TIPS FOR THE GALLEY: Cooking Pasta

One of the staples I carry on board when cruising is various forms of pasta. I enjoy an occasional meal of pasta usually with my own homemade sauce. Problem with cooking pasta on board is the instructions say to start out with a big pot of boiling water. Something like four or five quarts. Water on board is precious commodity especially if you don't have a water maker. So is the fuel needed to boil the water. I came across this video which allows one to make pasta using only a little bit of water and fuel compared to doing according to the instructions on the box. Looks like a great technique to use on the boat:

AN AHA STORAGE MOMENT IN THE GALLEY

After dismantling major portions of the Gas Range on BIANKA I had some new storage options. I discovered one by accident last time I was on board. Seems one of my favorite cooking pans a 12 inch cast iron skillet stores away quite nicely sitting on top one the new burner:

Best of all it fits under the sliding countertop too. This frees up space in the oven compartment storage area and allows easy access to a pan I use quite often when cooking.  

RETHINKING PROPANE: Dismantling the Hillerange Seaward Stove Part Four

After the finishing clearing out the oven box I returned to the top of the stove where I will use the Coleman Burner Stove for my primary cooking.

 Now that the Hillerange burners and gas valves were removed I need to do a good cleaning of the basin that will contain the burner. I used my one gallon wet/dry vac to remove what I could. But, there was still some greasy and rust spots that needed particular attention:

 I used some white vinegar and baking soda, Simple Green a stainless steel brush and a  DBTech Multi-Purpose Pressurized Steam Cleaner.

The steam clearer really helps to get at the grease and grime that found  it's way into the crevices over two decades of cooking. It also helps to remove rust spots. It also helps to sterilize surfaces. It's a handy thing to have around for a job like this. A small  Stainless Steel Brush also came in handy along with the steam in cleaning some of the stoves rusted metal and stainless steel surface:

I also needed to remove a few things left over on top of the stove. One was the leftover piece of the burner gas manifold bracket that I had to cut using a Dremel tool with a cut off blade:

Using a small vise grip this was easily removed with the screw still firmly attached:

I also used the Dremel Tool with a cutoff blade to cut off the stainless steel feed tubes that previously fed the pilot light and oven burner:

Here is the before view afterI removed the gas manifold, burners and gas valves but, had not yet cleaned things up. You can see some of the  the rust where the iron burner brackets were screwed into the stainless steel surface and the gas feed tubes on the right :

Here is the after photo:

That's much better. I can now put the Coleman burner in it's proper place on top of the cleaned stove top. I'm pretty happy with the transformation. I've created more storage for my pots and pans in the oven box. Plus, I still have a well gimbaled burner with which to cook on :

So one project is out of the way. Next I'll move on to the next project which is  remove the hot water heater as I continue to rethink propane on board and how I use it.

RETHINKING PROPANE: Dismantling the Hillerange Seaward Stove Part Three

I was away from the boat for two weeks as work got in the way once again. But, then it will allow me to pay the boatyard for dropping the morning back in the water. So it is a trade off. When I got back on board I continued on the propane project which entails partially dismantling the Hillerange Seward Stove that has been on board since 1986. Due to corrosion in the burner area and the expense of rebuilding it I decided to abandon it's use as a stove and oven and use alternative cooking plans. I was able to remove most of the burner, controls and manifold on my last visit to the boat. On this visit I planned to take a look at the oven and see what I could remove there. Since I've owned BIANKA since 1995 I think I've used the oven twice. Frankly, trying to start it was always difficult and somewhat scary. Which is why I won't miss it much. But, I did store some cooking items inside of it as shown below:

   

Though they were just covers and bowls and oven pans in the limited space available. So since I no longer  plan on using the oven I thought it would be good to remove the burner and whatever else I could take off the boat. First I removed all the "stuff" that was stored in the oven:

The area needs a good cleaning and there is some rust that needs to taken care of. First thing was remove the oven tray. I found this was just held in place by two screws located in the back of the oven:

Once the tray is removed I had easy access to oven burner:

A screw on the left side holds it in place:

Over on the right side is a nut that connects the pilot light to it's stainless steel feed pipe securing the right side:

Once the screw on the left side and the pilot feed nut are removed the whole burner assembly is easily removed:

Removing the oven tray and oven burner created a much bigger storage area in the now unused oven space:

It needs a good cleanup  and some rust removal and I think I'll do some re painting in the future. But, I am happy with that the space that opened up by removing the burner:

I was now able to store all of the pots and pans I use on board in the oven area. Including my cast iron frying pan and four quart pressure cooker.  I still need to remove some of the oven pans which I will no longer use too. With the unused oven burner parts removed and the additional storage space created, I'll turn my attention to cleaning up the top burner area.

