The importance of good cooking cannot be overstressed if the spirits and morale of the crew are to remain high. I can visualise the howls of indignation from the 'tin opener and indigestion pill brigade' when they read this. They maintain that they go sailing to sail and not to spend their time on domestic chores. I quite agree, but the difference in time taken between ‘rustling up’ some quick fodder and preparing a good meal is not that considerable, and in my opinion, is worth every minute of it. A little thought and ingenuity can make meals a real pleasure and eliminate once and for all the crews yearning "'to get home for a good meal".

It is amazing how little equipment and knowledge is needed to turn out good results, but it requires a much different technique to that normally employed in the kitchen. In this and following articles I hope to go briefly over equipment, technique and finally suggest one or two recipes. I admit that my ideas are far from perfect and I welcome suggestions and criticism. I am only giving what in the light of my experience has proved the best. I have no diplomas or references but can only say that I have never lost a crew!

Part I - Equipment

Cooking Stoves

A minimum of two burners is required and these should preferably be of the same type to facilitate fuel and spares. There are several types: -

1) Methylated Spirit burners: These have the advantage of being very cheap initially and can be purchased for as little as two shillings. They don't normally last for more than a season and are quite expensive to run and also lack any means of control. They are very useful for boiling a kettle or warming soup while underway, as, once filled and lit, they require no attention.

2) Petrol Stoves: These can be purchased for about twenty shillings and will last indefinitely. They provide good heat but have only very limited control and can occasionally get out of hand. As usual when carrying petrol, there is explosion and fire hazard.

3) Primus Type Stoves: The initial cost of these is between two and three pounds and with care they will last indefinitely. 'Optimus' and 'Primus' are reliable and well-tried makes and are very easy for spare parts. This type of stove is very cheap to run, using paraffin. They can also be controlled to give a wide rang of heating. The necessity of carrying prickers and methylated spirits is a disadvantage and also the occasional reluctance to start. Provided the stove is shielded from draughts and is allowed to warm up before pumping it should start easily.

4) Oil Stoves: These are obsolete, give a smoky flame and are quite out of place on a small boat.

5) Bottled Gas Stoves: These are, in general, much too cumbersome and expensive for a dinghy. There is also the explosion hazard should leaking occur. There is, however, a small French camping stove (The Bluette) just appearing in England. It is very compact and costs about seventy shillings. Refills cost about two shillings and screw onto the base. It is very clean and has all the advantages of a gas ring. I have no personal experience with it, but a friend who owns one highly recommends it.

In my own boat I carry two primus stoves and one methylated spirit burner as a standby.

Cooking Utensils

The minimum required is two saucepans, a frying pan, kettle and two enamelled plates. Further very useful luxuries would include teapot, washing up bowl and third saucepan. Stainless steel equipment is the best but is very expensive. Enamel is good but chips, and aluminium is satisfactory provided it is not left in contact with salt water.

One saucepan should be large enough to hold sufficient stew for all the crew and have two inches to spare at the top. Nesting Billy cans can be used instead of saucepans. They occupy less room and the tops may be used as frying pans. Flat Bi11y cans divided into sections can replace the frying pan and are also useful for keeping food warm. Certain less civilised members of the crew even eat out of them. Avoid at all costs cheap tinned utensils. These rapidly rust.

The Galley

Ideally a space should be set aside for cooking but this is impracticable in a dinghy. In a dinghy, stoves and burners must be sheltered from draughts. The easiest way to do this is to obtain a deep biscuit tin and bore air holes around the base and out holes in the side to enable the controls to be handled and the stove lit; the largest saucepan should be able to fit in the top. If loops of wire are fastened either side of the tin it may be hung beneath a thwart or deck beam and will swing athwartships with the rolling of the boat.

Some people consider a shield unnecessary and place their stoves on the bottom boards. This is quite satisfactory provided the wind is not too strong but even so, the stoves should be located by drilled holes for the feet to sit in and prevent movement.

Wherever the stoves are located the cooking utensils and stores should be within easy reach. The cook should not have to move far and never have to step across the stoves. When underway with conditions too rough for normal cooking a dodge I often employ is to put a meths burner in a bucket with the small Billy can on top. This is then hung under the foredeck. In this way a hot drink or soup may be obtained.

