simpson

marinero said:


> Hi George.
> Yes, we certainly had some good times there. Wullie Ross was a real character. The girls at the Jungle were from very good families in Shields i'll have you know and the fact that they wore donkey jackets and wellies was just to blend in with us low life.
> Regards
> Leo (Thumb)


Aye Leo and didn't Houlders supply the donkey jackets and wellies, see such a caring sharing company![=P]


----------



## doric

*Feeding*

I sailed as an Electrical Engineer wth the Shaw Savill Lines on the following ships :-

Dominion Monarch, Wairangi, Taranaki, Gothic, Waiwera, & Suevic.
I know they were called Slow Starvation & Agony, but I must admit that every one of the above mentioned ships were good feeders, the quality of food served was excellent.
Terence Williams.(A) (Thumb) R538301.


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Hi Leo/George, Yes they were good days on Tyneside, Tom & Peggy were good hosts at the Wolsington I don,t suppose its there now. I recall a night out at Seaton Delaval Hall for a medieval banquet, a superb night. Can,t remember whether i was on the Oregis or U.J. at the time, the night was "sponsered by Smiths.
How are things in Spain Leo? trust alls well.
All the Best Alan.
P.s. Don,t remember anything about women or Jungle!!!!!


----------



## Old Janner

Derek Hughes said:


> I remember on Nzs...Hertford....favorite soup was Potage Garbure in the salon named by the infamous Chief Steward Geogie Ford...made from the stock pot ....absolutly wonderfull ...said Mate Charlie Whale....has some delightfull flavors that linger on the tongue.....spot on Charlie thanks to the ABs passing through the galley having dropped 3 pair of ladies panties in the stock pot.....I allways wondered whether the girls from Ma Gleesons missed them.fondest memories....Derek Hughes.


Brilliant ! now those were the good old days.


----------



## ccurtis1

Russian Salad. Only ever seen on ships, and I loved it. Looked for it in salad bars in Morrisons/Asda etc but with no success. Even local delis when I enquire of it come over with a glazed look.
Florida Salad, another favourite, which is so difficult to find, certainly here in the NE.
Breaded sweetbreads, another delicacy I've only come across on ships, and a taste to be remembered. It wasn't all bad, our food at sea, and Ted Landsdowne, a Chief Steward with the Palm Line made the most delicious pea soup and sippets known to mankind. You could stand your soup spoon vertical in it. Magnificent


----------



## kernewekmarnor

*Egg Curry*

A popular "entree" on Blue Star vessel's was Egg Curry.
Take a boiled egg, cut her in half, stick on top of a pile of "patna" rice (i always remember it being half white and half yellow) and pour some curry sauce on the top.Voila!
'Ansome job, and thats no error!


----------



## GeeM

I sailed on the Safmarine Astor Cruise Ship as 2/E between 86 and 89. We had a great old German Baker on board who lived In Chile. He got very agitated when he heard we were scheduled to visit several US Ports on a particular cruise. When we got to Fort Lauderdale the FBI came and got him. Turns out he was an ex concentration camp guard. You would never have guessed It .


----------



## wireless man

This is a great thread but I havent read it all yet. After about three pages I end up in ther fridge looking for something to eat


----------



## nauru drifter

In Harrison's on the bulkers, 'almost' everyone's favourite entre was 'Guano Kon Tiki' - great taste and a top name. The polite term is Kidney on Toast.


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

Altough I never heard the name "Guano Kon Tiki" (which I imagine treanslate as sh-- on a raft) I remember, with great fondness, from my years in Harisons of Liverpool.
I have been searching for the recipe for a long time and have now found it on the BP Culinary posting (thanks to Marconi Sahib) and I look forward to having a shot at making it for myslef shortly.
Peter (Pat) Baker.
.


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

Re. my last post, for " treanslate" please read "translates"
Peter (Pat) Baker.


----------



## Steven Lamb

Think Bankline were possibly one of the leading contenders in the abysmal food stakes !
Okay - curry was on the go 24/7 if you wanted it, but on one Bank boat I was on, they'd overloaded on Mutton and Mutton curry became a joke !
The "Gingers" got fed up of surfacing from the E/R to face yet another mutton curry that in the end they went on a bender and renamed the bar "Muttonbank" Oh happy days ! (K) 

The one that takes the biscuit - was when I was on a tanker (non names / no packdrill) and I was served "good old Macedonia veg" which had been fried in ghee !!

Some of the names that were conjured up on the menu cards use to make me laugh, "Brown Windsor" & "Potage St Julienne" - crickey I haven't seen either of those in years. 

For all that said - my waistline hasn't suffered over the years !


----------



## Steven Lamb

Before I forget..... on a Diamond-D bridge boat (Avon Bridge) I sampled the best "Chow Fan Satay" & "Nazi Goreng" ever. Well done to those HK Chinese crew - cos after a few beers in the bar and a plate full of either - my Sunday was complete !


----------



## sinbadbooth

John, I believe we sailed together as 2nd & 3rd Mate on NAESS TALISMAN (Capt. George Paton) 1967-8. A Panamax Bulkcarrier, worldwide trading, wonderful. I retired 7.6.2010 as Marine Superintendent at one of Libya's main oil & gas exporting Terminals. Talking about food! I joined my 1st ship in 1962, a P.& O. cargo ship, a seperate menu for each meal, probably 7 courses, but the number of different names that could be given to similar types, for example of cooked potatoes, always surprised me. The food on NAESS TALISMAN was not very good but on my next ship, NAESS SOVEREIGN, it was good. I served on ARISAIG & CRINAN. The food & life on modern oiltankers, and no doubt most other ships is pretty awful. Regards David Booth.


----------



## sinbadbooth

John, I believe we sailed together as 2nd & 3rd Mate on NAESS TALISMAN (Capt. George Paton) 1967-8. A Panamax Bulkcarrier, worldwide trading, wonderful. I retired 7.6.2010 (this week) as Marine Superintendent at one of Libya's main oil & gas exporting Terminals. Talking about food! I joined my 1st ship in 1962, a P.& O. cargo ship, a seperate menu for each meal, probably 7 courses, but the number of different names that could be given to similar types, for example of cooked potatoes, always surprised me. The food on NAESS TALISMAN was not very good but on my next ship, NAESS SOVEREIGN, it was good. I served on ARISAIG & CRINAN and finished my career with J & J Denholms when I joined the OBO, SPEYBRIDGE as a new ship in Japan. The food & life on modern oiltankers, and no doubt most other ships is pretty awful. Regards David Booth.


----------



## Ray Mac

ALAN TYLER said:


> My favorite was Cole Slaw, cabbage, carrot, apple and onion made with a proper dressing. Oil vinegar, lemon juice sugar pepper. Not like the rubbish you get in pub grub made with mayonaisse or salad cream.


Some diced chillies to give it a bit of a kick(A)


----------



## Ray Mac

olddog96 said:


> I remember my first trip as a galley boy the drunken chief steward instructed me to give them plenty, one each. I think I was the only person on the ship that he trusted the storeroom keys with.


The old saying give them plenty one between twenty(Jester)


----------



## R58484956

Greetings *David *and a warm welcome to* SN.* Bon voyage.


----------



## John Cassels

sinbadbooth said:


> John, I believe we sailed together as 2nd & 3rd Mate on NAESS TALISMAN (Capt. George Paton) 1967-8. A Panamax Bulkcarrier, worldwide trading, wonderful. I retired 7.6.2010 (this week) as Marine Superintendent at one of Libya's main oil & gas exporting Terminals. Talking about food! I joined my 1st ship in 1962, a P.& O. cargo ship, a seperate menu for each meal, probably 7 courses, but the number of different names that could be given to similar types, for example of cooked potatoes, always surprised me. The food on NAESS TALISMAN was not very good but on my next ship, NAESS SOVEREIGN, it was good. I served on ARISAIG & CRINAN and finished my career with J & J Denholms when I joined the OBO, SPEYBRIDGE as a new ship in Japan. The food & life on modern oiltankers, and no doubt most other ships is pretty awful. Regards David Booth.



David , welcome to the site.

Yes by goodness , we did sail together - Naess Talisman witn George Paton as Master and Mike Feltham as Mate.
Did I not come and visit you after we got home , Macclesfield was it not ?.


----------



## John Cassels

Sorry David , it was Bob ( R.M.) Paton not George Paton.

He was relieved by "Black Duncan" MacDonald on the trip we went up to Puerto Ordaz.


