A different type of cooking

On board of a three-mast-topsail-schooner the crew works hard to keep the system running. While working, the human body burns a lot of energy which must be absorbed again. That’s why every ship has a galley, a kitchen on the water (in German “Kombüse”). Although both kitchen and galley are there for the same reason, there are many differences between these two installations.

The people who work in the galley have “Backschaft”, or in English galley duty. Four people, three pupils and one adult from different watches (sometimes, for a so-called “Schülerbackschaft”, only four pupils), work in the galley for one whole day to prepare food for the whole crew.
Like aforementioned, there are some differences between an ordinary kitchen and the galley. One large factor is the swell that swings the ship from side to side. In a normal kitchen, all pots and other kitchen utensils would fall out of their cupboards and the working space. However, in a galley, everything from the storage containers to our cooker was built in a way that nothing (if correctly installed) can fly through the room.

On the Thor Heyerdahl, there are four meals prepared to hold our morale up: breakfast, lunch, teatime and dinner. After each meal, the galley duty must wash all the dirty dishes and clean the now used tables and preparing areas. Today, in our galley duty we prepared a delicious dip, and it is the first self-made dip I can eat in masses with bread because it´s so delicious. Since I do not want to keep the recipe for myself, I am going to share it with you: (for about 1 litre)

– Slice 1000 grams of carrots in small pieces and cook them till they are mushy
– Add the following ingredients to the carrots and crush everything till it´s homogenous
o 250g Margarine
o 400g Tomato paste
o 2 TL Thyme
o 2 TL Salt
o 2 Onions, diced
o 2 Cloves of garlic, diced
– Spread it on a slice of bread and enjoy.

From time to time, the galley duty comes up with something new to push the moral of the crew. Some creative ideas were for example apple strudel, pudding, croissants and pastel del nata, a Portuguese pastry. After a meal is prepared, someone stands outside the galley in front of the deckhouse to present said meal. The chefs of the day pass the food through the big portholes pointing to the stern of the ship and the crew eats on deck (when the weather is fine).

After a long day when everyone is fed and the crew is under deck, writing diary or playing games, maybe plays some music or writes diary, the people in charge of the galley still have a lot to do.  While working in the galley, it gets dirty, and food can fall onto the floor. That’s why after each day we must clean the galley. The walls, floor, working spaces, behind the portholes and under the cooker gather so much dust over the day, it’s fascinating what you can find there sometimes.

Galley duty is always a fun, but also very exhausting task after hours of work. Sometimes it is just a task you have to do, but often it is a fantastic experience, for example, when you clean the dishes while 10 other people are singing and dancing next to you to way too loud music.