The Most Basic Essential Foods

[cowboy]

I haven't spent much time on the water, but most of a lifetime on the back of a horse and sometimes a snowmobile. They make a neat little cooker that mounts on the exhaust of a snowmobile that works great, even when we are sledding at -10 F. If you work at it and think a little eating with out refridation isn't too hard. I rode line in Nevada for six months and never once saw a fridge, hell I never even drove in that time.

Remember they call it fishing NOT catching, and hunting NOT shooting. Dont depend on your skill to keep you alive unless it has been severly tested.

[hellosailor]

"Just put in pasta, boiling water, let it sit."
You don't need a miracle machine to do that. In fact with rice pasta (which turns instantly to mush when overcooked or boiled) the normal way to cook it is to let the water in a pot come to a boil add the pasta, and take it off the heat as soon as it reboils. Let it sit for ~20 minutes and it is fully cooked.
That's the instructions on the side of many rice pastas, to be found in the "health foods" section of many supermarkets. Works just as well with wheat pasta, corn pasta, etc, etc.
And yes, great way to save energy. It just doesn't provide the "instant satisfaction" that modern Western cooks seem to require.<G>

[SaltyMonkey]

Look at the Mormon Cookbook. Recommended by survival training groups. Lots of ways to make things with same ingredients.

[hellosailor]

Huh, it's illegal to cook Mormons in this state. And pretty hard to convince 'em to climb in the oven in the first place.

[capt_douglas]

I didn't see sprouts or fresh herbs on the list. Sprouts are easy to generate, fresh, crunchy, and do well aboard. I had a small herb farm on board with a 3-3"x3" pots containing basil, parsley, and thyme. I'd pick off leaves when they were ready and the change in taste from dried to fresh might make an old shoe taste proper.

I'd add a pressure cooker to the must haves. It can reduce the cooking time of most any meal, make the toughest cut of meat tender, keep the contents contained in a blow, preserve items for later use, and prevent spoilage. I carried a full kit of kitchen tools but used the pressure cooker and small fry pan most of the time.

[Astrid]

Not sure what to call it yet... Maybe someone else already invented it and gave it a name already!!!

Sounds almost like a recipe for Plumb Duff. You may have rediscovered an old medieval favorite.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

Not sure what to call it yet...

You have to give it a proper English name, like spotted dick.

[Astrid]

You have to give it a proper English name, like spotted dick.

Exactly! Plum Duff or spotted dick was a popular seafarers' desert back in the 18th and 19th centuries.

[Chief Engineer]

My Mom used to cook on our inboard....

She got the recipes from my Aunt and Uncle that cooked on the engine of their car as they towed a trailer....It was back in 1968

Beef Bonneville
Pork Pontiac
Chicken Gee-Emm

Back when they had guys at station who would check your oil.....They loved the look of the gas-jockeys as they popped the hood and smelled a pork roast cooking

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Astrid

Exactly! Plum Duff or spotted dick was a popular seafarers' desert back in the 18th and 19th centuries.

There's that old, old, naval favourite - Figgy Dowdy.

Figgy Dowdy Recipe from Traditional English Puddings

as for old pre-fridge cookbook, there is always Mrs Beatons Good Housekeeping Guide pub. 1861 which, as well as recipes, gives advice on household cleaning with pre-modern cleaning products, how to tend basic injuries and even advice on childbrith.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazon will flog you a copy for a couple of quid...

Mrs Beeton's Household Management Wordsworth Reference: Amazon.co.uk: Isabella Beeton: Books

[Mariness]

Always lots of old copies of Joy of Cooking on eBay. Checked just now - within the first 20 or so listings, had some from the newest, all the way back to 1943 edition.

[GordMay]

Joy of Cooking is an excellent all round book; but I don't think it covers poutine.

[Little Otter]

Fish lemon and RUM lots and lots of RUM

[Astrid]

Joy of Cooking is an excellent all round book; but I don't think it covers poutine

Probably not. I think poutine only goes back to the 1950s and was for a long time a local Quebec gastronomic phenomenon. I don't recall ever seeing it in the SW USA though, so it has not probably spread far enough to get into Joy of Cooking yet.

On a side note, Fannie Farmer's cook book of the 1890s has some good old-time recipes.

[fishwife]

I had to look up Poutine. For those who are as unfamiliar with this famous French Canadian dish, Poutine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It sounds quite a useful dish to feed a cold hungry crew but sadly, most of us don't have a deep fat fryer.

P.