----------



## Ian Brown

*Zueitina*



sinbadbooth said:


> John, I believe we sailed together as 2nd & 3rd Mate on NAESS TALISMAN (Capt. George Paton) 1967-8. A Panamax Bulkcarrier, worldwide trading, wonderful. I retired 7.6.2010 (this week) as Marine Superintendent at one of Libya's main oil & gas exporting Terminals. Talking about food! I joined my 1st ship in 1962, a P.& O. cargo ship, a seperate menu for each meal, probably 7 courses, but the number of different names that could be given to similar types, for example of cooked potatoes, always surprised me. The food on NAESS TALISMAN was not very good but on my next ship, NAESS SOVEREIGN, it was good. I served on ARISAIG & CRINAN and finished my career with J & J Denholms when I joined the OBO, SPEYBRIDGE as a new ship in Japan. The food & life on modern oiltankers, and no doubt most other ships is pretty awful. Regards David Booth.


Hello David,
I think I met you at Zueitina when I was Master on Naftomar's finest, the Gaz Fareast and Gaz Symphony.
I never realised we had been contemporaries in the Diamond D.
Thanks for the book swaps.

Ian


----------



## Billy Brown

Hi All, this thread will never die,not while we all have such good memories. 
Over the last few years me and the good wife have been on several P&O cruises for our holidays. Needless to say the food in the restaurant for dinner is exceptional, I discovered that if you have lunch in the buffet restaurant then a lot of what we have been talking about is there!
Wonderfully tasting, quite dubious looking, soups.
Potatoes of every kind including the famous 'savoury croquets'.
The square ships bread baked fresh every day.
Russian salad, but they dont call it that.
Beautiful curries my favourite being green in colour, Those Goan cooks know how to do a proper curry.
Kromeskies.
And my favourite of all Steamed duffs of every type with lashings of that really thick custard, the type that if you let it go cold you can cut chunks of it off.
Now if that doesnt lead to a deckhead survey then you must be dead already.

Billy


----------



## cookietwo

the mince in dhall curry should be dry and not need the bisto to thicken it


----------



## Anthony Atkinson

Has anyone ever heard of Babies Heads. I think it came from the north east. Kidneys and onions all boiled in a rich dark gravy, and served in pastry. Disgusting, to those of us who enjoyed fish and chips. Anthony Atkinson


----------



## chris thompson195

I was once given the choice of Bismarck Herring, which I declined almost in favour of sandwiches, till told it was a hamburger with an anchovy on top,discard anchovy and eat your fill.
We had a cook from South Shields on one ship, he used to make Stotties early on, great with an egg in the middle and a can of beer as the sun came up!!! us geodies always stick together.


----------



## kingorry

*Merchant Navy Fare*

Whilst working as an assistant purser on the Cunard liners in the 1960s, we had our own table in the first-class restaurant (cabin-class on the 'Queens'). We were expected to take our meals there, and after a while we just longed for some good basic cooking. On the CARINTHIA there was a pantryman named Stan Everett (anyone remember Stan?) who, once a voyage, always made the purser's staff a 'special' - either a pan of scouse, or a a shepherd's pie, which we ate in the crew purser's office.
When I left Cunard Line in 1969 and joined Harrison Line, it was such a relief to get away from passenger ship food and enjoy some good basic cooking. A 'cheese beano' to start, followed maybe by fish and chips and mushy peas, and a slice of 'manchester tart' to end. Who could ask for anything more? Harrison Line feeding was invariably good, at least on the ships I sailed on.
During my three summers with the KING ORRY on the Isle of Man run, we had our own table in the first-class dining room, and had some really good meals dished up by 'Abba' (? - anyone remember Abba on the KING ORRY in the early 1970s?).
John Shepherd (kingorry)


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Hi John Our paths must have crossed as I was on the Carinthia from Aug 65 to Dec 67, all my time in the bakehouse, I remember Stan. Additionally I,ve a picture of the King Orry somewhere when she broke free of her moorings at Glasson Dock and ended up high and dry on the marshes at Conder green. If your,e interested I,ll dig it out and send you a copy.
Alan T.


----------



## Ray Mac

chris thompson195 said:


> I was once given the choice of Bismarck Herring, which I declined almost in favour of sandwiches, till told it was a hamburger with an anchovy on top,discard anchovy and eat your fill.
> We had a cook from South Shields on one ship, he used to make Stotties early on, great with an egg in the middle and a can of beer as the sun came up!!! us geodies always stick together.




Canna beat a Stottie sarni with loads of bacon and blackpudd[=P](Thumb)

Ray


----------



## Pat Kennedy

kingorry said:


> When I left Cunard Line in 1969 and joined Harrison Line, it was such a relief to get away from passenger ship food and enjoy some good basic cooking. A 'cheese beano' to start, followed maybe by fish and chips and mushy peas, and a slice of 'manchester tart' to end. Who could ask for anything more? Harrison Line feeding was invariably good, at least on the ships I sailed on.
> 
> Manchester Tart!
> Thats a blast from the past, I only ever saw that in school dinners in the 1950s, jam tart with a layer of custard on top and sprinkled with shredded cocoanut, I'd forgotten all about it , now I'm going to ask the wife to make one.
> Regards,
> Pat(Thumb)


----------



## jg grant

Hi from NZ. I was on a ship or two where we had left over duff fried next day for breakfast. It was blurdy good too with bacon and eggs. Ronnie


----------



## Ray Mac

jg grant said:


> Hi from NZ. I was on a ship or two where we had left over duff fried next day for breakfast. It was blurdy good too with bacon and eggs. Ronnie


Deep Fried Plum Duff[=D](Pint)(Fly)


----------



## Ron Dean

jg grant said:


> Hi from NZ. I was on a ship or two where we had left over duff fried next day for breakfast. It was blurdy good too with bacon and eggs. Ronnie


Similar - The left over beans & tomato from breakfast went into the meat pie served for lunch to make a meat & veg pie.
(aka - "savoury mince pie" if the meat had run out, or just "savoury pie" if devoid of meat or mince).


----------



## chefman

Hi guys,
ever heard the saying sunday dinner every weekday, Christmas dinner every sunday?
chefman


----------



## Ray Mac

chefman said:


> Hi guys,
> ever heard the saying sunday dinner every weekday, Christmas dinner every sunday?
> chefman


Only in the merch:sweat:

Ray


----------



## stan mayes

Hi - To all 'good feeders' I have posted a 'Scale of Provisions'
in the gallery - 
Stan


----------



## Ray Mac

stan mayes said:


> Hi - To all 'good feeders' I have posted a 'Scale of Provisions'
> in the gallery -
> Stan


Stan, Some of the crews that work the offshore ships moan when you run out of Snickers and Mars bars. And fresh water that's only for showers and the galley, they like bottled water:sweat: different breed now[=P]

Ray


----------



## ernie dixon

allo all,just up to page 12 on the grub pages.a lot of what has been written has hit a raw nerve and has tears rolling down my cheeks.when i tell you i was an ex chief thief with ropners you will undersatnd.will have to read the rest later.i have a few things to post but will bide my time.good luck all. ernie dixon.


----------



## Billieboy

Welcome aboard Ernie, there's plenty more to interest you on this site, have you tried the Photo gallery yet? there's a stack of Menus you used to dream of!


----------



## Ray Mac

Welcome aboard Ernie, I bet we could tell a few tales[=D]


Ray(Pint)(Pint)(Pint)


----------



## ernie dixon

This is a true story(we all say that)my mate who is a regular contributor to this page was called to that saloon one day and asked about the sweet."its only plums and custard he says"so on closer inspection the plums turned out to be PLUM TOMATOES.nice combination i thought.tomatoes and custard.He will without a doubt reply to this.keep smilin` ernie dixon.


----------



## ernie dixon

forgot to mention it was pakistani crew.if you ask politley he might even tell you about THE TOPAZ on the old mans inspection.


----------



## Ray Mac

ernie dixon said:


> This is a true story(we all say that)my mate who is a regular contributor to this page was called to that saloon one day and asked about the sweet."its only plums and custard he says"so on closer inspection the plums turned out to be PLUM TOMATOES.nice combination i thought.tomatoes and custard.He will without a doubt reply to this.keep smilin` ernie dixon.


Quite true, but it was Plum crumble and custard, pakistan crew. Good laugh. Petroship.

Ray(Pint)(Pint)


----------



## Ray Mac

ernie dixon said:


> forgot to mention it was pakistani crew.if you ask politley he might even tell you about THE TOPAZ on the old mans inspection.



Now that would put you of your dinner[=D][=D]

better in the pocket(Pint)

Ray(Scribe)


----------



## BOB.WHITTAKER

THE BEST FEEDER,Houlder Offshore/Houlder Marine Drilling on their dive support vessels and rigs and I have the figure to prove it,still the M.N. as we were "on articles".I give a few names to remember at different levels in the system, Mervyn Underwood/Alan Tyler/Gary Jones/Lennie Farrar/Malcolm Gardiner/Dave Dunnet/Rod McCormick/Peter Winmill/Geff Bloor. I apologise to anyone I have left out but you were all known for the contribution you made to life onboard those units. Best regards to all,Bob Whittaker.


