Friendship, Seamanship, and Time Well Spent
Gravlax or cured salmon is one of the easiest things to make in the kitchen (or galley). All it requires is salmon, sugar and salt for the base cure and whatever aromatics or seasoning you want to use. The traditional Scandinavian gravlax uses salt, sugar, dill and perhaps a dash of white pepper. That’s it! Short on ingredients, it’s large on flavor.
Although I helped my mom make bread when I was growing up many, many eons ago, the first time I made bread on a boat was when I was racing half-way around the world in the Clipper Round the World Race. It was on the leg across the North Pacific Ocean from Qingdao, China to San Francisco, USA.
Despite the grueling conditions with winds at times over 60 knots and waves the size of four story buildings, it was the responsibility of the cooks on board (we all rotated and shared that duty) to make sure the crew had fresh hot-baked bread most mornings for breakfast when they came off watch cold, tired and hungry.
After that intense crossing of the North Pacific in winter, the San Francisco to New York City leg was so much easier to bake on, with the seas calmer and temperatures warmer.
