Baute Cuisine !!
- clairesedgar
- Dec 11, 2024
- 2 min read
When purchased, Ramukanji was equipped with a pretty grubby gas hob with no oven or grill.
Originally, I had thought that this would be fine for the trip, but as the boat refit continued, we decided that it would be best to buy a new oven to allow us better options.
I say 'us' but realistically I mean 'me' as Mike has no idea what to do around an cooker.
The oven is an Eno 2-burner gas hob with a no grill oven, and was quite expensive. The old hob was removed and we managed to fit the new cooker, though it was not that easy to do as the space is quite tight.
I am pleased we did replace the hob, as the oven turned out to be very useful with the wet and cold weather we experienced.
France has been known as the gastronomic capital of the world, and it is true that there are some fantastic restaurants, town brasseries and village markets.
However, there is also, as in every country, pretty mediocre food, it can be quite pricy and it isn't always open as advertised!! A theme you may have recognised in my blog!
So, it was good to have some staples and thus always be able to rustle up a meal.
We had a large fridge and an ample food storage locker.
The fridge would hold plenty of drinking water, beer, salad and meats, with a small area for ice trays, but no-where to actually freeze food, and the locker held the usual tinned staples, herbs and spices.
Farmers markets would give us the essentials for breakfast and lunch, and the occasional treat!
So lots of croissants, baguettes, cheese ,cold meats and salads.
The wet weather meant it was nice to be able to have hot meals, so tinned chickpeas and tomatoes for curry, lots of couscous and butter beans able to be spiced up with French spices and herbs.
Fresh meat then easily pared with peppers and onions and home made guacamole for fajitas, or just lovely fresh salad potatoes and green beans.
And obviously there was always the good wine!
Once down by the sea, we would tend to eat more fish when dining out, as it was a bit smelly on the boat, and of course in Spain there was the lovely tapas!
The Costa Brava area was famous for anchovies and we enjoyed eating them in many different dishes, they were superb.
Overall, we probably ate out less than we had originally thought that we would have done. This was partly due to costs and partly due to not wanting to waste money on mediocre food, so buying good ingredients allowed us to dine extremely well with quite limited facilities.
So our boat food was good and we managed very well. Always having staples allowed us to spend a few days at anchor also, enjoying the remoteness of some of the anchorages we visited.
For anyone worrying about food for a similar trip, don't worry as it is really very simple and still allows for tasting regional specialities without costing a fortune.
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