----------



## ernie dixon

whoops sorry ray,petroships eh.Ras tan to Jeddah for 4 months.Al safaniayah and the Al mahad what an experience,no bacon/ham/spam/pork how did we survive ha ha.i used to "visit " other ships in RasTan and sky or bum off my opposoite number a couple of pounds of bacon.mission accomplished,once at sea it was all the officers from the old man down to a locked down galley for bacon butties.Bacon sarnies were never so good as these illegal ones.would hate to think what would have happened if i was captured on the oil jetty with carrier bag of bacon.


----------



## Ray Mac

ernie dixon said:


> whoops sorry ray,petroships eh.Ras tan to Jeddah for 4 months.Al safaniayah and the Al mahad what an experience,no bacon/ham/spam/pork how did we survive ha ha.i used to "visit " other ships in RasTan and sky or bum off my opposoite number a couple of pounds of bacon.mission accomplished,once at sea it was all the officers from the old man down to a locked down galley for bacon butties.Bacon sarnies were never so good as these illegal ones.would hate to think what would have happened if i was captured on the oil jetty with carrier bag of bacon.


Probably still locked up Ernie, tried the breakfast beef crap(?HUH) Never mind was nearly thirty years ago.
Ray(Pint)(Pint)


----------



## ALAN TYLER

BOB.WHITTAKER said:


> THE BEST FEEDER,Houlder Offshore/Houlder Marine Drilling on their dive support vessels and rigs and I have the figure to prove it,still the M.N. as we were "on articles".I give a few names to remember at different levels in the system, Mervyn Underwood/Alan Tyler/Gary Jones/Lennie Farrar/Malcolm Gardiner/Dave Dunnet/Rod McCormick/Peter Winmill/Geff Bloor. I apologise to anyone I have left out but you were all known for the contribution you made to life onboard those units. Best regards to all,Bob Whittaker.


Thanks Bob, they were good feeders as we weren,t too tied to a victualling rate. Just back from sunny/hot Gran Canaria. Sorry for not getting to meet up this Summer hopefully next year. All the best Alan


----------



## andy60e

DMA said:


> What about Currie & Rice at breakfast that of course after around of eggs & bacon.
> This was Harrisons [ two of fat one of lean Harrisons ],who said they were hungry.
> Have had me hooked on currie ever since. (Thumb)


I seem to remember curried corned beef and rice being served at breakfast on one of Denholms box boats...canny mind which one now......cook had been ex BP and said it was a staple of bp tankers


----------



## andy60e

John Campbell said:


> I sailed with an Irish Master who graded the lunch time Caltex Curry as HOT, BLOODY HOT or BEJESUS. Nothing ever could beat a good lunch curry followed by an afternoon kip - when you were mate and on the 4-8.
> JC


Sailed with a Welsh cook on the Sig Ragne....good cook normally....but his boast was that he made curries so hot that not even the Indians could eat them....never seen the sense in that.


----------



## guinnessmick

Mike lawrence said:


> Boston Baked Beans:
> Haricot beans soaked overnight
> Tinned tomatoes
> Tomato puree
> Belly pork
> Molasses. Drain the beans mix in with tomatoes and tomato puree. Add molasses. Cut into small cubes the belly pork after removing rine fry until tender with thinly sliced onion and garlic. Add altogether in a roasting tin stir and allow to simmer on low heat in oven. Serve with crusty bread and a nice light ice cold beer.


spot on mate but i used to leave the belly pork in slices


----------



## guinnessmick

what about houlders deepsea i was on the swan river it was a great ship a good feeder and single birth accomadation we had steak twice a week sirloin on a wednesday filet on a sundayi had never known that before or since and them argentine filets where huge


----------



## kevjacko

andy60e said:


> I seem to remember curried corned beef and rice being served at breakfast on one of Denholms box boats...canny mind which one now......cook had been ex BP and said it was a staple of bp tankers


Nah Andy,

I'd dispute that. I did 8 years with BP in the 80's and I never saw or heard of it. We had to many other things to do with the dog, ie Stovies, panacalty, fritters, rissoles, sarnies, salads, steamed, baked, fried, roasted, you name it but never curried. LOL


----------



## andy60e

Aye, very versatile was corned dog....what would we do wothout it?

Maybe it was just a staple of that particular cooks ships then.....but he blamed BP for it...lol


----------



## radioman1969

*Feeding*

Seconded to Cory Line Dukesgarth/Monksgarth in 1976 for a few trips from Cunard.

'Hands up for soup' was the cry from the galley hatch and everybody that wanted soup obliged with a show of hands.

Same routine for main course.

'Do you want custard, Captain' ? - Yes please was the shouted response.

Fantastic grub, great bunch of blokes both crew/officers and great runs ashore/parties up the Lakes.

In Cunard, it would have been crisp white tunic clad waiters 'swanning around the dining room' and taking your orders. 

'Would you like wine or water with your meal, sir ?'

In Cory's, it was beer with everything and you got it yourself !.

Happy days indeed.


----------



## lawrence Croxford

R58484956 said:


> On Union Castle cargo we had a sunday night treat, egg surprise, but after 11 months the surprise bit wore off, egg surprise= one upturned apricot with white custard.
> Chief steward bought barracuda and tried to pass it off as herring, but the 12/4 had seen them in the frig room and after a few beers mentioned this to CS, we had free issue beer for a longtime afterwards.


 Egg suprise = 1/2 upturned apricot on a digestive biccy with white custard over,, first trip engineer although listed as a dessert on menu amazed all in the officers dining room by putting plenty of tomato sauce on cutting into it and shocked said "OH ITS a PEACH " result peels of laughter from everyone..Larry Croxford chief Cook BP retired..R 582413


----------



## borderreiver

Lucky to have a digestive biccy commons just on top of creamed rice(just)


----------



## john blythe

dont mater what is cooked ! someone will mone


----------



## julianne

lakercapt said:


> The list that was displayed on board ships was a copy of the ships agreement (articles) and that showed the minimum (chief stewards thought it was maximum) food allowances with permitted substitutes. Commanly know as your wack.
> Not many went to these extremes but I all depended on whither the chief steward had enough saved to buy his retirement pub


board of trade regulations,on federal ship "***berland" the galley boy was seasick for at least a week. crew were entitled to a minimum of 3 eggs a week,but the cook decided to give the boy some hard boiled eggs to calm his stomach,ate the "valuable "eggs,and went straight to the side and vomited,cook was furious,"bring those bloody eggs back!" gt


----------



## john hardy

been nearly 40 years since i was at sea, sailed for WHSN, Dagleish, Souters, Bowrings and Everards, every one a good feeder, this thread brings back many memories. my old man was a cook/steward from 1928-68, long time with ropners, 20 years with stevie clarkes. i can relate to MN feeding better than civvies, i was born in 1950 when we still had rationing, the old man used to supply the family with meat, butter etc. must have had to much on the ship eh?


----------



## muldonaich

john hardy said:


> been nearly 40 years since i was at sea, sailed for WHSN, Dagleish, Souters, Bowrings and Everards, every one a good feeder, this thread brings back many memories. my old man was a cook/steward from 1928-68, long time with ropners, 20 years with stevie clarkes. i can relate to MN feeding better than civvies, i was born in 1950 when we still had rationing, the old man used to supply the family with meat, butter etc. must have had to much on the ship eh?


 as an ex poor shipowner ill be at you door in the morning for my money for the stores lol kev


----------



## alan ward

tell said:


> Shame on you chaps! no Apple Daddy, surely there must be someone from T&J Harrisons, Terry


Memories of Harrisons catering include seeing chilli con carne for breakfast also curry ,not a problem as obviously people were coming off watch and maybe wanted something more substantial.The chilli in the mid 60`s was a real novelty,I`d never seen it before,however it was baked beans instead of kidney and a water biscuit in place of tortilla.It stuck with me and when I became a Purser/Catering Officer later on,it became a good stop gap if something quick was needed.

I also remember a Chief Steward called Harry who when asked where the veg was to accompany the brown stew shouted into the saloon`It`s in the ******* stew`


----------



## alan ward

Succour said:


> What a great thread. The two that spring to mind on Bluey's was Nasi Goreng, and Kedgeree. On Elder Dempsters Kumba we were asked if we would like to try Palm Oil Chop. We all declined the offer after seeing the Ch cook come out of the poop mixing the chop with his hands and a lady of the night hanging round his neck. Strange ship that Kumba. Opposed piston Doxford and steam recip auxiliaries, including the turning gear. 110 volts DC, and the lights used to dim when we showed a movie. West African stewards and engine room hands, boy could they swing a hammer in the crankcase, Happy days. all the best lads Succour


I sailed on the Kohima in 1966 as Cadet Purser,a liner split off the Escravas Bar and everybody had to turn to and lend a hand having installed the spare we set off up the creeks having loaded another liner went so we called into Freetown and an engineer flew out from the uk and repaired the split.K boats,no a/c,ice water from a chained tap in the pantry only allowed about an hour a day and my lovely mohair suit going mouldy in the wardrobe,african grey parrots everywhere for £5(with cage),final blow the steering ram went in terrible weather in Biscay and went into Vigo for repairs.Happy days eh?