RETHINKING PROPANE USE ON BOARD: Dismantling the Stove Part One

When I discovered some nasty corrosion on the twenty seven year old Seaward Hillerange Model 3122 stove I starting looking into repairing it.

 As the cost of the parts to refurbish the stove rose and since it was already over  two decades old.  I began to seriously rethink the use of propane on board. I did an experiment last season using a Coleman single burner unit and one pound propane canisters for all my cooking on board. This worked out well so I abandoned the idea of refurbishing the Hillerange stove altogether.  But, since it is already installed and nicely gimballed I thought I could still use parts of it as a base for my new cooking system.

So now that the winter has finally ended one of my first tasks on board is to start removing some of the corroded components of the stove. After over two decades of cooking and having the cast iron piping and stainless steel metal and screws in contact with one another created some dissimilar metal issues. It looked like it might be tough to remove them.  It seemed to me the prudent thing to do would be to spray the attachment screws and flanges with a generous spray of  PB Blaster   .

 I let this soak for a while and then just to help thinks along took a small wire brush and brushed the screws and flanges areas with it to scrap away whatever rust I could:

This was followed by another soaking of some more PB Blaster onto the scrubbed areas. I'll let these areas soak in for a few days and then come back and try and remove the burners and gas valves. Hopefully, the blaster will have done it's job by then.

FOR PART TWO OF DISMANTLING A MARINE STOVE CLICK HERE 

RETHINKING PROPANE ON BOARD: Plan B: Butane Burner

After discovering the severe corrosion on the gas feeder tube of BIANKA's factory installed stove and oven. I decided to look at other alternative burners for cooking. My first experiment was with a Coleman burner which worked out very well. Even though most of my cooking can be accommodated using just one burner. Having another burner available is a good idea. Having it it use an alternate fuel also seemed like a good idea. With that in mind I bought a Iwatani Butane Stove :

It has a smaller footprint than the coleman burner and also comes with a case that makes it easier for storage.  I've had a similar cheaper butane burner on board for years but, when I went to use it earlier this year the flame plate had fallen off making it useless. the Iwatani seems to be better built and I've seen reviews that said they were used in Japanese restaurants for Hot Pot dishes called Nabemono in Japan. So they must know a thing or two about building quality stoves. Though a lot of the stoves may look similar form the outside this Iwatani has an additional metal heat sink goes from the burner to the the butane container area:

This metal heat sink warms up the butane container slightly to prevent it from freezing and reducing gas flow to the burner while cooking.

Another nice thing about this burner is the butane canister fits inside the burner unlike the Coleman's externally mounted propane canister.

 So the foot print is somewhat smaller in the galley than the Coleman burner. But, the butane canister does not hold as much fuel as the Coleman either. Also the Iwatani does not have the raised  loops on the burner grill like the Coleman burner does so pots and pans can easily slide off if you are cooking underway and not paying attention.

I found that the butane canisters using this burner last me about a week where as the Coleman one pound propane canisters lasted two weeks. The butane canisters also have no way of being refilled. But, the Butane Fuel  can be purchased in bulk quantities to provide months of cooking time. Though some have said they are also often readily available in Asian grocery stores at very reasonable prices too.

CAPT MIKE'S USAGE NOTES: 
Though the Iwatani Butane Stove cooked just as well as the Coleman burner and takes up less space. I will probably make the Coleman the primary cooktop on board. The Propane canisters last longer and the burner has the loops that hold pots and pans more securely. But, I will keep the Iwatani unit on board with several canisters as a backup or as additional burner when needed. Also with it's carrying case it is easier to store and allows me to have a chance to find  an alternate fuel if the propane canisters can not be found when cruising. As a plan B backup it should work very well.

IN BIANKA'S GALLEY: Freeze Dried Blueberries

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I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill

On Blueberry Hill where I found you

The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill

And lingered till my dreams came true

-Fats Domino

When I'm out on a cruise with BIANKA I prefer quiet secluded anchorages over active harbors. Since I converted to electric propulsion there is less need to go in search of a gas dock which is good. But, provisioning and the need to find food is still a concern.. I'd still prefer to stay in the serenity of where the boat is anchored. To that end I have been trying out some products that may reduce the need to find a grocery store and make staying put more of option.