Part II - Planning and Stores

Meal Planning

A) Diet: Conditions permitting, I always have two cooked meals per day, breakfast and an evening meal. At lunchtime I make a cold snack (sandwiches etc.) and a hot drink (from a thermos when underway) suffice. The English three-course breakfast is practically standard and requires little or no imagination. On the other hand, the evening meal should be one of the bright spots of the day and eagerly awaited by the crew. To ensure this, use imagination and above all avoid repetition.

It is all too easy to live out of the frying pan; for a quick meal the frying pan is a very valuable friend. Too much greasy food however, decreases the appetite, causes heart burn (indigestion) and, if prolonged, can give rise to such disorders as boils. Try to include fresh fruit in at least one meal per day. Dinghy sailors are seldom affected by scurvy but fresh fruit in moderation does help to keep the digestion and other systems .in order. It has the advantage of being easy to prepare and .is very popular with most crews.

B) Timing: Having decided on the menu, the next thing is to plan the cooking of the meal. Here experience comes in very useful. The idea is to have everything for a course cooked at a given time. Obviously, different items vary in the time it takes to cook them. Also, one must arrange that there is not a shortage of stoves at any particular time. Remember that a poor meal served hot is acceptable but a cold meal is ruined no matter how well it was cooked. Above all therefore, keep any item hot if it happens to be ready before the rest. Always warm the plates. Warm plates keep a meal hot considerably longer than cold ones. An enamel plate on top of a saucepan of boiling water (or boiling potatoes) with another plate inverted over it is the best way of keeping things warm.

If having tinned vegetables (i.e. peas or beans), a useful dodge is to clean the outside of the tin thoroughly, pierce two holes in the top, and place in the saucepan of boiling potatoes. This serves both stoves and saucepans. Peas should be half emptied of liquid and placed in the saucepan about eight minutes before the potatoes are due to be done. If heated for too long they become mushy. Potatoes take from twenty minutes to half an hour boiling.

Eggs and bacon spoil if kept for any time after cooking. It is quite an advantage at breakfast time to serve each member individually frying up the complete course one at a time rather than trying to keep things warm.

C) Provisions: I intend to omit tinned food here. It is always a good investment and the principle I use is to lay in a good stock of each item and when they get low buy another half dozen. A stock of the following should always be carried: milk, fruits, peas, baked beans, corned beef, stewing steak, soup, and as an extra, fish.

Meat: It is cheaper and more enjoyable to use fresh meat. The snag is that it seldom lasts more than three days so meals must be planned to use it before this time. Popular items easy to cook are - steak, kidney, chops, liver, sausages and bacon. Wrapped sausages keep well and bacon will keep up to a week. The large joint is out of place on a boat unless you have an oven!

Fish: With the exception of smoked haddock or kippers, fish are best left alone unless caught yourself. A crab makes a real treat with a salad. The snag with all fish is the odour, which clings to everything, particularly cooking utensils.

Eggs: A very valuable item. Fresh eggs keep very well but they must be protected from hippopotami among the crew.

Vegetables: The compact kind, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, etc. are very valuable to the diet. Avoid vegetables with a lot of waste; i.e. peas and broad beans unless they are to be eaten before sailing. Avoid cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and sprouts as they smell to high heaven, require care in cooking and are not usually all that popular with the crew anyway. The only vegetables which will keep for more than a couple of days are potatoes, onions, and, to a lesser degree, carrots.

Bread, Flour, Etc: The wrapped cut loaf will keep up to a week if kept sealed. Biscuits are a very valuable item, particularly if in packet form. If contemplating a cruise of more than a week's duration, take a bag of ordinary flour - it can be used for dumplings, pancakes, batter and, in the hands of the expert, even pastry. Fancy fruit loaves are always a very popular change.

Hot Drinks: Coffee (powder or extract) and cocoa are the favourites, or any of the powdered drinks such as ovaltine. Tea requires much more trouble and a pot of its own. If the crew can do without it, then leave it behind for the weekend cruise. Hot cordial makes a pleasant change.

Miscellaneous: Under this heading come butter, margarine and cooking fat and the condiments. Salt is a necessity but pepper, a tube of mustard, vinegar and sauce often add much to a meal. Make sure the salt and pepper are in airtight jars.