----------



## alan ward

lakercapt said:


> The list that was displayed on board ships was a copy of the ships agreement (articles) and that showed the minimum (chief stewards thought it was maximum) food allowances with permitted substitutes. Commanly know as your wack.
> Not many went to these extremes but I all depended on whither the chief steward had enough saved to buy his retirement pub


Oh come on Lakercapt,by the time you consider the Mates dunnage,water and assorted back handers,the Chief Engineers bunker commission and the Old Mans exchange rate fiddles on crew cash advances and share of everyones baksheesh the Chief Steward was very low on the horizon when it came to the black market.
yours from my retirement pub,
Al


----------



## Ray Mac

(Jester)(Jester)(Pint)(Pint) Those Brown Envelopes again, mind dinna have a pub!!!!.

Ray


----------



## WilliamH

Alan Ward I was on the Kohima from 20th July 1965 until 1st March 1966, you must have joined after I left. It was a happy ship though the work was hard
and conditions were as you described them. The purser while I was there was called Sadler, I can't remember his christian name, I heard he later married an Italian girl, he met while the ship was in Genoa, I remember my wife and I were invited to the girl's parents apartment to meet her parents, it was quite a "posh" apartment if I remember correctly.


----------



## alan ward

I joined in the autumn of 66 after that familiar first trip on a mail boat,in my case the Accra.Don Cadman said of me`You got bolshy from mixing with the junior engineers but you`re a good human being`Unlike many of the rather`scholarly`Cadet Pursers I had been brought up in a MN family and always wanted to go away,first attending Riversdale as a radio student but the commute from Birkdale to Aigburth combined with my discovering teenage girls conspired aainst me and before I knew it I was tallying bales of rubber and enormous logs in Calabar,Warri,Sapele and Burutu!not at all what I expected.the Purser was one Peter Scott from Meols,he didn`t like work much and having a subordinate made his day.When I meet someone who is bone idle I mentally compare them to Pete,no-one has ever come close.The Sparkie was called Coulson known universally as Callsign.After Kohima,which would keep on breaking down I did 2 trips on the Owerri which were tremendous fun and the start of my finally learning how to behave as a man and a seaman,I left and my seaoing life really began.Fond memories though but what a very old fashioned company ED`s were back then,stuck in a 50`s timewarp


----------



## alan ward

R798780 said:


> Les produced what, for us in Brocklebanks, was the definitive list of curries. Regional and other names with the list of main ingredients. I saw one once, in the days before photocopiers so never got a proper copy, and long regretted that ommission.


That was probably copied and passed around,now somewhere I have one in my old menu/souvenir files if I can find it i`ll post it for you


----------



## alan ward

andysk said:


> Aaaah !
> 
> Kromeskis a la Russe
> 
> Pigs in Blankets
> 
> Clan Line Spew aka sandwich spread
> 
> Connyonnie (sp ?)
> 
> One egg a day, and picking the lock on the galley doors for more to hard boil in the bridge kettle at night.
> 
> Being on Hector Heron away from the usual routes meaning an (almost) unlimited feeding rate.
> 
> Watching the PCO, out of his brain one lunchtime, go face first into the tomato soup, then stagger off to his cabin with his shorts on back to front (how he achieved that nobody ever found out !) He was a good feeder though !
> 
> Aaah ! memories


This website is ensuring I don`t do any work at all today.I was once told a story about when Cayzer Irvine took over the King Line and a Catering Superintendent was explainin to some old shell-back chief steward all about Slop Chest,Inventory and Catering Account Books he handed them over to the old boy and when the vessel returned some months later asked him`Have you got your books for me?``Yes he replied they`re where you left them on my day bed`I knew many PCO`s all combined by one thing,they ALL loved a drink.I blame Alec Bannerman from the Clan Menzies for my downfall


----------



## alan ward

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> I still remember (with fondness) a breakfast dish which consisted of chopped up kidney in a rich brown sauce served on fried bread.
> 
> I have tried for years to order it in whilst eating out, asking chefs if they had a name for it, and trying to find a recipe.
> 
> Can anybody out there help? An ex Harrison Chief Steward or Chief Cook could probabaly help.
> 
> Peter (Pat) Baker.


Kidney Turbigo?


----------



## alan ward

tunatownshipwreck said:


> Galloping Gourmet was also carried on US tv in 1970 and later. He toned down his humor as he got more religious and the show got dropped by most tv stations. He came back with a more sedate cooking show called "Take Kerr" around 1980. A few years ago he was doing something more like the old Galloping Gourmet.


I remember him,at the end of his show he would taste the food and a look would come over face as if he was being s=====ed off by a Yokohama Hooker just out of camera shot


----------



## alan ward

ALAN TYLER said:


> I also had this cookery book when I took my ticket in 1968, unfortunately it was never returned after I lent it to a 2nd cook. It was a very good cookbook, I wonder where mine ended up!!!


Having a drink with a mate I mentioned Repertoire de la Cuisine,a chefs printed notebook (you have to know how to cook already to use it,it`s like an aide memoire as we classical trained chefs say!)Well he was so classy he nicked it!Years later I joined the Clan Malcolm as AP/CO opened my desk drawer,I had a little cubbyhole of my own in the Pursers Office,and found my book still with my mates name in it the cheeky sod.


----------



## alan ward

degsy said:


> Hi Brian I never sailed on the passenger boats, and did'nt get away to sea till 1969. Is Sadie you talk of did she work in Caledonian an alehouse on Lime Street in the sixties long gone now if its the same guy she also worked in the Big House (Vines)


Sadie did indeed work in the Big House


----------



## alan ward

sinbadbooth said:


> John, I believe we sailed together as 2nd & 3rd Mate on NAESS TALISMAN (Capt. George Paton) 1967-8. A Panamax Bulkcarrier, worldwide trading, wonderful. I retired 7.6.2010 as Marine Superintendent at one of Libya's main oil & gas exporting Terminals. Talking about food! I joined my 1st ship in 1962, a P.& O. cargo ship, a seperate menu for each meal, probably 7 courses, but the number of different names that could be given to similar types, for example of cooked potatoes, always surprised me. The food on NAESS TALISMAN was not very good but on my next ship, NAESS SOVEREIGN, it was good. I served on ARISAIG & CRINAN. The food & life on modern oiltankers, and no doubt most other ships is pretty awful. Regards David Booth.


would that be George Paton from Anlaby Hull by any chance?


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Merchant Navy Fare*

Alan Ward,

I'm sorry for the delay, but I have only just read your reply
to my query about Harrisons chopped kidney in gravy.

The name was definitely not kidney turbigo.

After all these years I am wondering if this was served
in Palm Line rather than Harrisons.

The thing is that nobody else seems to remember it,
which makes me think I may have dreamed it.

Were you in Harrisons after your ventures into the
joys of the West Coast?

If so when and what ships if you will pardon my nosiness.

Cheers and best regards,

Peter (Pat) Baker


----------



## TonyAllen

Pat its funny you mentioned kidneys,I have never liked it but my wife made a big frying pan full the day before yesterday for her evening meal, and 3 plastic containers for the freezer,she called it Kidneys and freb Tony


----------



## Peter Martin

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> Alan Ward,
> 
> I'm sorry for the delay, but I have only just read your reply
> to my query about Harrisons chopped kidney in gravy.
> 
> The name was definitely not kidney turbigo.
> 
> After all these years I am wondering if this was served
> in Palm Line rather than Harrisons.
> 
> The thing is that nobody else seems to remember it,
> which makes me think I may have dreamed it.
> 
> Were you in Harrisons after your ventures into the
> joys of the West Coast?
> 
> If so when and what ships if you will pardon my nosiness.
> 
> Cheers and best regards,
> 
> Peter (Pat) Baker


I seem to remember them being described on the breakfast menu as 'Deviled Kidneys on Toast'; or perhaps that was something different.


----------



## Ray Mac

alan ward said:


> Kidney Turbigo?


Devilled kidney on a raft[=P]

Ray


----------



## paul rennison

Burned Toast said:


> Devilled kidney on a raft[=P]
> 
> Ray


AKA Minced collops (usually minced something or other, but often incorporating several types of offal) as long as the gravy was tasty never had it sent back, on the subject of kidneys, once in the early
70's as cook/steward offshore on Ekofisk Bravo I was preparing kidneys for S&K pie the Texan toolpusher saw what I was doing and exclaimed "make sure you boil all the piss out of those kidneys boy"


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Merchant Navy fare*

Peter Martin and Burned Toast.

