Cooking and Eating in the Patagonian Fjords

Though I have eaten more than a few Raman bombs in my day and have even been known to consume the occasional butter sandwich when living on a climbing-bum budget, cooking and eating great food is one of my major interests in life. Amongst my three female roommates in Oregon, I have the reputation for being the domestic one of the house.

Prior to this voyage, I had never been sailing. Thus, sometimes I feel like a lost child in a supermarket when I try to decipher the complex system of lines, winches, and pulleys aboard Sila. One place that I do feel comfortable, however, is the galley. Because I bring no sailing experience to the crew, I try to contribute in other ways, namely cooking and finishing off leftovers.

Cooking aboard Sila is a large step up from camping with a whisperlight stove. That said, it is also a long-shot from cooking in a modern kitchen, most noticeably in its lack of refrigeration. One huge advantage, however, is our fairly consistent access to incredible, fresh seafood ingredients. Molly and Christopher share my love for cooking and eating, and I must say, we have made some truly delicious meals. Here are a few recipes for some of our best fare:

Sila Eggs
4 cups leftover rice
10 eggs, preferably fresh
Butter
Black Pepper and *Merken to taste

Transfer leftover rice into a hot fry-bake with butter or olive oil, depending on what is available. Cook the rice until it is crispy, spice along the way. Crack eggs on top of rice, cover, and let them simmer until they begin to harden. Serve with ample coffee.

*Merken is a staple of the Chilean spice rack and beloved by all the Sila crew. It consists of dried aji peppers that have been smoked and ground. (When eating aboard Sila, be sure to ask "is there any merken a-lurkin in this?" before applying hot sauce to your food, so you don't overspice.)

Fish Chowda
5 cups *white fish cut into 2 inch square chunks
More powdered *whole milk than you would think
water
4 potatoes
1 onion
few garlic cloves
A "Barnes serving" of butter
Two fish-stock soup cubes
Spices

Chop veggies while boiling water. Add butter, and soup cubes while stirring vigorously. Add veggies. As soon as potatoes are soft, add fish. As soon as it comes back to a boil, ladle out some of the water into a 2-cup pyrex. Mix in the milk until it is cream-like by stirring until there are no chunks, the pour the milk mixture back into the chowder. Stir, kill the heat, and serve.

*Last night we anchored next to a fishing boat in a remote cove. A fisherman named Mauricio generously gave us more fillets than we could possibly eat. The white fish is delicious, but we have absolutely no idea what species it is.

*In our unanimous opinion, it isn't ever worth using anything but "whole" powdered milk. It is much tastier, and though sometimes difficult to find in the US, it is ubiquitous in Latin America.

Jaiva Cakes
4 cups *Jaiva crab meat
2 eggs
Butter
Flour
Onion
2 tsps Old Bay Seasoning

Combine cooked and picked crab meat, eggs, diced onion, and Old Bay. Form patties, and dust them in flour. Fry patties in butter on a hot skillet. Serve with *nancla slices as an appetizer.

*As Porter detailed in an earlier blog post, we were given thirty odd, large Jaiva crabs by an eccentric island hermit.
*Nancla is an endemic wild plant of the rhubarb family. It grows into long, thick stalks which can be harvested from nearly every anchorage in Patagonia. The stalks can be skinned, sliced, and served with salt for a tangy, crunchy snack.

Mussels/Clams and Pasta
This one is pretty self-explanatory... and delicious. We have harvested our own shellfish and have purchased them for an unbeatable price.

Dulce de Leche Bananas
1 cup dulce de leche (locally known as "manjar")
5 bananas

Heat the dulce de leche in a sauce pan with a little water. Slice bananas thinly. Pour d.d.l. over bananas and serve.

So, there's a little taste of life aboard a sailboat in Patagonia. I'm gonna go eat some dinner...- Big Jack