The first product I tried is some Freeze Dried Blueberries . The 4.23 oz can is about half the size of a one pound coffee can and contains delicious freeze dried dehydrated Blueberries. Because they are dried they have an intense flavor that even taste good straight out of the can. Which is dangerous because one could easily pop them into the mouth like candy and not have enough for cooking if one is not careful. But, it does make for healthy snacking. So far I have been able to resist the temptation most of the time. It's a pretty versatile product. Instructions say to add three parts water to one part Blueberries to rehydrate them. I've also used other liquids like soaking one tablespoon of dried Blueberries in a cup of milk for twenty minutes before adding vanilla ice cream to make a Blueberry Milk Shake with a very intense Blueberry flavor.

I've also had great success with making Blueberry pancakes with the freeze dried Blueberries. Except rather than rehydrating them first I just whip up a batch of pancake batter and put about a quarter of a cup of the freeze dried Blueberries into the batter and let it sit in the cooler over night:

In the morning I give the batter another stir before pouring some of the batter out onto my cast iron pan:

After the pancakes are cooked I plate them and drizzle them with some Maple Syrup. Added a cup of coffee and enjoyed a very flavorful breakfast experience in the cockpit:

A can or two of these freeze dried Blueberries will definitely be a staple in the galley of BIANKA from now on.  I'm also trying some other freeze dried products on board that I will be reporting on from time to time here on the blog in the near future.
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ANOTHER SURPRISE FIND

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I am still constantly surprised by the things I find on board BIANKA even after owning her for eighteen years. As I mentioned I decided to reshuffle some storage lockers to make things easier to get at. When I did I found this:

A brand new  Heat Diffuser  sometimes called a flame tamer. Even better this one has a folding handle:

Which  makes for easy storage on board and is why I missed not finding it for eighteen years as it was hidden away on the side of the locker where it was stored. It will come in real handy on board as I like to cook with things like a 4 quart pressure cooker and using a flame tamer spreads the heat under the pot to help prevent burning. Wonder what other surprises still await for me to find on board?
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RETHINKING PROPANE ON BOARD: PLAN A

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After I made the discovery of some severe corrosion on the gas feeder pipe and burners on my boats original marine stove. I decided to look at some other alternatives to repairing it. Since it was already over twenty five years old and who knows what other issues I might find. Since one of my previous backups on board was a  Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove that worked well:

But, as you can see it was not the best choice to use on board a rocking boat. It was an emergency purchase one evening when my propane ran out in the middle of cooking and I needed something fast. It works well for cooking but, is too high and unstable for cooking underway or in a rocking anchorage. In my search for a stove alternative I found that Coleman also makes the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove which is much better suited to using on board a boat in my opinion than the PerfectFlow unit.

 
So I ordered one and spent the past two weeks using it on board.
It has a fairly large flat base but, that's what makes it very stable. Though it does take up a lot of room but, it is portable and still small enough for me to take it out and use it on the cockpit table if I did not want to heat up the cabin on a hot summer day:

It also has a large metal pot holder frame with raised hoops on each end. This helps keep pots secure on the burner which is a plus on board a boat. The burner fits all of the pots I use in my cooking on board. From my favorite cast 12 inch cast iron skillet and tea kettle:

To my four quart pressure cooker:

One has to allow a little more room for the one pound propane canister and metal connection tube which is not shown in the photos. I have not yet decided whether I will use the burner on the pull out counter on my boat or on top of the unused stove top:

Placing it on the stovetop will allow me to use gimbal function of the stove if I need to cook underway which I don't often do. But, it is an option.

CAPT. MIKE'S USAGE NOTES:  I've used the Coleman Power Pack one burner stove for two weeks now. It works as well or better than the built in three burner stove that came with the boat. It heats water fast and used it for my cooked meals for the two weeks. I only used a one pound propane tank for the two weeks before running out. Though it is summer and did not use the burner for every meal.  Still even if a a one pound canister only lasted a week twelve of them  would last for three months of cruising. The cannisters are readily available at least here in the states. I've found them in all kinds of stores from big box superstores to local hardware stores. Coleman also sells the Coleman High-Pressure Propane Hose and Adapter that allows you to connect the burner to a larger propane tank which I have not tried yet. In short it looks like the Coleman PowerPack 1-Burner Stove will work out fine for my cooking needs in the galley and there is no need to put money into repairing the twenty six year old stove on board.
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