I'm afraid that devilled kidney was not the name.

That was something different in that it had some sort of spicy
coating to make it hot. Hence the name "devilled".

I only wish that some oldtime Harrison or Palm line cook
or Chief Steward would pop up with the name and a recipe
for the dish that I am seeking.

I would dearly love to taste that delicious dish once more.

It is definitely on my "bucket" list.

Cheers all,

Pat Baker.


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Merchant Navy fare*

Tony Allen.

Kidneys & freb I have never heard of.

Was it chopped kidneys in a rich brown sauce?
If so please ask her for the recipe for me.

Regards,

Pat Baker


----------



## Stephen J. Card

Good news chaps! I remember the names as Kidney Turb..... something or other.

Quick search on Google produced.... Kidney TURBIGO and it is made thus:

Ingredients
4 kidneys
12 button mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
8 button onions
6 pork chipolata sausages
1 ½ wine glasses of red wine
1 drop Tabasco sauce
2 shakes Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 400g tin tomatoes
2 oz butter
2 drizzles olive oil
1 salt and pepper to season

Prepare the kidneys (if you haven't got a nice butcher like mine.) by cutting in half and removing all the white tissues.
Pre-heat oven to 160c
Heat the olive oil and add the onions and mushrooms.
Next add the sausages, kidney, garlic, herbs and tomatoes.
Stir for a few minutes,then season with salt and pepper.
Add the wine Worcestershire sauce,tomato puree and Tabasco sauce.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and return to the stove top.
Shake the pan,add the butter and heat until melted (this gives it a shine).
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and chopped herbs.
Serve with riced Cauli or cauliflower mash if IPD'ing or rice or potatoes if your not!


Seems a bit posh... especially with the wine. Perhaps we had a more simple version at sea.

Overall I thought the food with Denholms was good to excellent. One favoutite was the Pork Pajorski... like a Salisbury steak made from pork. The nosh on SCOTSPARK esp sweet and sour pork was better than I've ever had in ANY restaurant and thank Allah that I asked the cook write it down for me. MSG Rules!


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Merchant Navy fare*

Steven J. Card,

I'm afraid that the name was definitely not turbigo,
and that recipe with all those ingredients, especially
the chipolata sausages was way out.

My apologies for that but the dish I am after was
a very simple one i.e. probably only kidneys, onions,
some sort of flavouring and the brown sauce
Not that I can be sure of that, but it is an uneducated
guess.

All the best,

Pat Baker


----------



## Stephen J. Card

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> Steven J. Card,
> 
> I'm afraid that the name was definitely not turbigo,
> and that recipe with all those ingredients, especially
> the chipolata sausages was way out.
> 
> My apologies for that but the dish I am after was
> a very simple one i.e. probably only kidneys, onions,
> some sort of flavouring and the brown sauce
> Not that I can be sure of that, but it is an uneducated
> guess.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Pat Baker



Pat,

Yes, the kidney dish I remember was as you describe but the name the Ch Stew used to type on the menu card was Kidney Turbigo!
STEPHEN


----------



## james killen

Does anyone have any idea where I could get a standard copy (early '60's) of "Copy of Crew Agreement", including the provisions list?
I've sailed on quite a few ships where it was BOT whack - often less.
On some of those ships the officers ate well but in the crews mess it would be a very different story.
My children will not believe me when I tell them how hungry some ships were.
How the Chief Steward and the Old Man would often fiddle the stores---stealing our groceries was our opinion. 
How we were often fed garbage and it was a case of eat or go hungry!
P.S. I can still eat a kipper, head, bones, tail - the lot.....a habit I picked up during those days when the most you ever saw was half a kipper on your plate and very often not much else!
Also sailed on coasters where you paid for your own provisions.
All said and done - sailing as A.B., with numerous outfits, I'd say three out of four ships were between "not-too-bad" ~ fairly good.

Regards,

Tugboat Tim


----------



## Ray Mac

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> Peter Martin and Burned Toast.
> 
> I'm afraid that devilled kidney was not the name.
> 
> That was something different in that it had some sort of spicy
> coating to make it hot. Hence the name "devilled".
> 
> I only wish that some oldtime Harrison or Palm line cook
> or Chief Steward would pop up with the name and a recipe
> for the dish that I am seeking.
> 
> I would dearly love to taste that delicious dish once more.
> 
> It is definitely on my "bucket" list.
> 
> Cheers all,
> 
> Pat Baker.


Pat it need not be a ex Harrison or Palm Line Ch.Stwd or Ch.Cook, It was very popular on most British Flag Vessels in the 60s and 70s.

Ox Kidney cleaned and diced - Chopped Onions - Garlic chopped - dash of chilli powder or fresh chillies if you have. Water. Plain Flour - bisto browning.

Coat Kidney in the seasoned flour, Sauté kidney in pan with knob butter, add onions garlic table spoon tomato paste add bisto granules and dash of chillies, season to taste, simmer for 20 minutes, Done.

Kidney dishes were either Devilled or Tobago just a different seasoning

Ray Retired Ch.Cook and Ch. Purser.


----------



## will.

Yep,definatley had Kidneys turbego in Blue Star, only on the Reefers it was called Kidneys Turbo, anyone been to that awful anchorage in Columbia !?


----------



## Stephen J. Card

will said:


> Yep,definatley had Kidneys turbego in Blue Star, only on the Reefers it was called Kidneys Turbo, anyone been to that awful anchorage in Columbia !?




Reefer food....

Roast Cargo.

Boiled Cargo.

Fried Cargo.

Steamed Cargo

and when on the Chiquita run ... CARGO and CUSTARD!

Stephen


----------



## TonyAllen

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> Tony Allen.
> 
> Kidneys & freb I have never heard of.
> 
> Was it chopped kidneys in a rich brown sauce?
> If so please ask her for the recipe for me.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Pat Baker


Pat yes it was indeed . FREB stands for fried bread Gedit 
will send you a recipe regards Tony


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Merchant Navy fare*

Tony Allen.

Blimey Tony I am getting slow (fried bread).

Many thanks to you, I will certanly look forward
to that recipe.

Pat Baker


----------



## muldonaich

Stephen J. Card said:


> Good news chaps! I remember the names as Kidney Turb..... something or other.
> 
> Quick search on Google produced.... Kidney TURBIGO and it is made thus:
> 
> Ingredients
> 4 kidneys
> 12 button mushrooms
> 3 cloves garlic
> 8 button onions
> 6 pork chipolata sausages
> 1 ½ wine glasses of red wine
> 1 drop Tabasco sauce
> 2 shakes Worcestershire sauce
> 1 tbsp chopped coriander
> 1 tbsp chopped tarragon
> 1 tbsp tomato puree
> 1 400g tin tomatoes
> 2 oz butter
> 2 drizzles olive oil
> 1 salt and pepper to season
> 
> Prepare the kidneys (if you haven't got a nice butcher like mine.) by cutting in half and removing all the white tissues.
> Pre-heat oven to 160c
> Heat the olive oil and add the onions and mushrooms.
> Next add the sausages, kidney, garlic, herbs and tomatoes.
> Stir for a few minutes,then season with salt and pepper.
> Add the wine Worcestershire sauce,tomato puree and Tabasco sauce.
> Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
> Remove the pan from the oven and return to the stove top.
> Shake the pan,add the butter and heat until melted (this gives it a shine).
> Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and chopped herbs.
> Serve with riced Cauli or cauliflower mash if IPD'ing or rice or potatoes if your not!
> 
> 
> Seems a bit posh... especially with the wine. Perhaps we had a more simple version at sea.
> 
> Overall I thought the food with Denholms was good to excellent. One favoutite was the Pork Pajorski... like a Salisbury steak made from pork. The nosh on SCOTSPARK esp sweet and sour pork was better than I've ever had in ANY restaurant and thank Allah that I asked the cook write it down for me. MSG Rules!


all the denholm ships were good feeders well the ones i sailed on any way kev.


----------



## sidsal

Many years ago when some ships had no regfrigeration our feeding was varied. On the western ocean a stock pot was placed on the galley stove and kept there for days on end. The cook would add meat and potatoes and carrots etc . On coming off watch at night one wouold go into the galley, get a big mug and ladle the stew into it and have a good feed before turning in. On one occasion I was in the galley eating this delicay and the quartermaster came in having been relieved from his stint at the wheel (no autopilots in those days)
He ladled some stew into his mug and there was a plop. He fished a well cooked mouse out and dumped it, emptied the stew back into the pot and ladled a fresh lot into his mug and ate it !


----------



## Brandane62

Stephen J. Card said:


> Reefer food....
> 
> Roast Cargo.
> 
> Boiled Cargo.
> 
> Fried Cargo.
> 
> Steamed Cargo
> 
> and when on the Chiquita run ... CARGO and CUSTARD!
> 
> Stephen


Yep. Did 2 reefer trips with P&O. Frozen lamb New Zealand to UK.. Roast lamb, curried lamb, lamb chops, lamb stovies, lamb on toast, lamb sandwiches, lamb casserole. Repeat all these items with the word lamb substituted by mutton and you pretty much have the menu for a 4 month trip!

The other trip was citrus fruit, a full cargo of oranges and grapefruit from South Africa to Europe. No chance of scurvy on that trip!


----------



## alan ward

Peter (Pat) Baker said:


> Alan Ward,
> 
> I'm sorry for the delay, but I have only just read your reply
> to my query about Harrisons chopped kidney in gravy.
> 
> The name was definitely not kidney turbigo.
> 
> After all these years I am wondering if this was served
> in Palm Line rather than Harrisons.
> 
> The thing is that nobody else seems to remember it,
> which makes me think I may have dreamed it.
> 
> Were you in Harrisons after your ventures into the
> joys of the West Coast?
> 
> If so when and what ships if you will pardon my nosiness.
> 
> Cheers and best regards,
> 
> Peter (Pat) Baker


Pat,I`ve quoted your reply in full to ensure that this post doesn`t get lost in the general melee of what is a busy thread.My philosophy has always been why use one word when six will do?I couldn`t be doing with ED`s,I didn`t like the West Coast or the job itself.Given my time over I would have transferred over to Catering Cadet but didn`t even know you could do such a thing.I always cooked at home from the age of 8 when my mum taught me how to cook an omelette in the correct manner and really wasted my first two years away.In 1967 I left ED`s and joined Harrisons as an Assistant Purser,I should never have done it because I didn`t know the job well enough.I did a coasting job on the Astronomer on my own and then joined the Adventurer single handed did a Cape run and did just **** it up,then I was sent to complete my education on the Astronomer on a great trip taking machinery and whiskey out to Barranquilla,Punta Cardon,La Guaira etc.Coming home I jacked it and went to the Nautical Catering College took 2nd.Cook and Bakers and sailed on the Empress of England for a while,then private yachts,Clan Line,Sugar Line as PCO then Whitco for 4 years as PCO finally finishing after 10 years and becomin a publican,a job I still do at 62


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

Alan Ward,
Many thanks for your reply.
You joined Harrison Line about the time that
I swallowed the anchor.
I imagine that if you did not get along
with the Pursers job you made a good move
when you elected for the Catering college,
but finished as Purser/Catering Officer in the end.
You can't keep a good man down eh!
Where was your pub by the way?
I had one in Birkenhead myself.
Cheers
Pat Baker


----------



## alan ward

In the words of Frank Sinatra`Pubs,I`ve had a few but then again too few to mention`Right,after 10 years away I had to join Greenall Whitley as a HCITB Trainee Manager and started pulling pints in Rupert Road Huyton at the Swan.I ot my first pub The Royal Oak in Prescot,then the Tailors Arms(Cooksons)in Ford,God that was rough but I saved enough in 2 and a half years to buy a tenancy in rural Staffordshire,then to Leek(don`t ask)where I had three,Roebuck,Quiet Woman and Cock inn,so far 6 pubs in 35 years and not finished yet.


----------



## Peter (Pat) Baker

*Mercant Navy Fare*

Alan,

my one and only pub was the Lord Exmouth in Birkenhead.

I rather like the names of two of your pubs.
the Quiet Woman and the Cock Inn,
that'll keep them quiet every time!

Cheers, hope to hear from you again.
Pat Baker.


----------



## alan ward

it`s just come to me as a crossword puzzle answer does about 5 hours too late.Kidneys Espagnol with rice was another spicey offal dish that I recall.


----------



## Tony the pilot

*Memories of the 1970s food.*

I'm trying to recall all those memorable menus that we all ate from in our time aboard ships under the red ensign in the 1970s.
I have a friend who is retiring in the next couple of years and I'm thinking of arranging a nostalgic meal that'll take him back to his early days as an apprentice with Harrisons of Liverpool when he retires.
I remember the odd items such as green pea soup with sippers, garfield potatoes, Singapore curry.
I'd love to hear and remember what other delicacies we had served up in those heady last days of the British Merchant Navy.

All will be gratefully received.


----------



## kevjacko

Tony the pilot said:


> I'm trying to recall all those memorable menus that we all ate from in our time aboard ships under the red ensign in the 1970s.
> I have a friend who is retiring in the next couple of years and I'm thinking of arranging a nostalgic meal that'll take him back to his early days as an apprentice with Harrisons of Liverpool when he retires.
> I remember the odd items such as green pea soup with sippers, garfield potatoes, Singapore curry.
> I'd love to hear and remember what other delicacies we had served up in those heady last days of the British Merchant Navy.
> 
> All will be gratefully received.


Hi Tony

Devilled Kidneys is a must


----------



## Michael Taylor

When the fresh lettuce and tomatoes where gone it was time for a Russian Salad....peas and mayo.


----------



## Tony the pilot

Nice one, thanks Kev.


----------



## Tony the pilot

Thanks Mike, and I remember a similar one- which was beetroot in vinegar with sliced onion. You knew the cupboard was bare !


----------



## John Cassels

See the thread I started years ago - Merchant Navy Fare .


----------



## Farmer John

John Cassels said:


> See the thread I started years ago - Merchant Navy Fare .


Tried that, 489 matches using advanced search. If you know were it is could you post a link. Food is a subject that interests me, 1970s food might need some thought.


----------



## Sister Eleff

John Cassels said:


> See the thread I started years ago - Merchant Navy Fare .


John's thread can be found here:

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=3646


----------



## Shipbuilder

I remember "Ye Olde Sausage Rolls," on one menu, together with a pencilled note added by some joker "Ye Olde Fish" as well! (Jester)

I sailed with a catering officer on a Silver Line bulker who would, from time to time, put on "Lamb Armistan! The first time it was on, I asked him if he knew what it was, with a sheepish grin, he said he did, but in all the years he had been putting it one, I was the only one who twigged as to where he got it from!(Jester)

Google it for the answer!!:sweat:

Bob


----------



## Farmer John

Sister Eleff said:


> John's thread can be found here:
> 
> http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=3646


Thank you so much, I am now on page 5, a real good read. Going to finish it.


----------



## calvin

kromanski ala russ fried sweetbreads fish kederee currys plum duffs treacle tarts memories


----------



## stevesherratt

Calvin thanks for that!

"Kromeskies" probably the same thing, and Muligatwny to die or Fart for.

Regards Steve R770014


----------



## Farmer John

Now on page 21 of the flagged thread, great stuff, I have read far worse books and plenty that told me less. Should this be added on the end? It has been done on the Merchant Navy Fare before.


----------



## calvin

spam fritters shrimp foo yung cheese beanos braised oxtail saute kidneys
duchess pototoes creme du barry soup singapore hot sweet
soup


----------



## Alistair Macnab

*MN Menus*

What surprises me more than anything is how the same menu items appeared whether you had an Native or a White crew. The exception, of course, were the curries, Mmmmmm!


----------



## bill thompson

The Chief Steward on one of Smith's ships told me that the Master had said to him,"Give them all the chips they can eat and you will never have a complaint"

My GP said to me, "Bill,Why is your *****ole square"???


----------



## madbob

Winter on the UK Coast. A warmer used to be Corned Beef Curry, straight out of the tin and curried. Only seen it on one particular ship with one particular cook. After 4 /5 hours on watch it was pretty good. Amazing how easily pleased we were !!!


----------



## nobby clark 117

don't forget train smash all breakfast leftovers mixed together ,corndog fritters another oldie and of course corndog hash lol


----------



## john blythe

Duck board curry when the fridges were cleand at the end of the mouth


----------



## bluemoon

"Fricassee of Fridge-boards", coming up the channel on the way home.

But not with the company I worked for.


(apols to John Blythe, I was too lazy to even read the post prior to mine)


----------



## jaigee

Here's one I saved from 1968:

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/17612/title/dinner-menuraphael/cat/all

Sounds very good, but in practice was usually pretty mundane.


----------



## trotterdotpom

I liked all that, apart from the poached fish sh*te (always tasteless and dry). Not a bad tea apart from that, but one man's meat is another man's poisson.

John T


----------



## borderreiver

Stake and kidney pud but ending using beef mince and herbs. still good.


----------



## Mikkum

I still have the Menu Book from my first trip to sea on the Common Brothers' products carrier Hindustan in 1978 when I was a catering boy. One that has me puzzled is Coupe Edna May.
Anyone remember what that is ?


----------



## trotterdotpom

Mikkum, I just Googled "Edna May" and it turns out she was an American actress and singer who became successful in the UK (early 1900s). Never heard of "Coupe Edna May", presumably it was a dessert. Maybe somat like Peach Melba (named after Dame Nellie Melba), basically peach with icecream.

John T


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Coupe Edna May......Garnish Vanilla ice cream and compote of cherries cover and decorate whipped cream and raspberry puree, it rang a distant bell for me but had to check up in my " Le Repertoire de la Cuisine.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Thanks Alan, great how there nearly always seems to be someone on the site with the answer to a query.

John T


----------



## Mikkum

Yes Alan, cheers for the info. When I next get home on leave I will have a rake through and see if I can find any more strange culinary delights.


----------



## Pat Kennedy

borderreiver said:


> Stake and kidney pud but ending using beef mince and herbs. still good.


You had to look out for splinters though.
Pat(LOL)


----------



## ALAN TYLER

Mikkum said:


> Yes Alan, cheers for the info. When I next get home on leave I will have a rake through and see if I can find any more strange culinary delights.


Mikkum, If you,ve an old B.O.T cook book like mine believe there,s plenty of strange culinary delights. Some I certainly wouldn,t class as delights!! Is that Fisher,s of Barrow you,re sailing with?


----------



## Mikkum

Alan, yes I am in Barrow, but our ships are now managed by Serco after Fishers lost the contract two years ago. The menu book I have is just the daily menus that were written down by the chief cook on the voyage day by day, Regards Mick.


----------



## 8575

I'm going to post some MN recipes that I found on a website, as written, from a book called Nautical Cookery or somesuch. I've put explanations where I think they're needed. They make for interesting reading:

OLD BRITISH MERCHANT NAVY FOOD RECIPES

*Beef Croquettes:*

1 lb cooked meat, 1 oz fat, 1 oz flour, 1 gill (_5 fl oz_) stock, 1 egg, 2 oz finely chopped onion, pepper & salt,
pinch of herbs.

Trim the beef free from fat and gristle and mince very fine. Melt fat and fry the onion a light brown. Stir in the flour and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the stock, minced beef and onion. Carefully season with pepper, salt and herbs, bind with egg and allow to cool. Shape like corks, brush over with egg-wash or batter and dip in breadcrumbs. Fry until brown in deep fat.

*Beef Rissoles:*

Proceed as for croquettes (above) but shape into flat round cakes.

Serve a good brown gravy and mashed or snow (_riced_) potatoes with either rissoles or croquettes.

*Kromeskies of Meat:*

½ lb cooked lean meat, panada (_mushy bread soup - bread soaked in water or stock and boiled until a soup like texture_), 6 ozs thin rashers bacon, flavouring herbs, pepper and salt, batter, deep fat.

Chop the meat finely adding just enough panada to bind. Flavour and roll a dessert-spoon full of the mixture in a rasher of bacon. Dip in batter and deep fry until a golden brown.
Serve with brown sauce

*Kromeskies of Chicken, Veal, Kidney:*

Proceed as for kromeskies of meat (above) and vary the fillings with chopped mushroom, pickled walnuts, hard boiled eggs, nuts etc.

*Dry Hash:*

2 lbs cooked potatoes, ½ lb cooked meat, 4 ozs onion, 1 tablespoonful mixed herbs, 1 oz fat,
seasoning.

Mince the meat and onion fine. Mash the potatoes. Mix all the ingredients together, season to taste and put into a greased baking dish. Mark into portions and bake in a slow oven.

*Devilled Beef:*

1lb beef, ½ oz flour, ¼ oz mustard, 1 oz fat, 3 gills stock, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, 1 lump sugar, cayenne, salt, 1 tablespoonful Yorkshire relish.

Cut the beef into 8 slices. Make the fat hot and fry the slices of meat brown, take up and stir in the flour, cook 5 minutes, add the stock, bring to the boil, add all the other ingredients except mustard, and simmer for 40 minutes; add the mustard and serve.

*Devilled Kidneys:*

4 sheep's kidneys, ¼ teaspoon salt, pinch cayenne, ½ teaspoonful mixed mustard, 8 squares toast, ½ oz fat.

Skin and split the kidneys, take out the middle fat and soak kidney in warm salt and water for ½ hour. Skewer lengthways, coat with the mixture, grill over a clear fire, turn constantly, put a half kidney on each square of toast and serve.

*Irish Stew:*

4 lbs mutton or pork, 1 lb onions, 4 lbs potatoes, pepper and salt, 1 oz cornflour.

Cut the meat into pieces and put into a stewpan with the onions sliced, cover with water and season, cook for 1 hour, add the potatoes peeled and cut all one size, and cook altogether for ¾ hour. Thicken with the cornflour mixed with a little cold water and serve.

*Jugged Hare:*

1 hare, 6 onions (small), 6 cloves, 2 bay leaves, ½ lemon, 1½ pints brown sauce, 1 oz fat, 2 doz forcemeat balls, 1 glass port, 2 tablespoonfuls red currant jelly, 1 oz flour.

Joint the hare, dust with the flour and fry in fat to a light brown, put in a jar with all the other ingredients except the port, flour and forcemeat balls, tie down and cook in a moderate oven for 3 hours. Just before serving add the port and season to taste. Pile on a hot dish, remove the bay leaves and garnish with the forcemeat balls and grilled rolls of bacon.

*Plum Duff:*

12 oz flour, pinch salt, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 4 oz fat, 4 oz sugar, 6 oz plums, water.

Stone the plums, sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together, put the flour mixture into a basin, work in the fat, add the remainder of the dry ingredients and make into a medium dough with cold water, tie in a cloth and boil for 3 hours, Serve with a sweet sauce.

*Plum Duff (Cabin):*

½ lb flour, ½ lb breadcrumbs, ½ lb suet, 3 oz currants, 3 oz sultanas, 3 oz raisins, 1 oz peel, 1 tablespoonful syrup, 1 teaspoonful spice, 3 oz sugar, 2 eggs, milk to mix, pinch salt.

Clean and stone the fruit, chop the suet and peel and mix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly, warm the syrup in a little milk and add to the dry ingredients, beat up the eggs with sufficient milk to make the mixture to a dropping consistency, put inot a greased basin, cover with greased paper and steam for 4 hours.

Enjoy!! :sweat:


----------



## expats

In the late 1960s I was R/O on the 'Chelwood'....The Cook (Potts??) made the most wonderful 'pot pies' using 'Fray Bentos' steak and kidney cans as a mould....
I used to manage two; with mashed potatoes and gravy...the taste still lingers....


----------



## trotterdotpom

Those Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies were pretty good too. Never had one on a ship though. Mind you, I never had jugged hare on a ship either. Come to think of it, I've never had jugged hare anywhere.

John T


----------



## tiachapman

goulash god and the cook only knew what went in it


----------



## alan ward

If you visit the Maritime Museum in Liverpool there a display case with the daily menus or as it was called by the old boys Bills of Fare book on show along with a good selection of familiar everyday stuff from Shaw Saville


----------



## tom roberts

Maybe Ive posted before but the memory is not what it used to be,Board of Trade Salad,beetroot and onions sliced,as peggy on a B.T tanker I had tons of melon jam to myself no one liked it,oval tins of pilchards,again not a popular dish but as I have posted before in St Lucia they were swapped for a night with my first dusky maid.One dish I could not face was Brawn laid out on a tray and melting in the heat yuck,and coasting cooks were often the worst pi**heads I ever sailed with one guy went ashor in Birkenhead with our food money came back pi**ed with a bag of carrots.Many memories of shipboard food and great cooks they need a thread all to themselves.


----------



## trotterdotpom

I think the dusky maiden I met in St Lucia may have had one of your tins of pilchards, Tom. Very nice. Personally, I was quite fond of them ... pilchards that is. If you were careful, you could remove the backbone like a zip. That may have been the beginnings of my OCD.

John T


----------



## Leratty

After my early life at boarding school food at sea was splendiferous + plenty of it, however there were a couple of bad feeders BSL being the worst. I recall certainly in the early days you knew what day of the week it was by the menu.
Breakfast was always my favourite at sea & that is when I loved kidneys but the devilled kidneys spoken of here are a delight. We use Worcestershire Sauce in our gravy, also a variation is a dish called Kidneys Tobago a real serious cholesterol hit but lovely. Reckon recipe would be on the net try it kidney lovers.


----------



## John Cassels

trotterdotpom said:


> Those Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies were pretty good too. Never had one on a ship though. Mind you, I never had jugged hare on a ship either. Come to think of it, I've never had jugged hare anywhere.
> 
> John T


Always bring a supply of FB steak & kidney pies back after a UK trip 
John. Great food and they keep for years ! ,


----------



## Varley

Leratty said:


> After my early life at boarding school food at sea was splendiferous + plenty of it, however there were a couple of bad feeders BSL being the worst. I recall certainly in the early days you knew what day of the week it was by the menu.
> Breakfast was always my favourite at sea & that is when I loved kidneys but the devilled kidneys spoken of here are a delight. We use Worcestershire Sauce in our gravy, also a variation is a dish called Kidneys Tobago a real serious cholesterol hit but lovely. Reckon recipe would be on the net try it kidney lovers.


Bad Luck. My schools didn't include a bad feeder. My only experience of that was Conoco Europe. But in 2014 to see "splediferous" in print? spiffing!


----------



## Leratty

We always had a good load of their FB's S&K, beef as well as chicken pies when cruising as they are so easy to cook up then make up some mash with a green. Usually one per crew.
Varley, our school food was pretty bad overall except breakfast. This mainly as there was just not enough to go around. However I still love the old puddings we used to get & Boss Cocky has become quite adroit at cooking them, jam rolly polly, spotted dick, apple etc suet pudding, steamed chocolate, treacle pudding ginger bread with custard hmm oh the list goes on.


----------



## alan ward

A friend on mine is an ex-marine working as security on ships negotiating those dodgy waters off Somalia,at the moment he`s on an MSC box boat enjoying curry every lunchtime for 41 days with no signs of changing his or his mates diet he thinks he`s in paradise.


----------



## tom roberts

Not ships grub, but The Liverpool Sailors Home so it has connections to the sea, the egg sarnies made in the big recreation room were and still are the best I have ever tasted, the ladies making them were aware that we were skint and waiting for a ship loaded you up,the home provided three meals a day not five star maybe but o.k.for £2.9pence a week and you got kippers every breakfast as well as greasy bacon and eggs, again the ladies were very generous in their helpings knowing our poor state of finance.Carrying on in a similar vein who can forget the wonderfull aroma of bacon sarnies wafting from the Stan Waters cafes along the dock road in Liverpool, the aroma dragged you in and by God what sarnies they were with plenty of brown sauce ,again delicacies never to be found again, lost like the wonderfull years of our time at sea.


----------



## alan ward

tom roberts said:


> Not ships grub, but The Liverpool Sailors Home so it has connections to the sea, the egg sarnies made in the big recreation room were and still are the best I have ever tasted, the ladies making them were aware that we were skint and waiting for a ship loaded you up,the home provided three meals a day not five star maybe but o.k.for £2.9pence a week and you got kippers every breakfast as well as greasy bacon and eggs, again the ladies were very generous in their helpings knowing our poor state of finance.Carrying on in a similar vein who can forget the wonderfull aroma of bacon sarnies wafting from the Stan Waters cafes along the dock road in Liverpool, the aroma dragged you in and by God what sarnies they were with plenty of brown sauce ,again delicacies never to be found again, lost like the wonderfull years of our time at sea.


and Frank Smiths dock road cafe down by the town end,he represented England in Judo short but very heavy set bloke,not a man to tangle with.


----------



## alan ward

alan ward said:


> A friend on mine is an ex-marine working as security on ships negotiating those dodgy waters off Somalia,at the moment he`s on an MSC box boat enjoying curry every lunchtime for 41 days with no signs of changing his or his mates diet he thinks he`s in paradise.


Not about food just changing times,due to good internet connections he`s talking to us everyday.Remember when you got a letter once in a blue moon?


----------



## expats

alan ward said:


> A friend on mine is an ex-marine working as security on ships negotiating those dodgy waters off Somalia,at the moment he`s on an MSC box boat enjoying curry every lunchtime for 41 days with no signs of changing his or his mates diet he thinks he`s in paradise.


On the 'City' boats I had curry four times a day (counting Kegeree for breakfast and a midnight 'crew curry' delivered mid-ships for us)...Luverley....


----------



## sandhopper

The Indian steward couldn't get his head round my requests for a chip butty. Chapatti wasn't what I was after.
Food generally ok, where it went pear shaped was when those drunks came back from a run ashore with a severe attack of the munchies and snaffled the breakfast of those on nights.


----------



## Varley

expats said:


> On the 'City' boats I had curry four times a day (counting Kegeree for breakfast and a midnight 'crew curry' delivered mid-ships for us)...Luverley....


Obstinate colleague did not comply with my request to hint to Master of Hastings that Mr. V was partial to mutton curry and would be pleased to try their fare when visiting. So I was blunter, by telex.

Every day for 10 days I got mutton curry for lunch, and enjoyed every one!


----------



## trotterdotpom

Varley said:


> Obstinate colleague did not comply with my request to hint to Master of Hastings that Mr. V was partial to mutton curry and would be pleased to try their fare when visiting. So I was blunter, by telex.
> 
> Every day for 10 days I got mutton curry for lunch, and enjoyed every one!


Foreign muck! How did you like the bhandary's scurf and sweat? Bon apetit.

John T


----------



## Varley

trotterdotpom said:


> Foreign muck! How did you like the bhandary's scurf and sweat? Bon apetit.
> 
> John T


John, Surely no worse than Brit cooks' drippings into open vessels of a flattey - or those in my own kitchen.

A peck of dirt, my boy. A peck of dirt.


----------



## trotterdotpom

They might be drippings, David, but they're OUR drippings.

John T


----------



## alan ward

trotterdotpom said:


> They might be drippings, David, but they're OUR drippings.
> 
> John T


I`d been at sea for two years before I encountered a British crew and then didn`t see one for another 3 and found I preferred the Asian,West African,Zulu,West Indian and international pool crews I sailed with.They worked harder with less moaning,didn`t get pissed and fail to turn to become or troublesome, the cooks were better,the stewards were immaculate and the deck department carried a knife and spike not a comb.I`d rather have a curry turned out by a Bhandary on a Clan boat than one presented by a Scouser whose main influence was a tutor in Canning Square who put raisins in for that`Authentic feel`Those boys down aft could just cook.


----------



## NINJA

Lamb sweetbreads, never ever seen them again since I came ashore.


----------



## slick

All,
Reference UK crews at least I didn't speak pidgun when I got home after nine months!!

Yours aye,

slick


----------



## ALAN TYLER

NINJA said:


> Lamb sweetbreads, never ever seen them again since I came ashore.


Not really surprised, weren,t that popular on board, probably because of the myth of being animals testicles. Actually by all accounts some sort of gland......I used to poach them then breadcrumb and deep fry them.


----------



## trotterdotpom

Sweetbreads are made from a sheep's pancreas. They taste better than they look.

John T


----------



## pitcrew

KIWI said:


> *Merchant Navy Fare*
> 
> 
> 
> I also sailed with Standard Vacuum on Stanvac Canberra.For three months the food was out of this world & I had come from first class fare in P&O.It was really unbelievable,grills to order & the fridge at night was full of the most unusual & tasty selections.We changed skippers & the catering was still more than reasonable but no where near the previous standard.Wonder where
> the savings went? We had two free beers on a Sunday but had to buy our own at each port.Would guess someone got a commission.Stocking up on Schlitz in Beaumot was a disaster.It was terrible booze. Kiwi


We ran out of beer on the eastern seaboard of US and stocked up with Schlitz. The phrase for the rest of the trip if someone annoyed you was “don’t gimme the Schlitz”


----------



## pitcrew

We used to get catering sized tinned meat, of uncertain origin, left out in the pantry fridge at night. It was christened “tinned elephant’s foot” we threw it overboard every night for months but never ran out of it. 
On the other hand we had a baker who baked the best crispy dinner rolls I’ve ever had. On a cruise I always have a crispy roll with my soup and I’m always disappointed.
Pitcrew.


----------



## septiclecky

pitcrew said:


> We ran out of beer on the eastern seaboard of US and stocked up with Schlitz. The phrase for the rest of the trip if someone annoyed you was *“don’t gimme the Schlitz”*


More like Schlitz gives me the Sh1tz


----------



## alan ward

KenLin39 said:


> *re: Colonial goose*
> 
> 
> Hi Neil, I may have missed something, what was Colonial Goose. Ken. (Ouch)


Leg of Mutton


----------



## e4envy

Having eaten in some fancy places all over the world,I swear I have never
enjoyed a meal like that. Ch,cook said the lads needed something to soak up the lunchtime beers.
The point of this rigamole is; seeing some of the food which is dished out nowadays in restaurants, I don't think we fared so badly.


----------



## captainconfusion

_in my ignorance I thought most cargo/tramp/tankers had leaving the UK take on Ministry of Food registered meat under a government food officiAL, AND FOR A minimum period of 6 months. I may be dreaming, However I thought according to the ministry og shipping and the agreements one signed on a british ship, the meat vitals had to be a ministry or equivalent standard, Hence most of the met could be mutton or hogget- That aussie stuff straight from the outback?? _


----------

