Hi, I am Nan, a.k.a. shipscook

I live in Southeast Alaska, work on mostly research vessels and an occasional freighter or ocean going tug.

Pretty much delve into all types of foods with Mediterrnean, Thai, Indian,
and good old American (whatever the heck that is?) cuisines included.

My job usually involves feeding 20-30 three meals, plus someting for midnight left prepared and snacks.

I work to be able to afford to travel. Read a lot, mostly about food, wine and travel.

Nan

Don't let her understated introduction fool you, folks. Nan is a very knowledgeable chef, with an incredible international grounding.

She's a refugee from another site where she used to make an important contribution---until the site become overrun by flamers. So I invited her over here, where such behavior isn't tolerated.

Let's everyone make her welcome---quickly, before she sets out to sea again.

Welcome. Look forward to seeing your contributions! Must be different cooking in an environment where the only real fresh ingredients you will get are caught right there.

A Big Hello Nan!!!

What an exotic job I must say...and here I is stuck at a desk all day. Oh well! But my goodness it must be a cold environment that really impresses me! I would have to opt for a shrimp boat in the FLA Keys!!!
I want to ask is it exciting? Many adrenaline rushes out there on the open waters? I imagine the crew loves having a great cook aboard. Anyway we welcome ya' and know you'll love this site!

Cathy

P.S. Do you get lots of fresh fish and lobster?

And king crab? My favorite seafood.

Jafo,
You crab lovers tickle me - all that work to acquire such a small amount of meat! I love crab, but finally just threw in the towel and said no more crab legs for me after what seemed like an endless time picking out such a small amount of meat- I like to buy mine already shelled! Lazy huh?
Cathy

P.S. My granddaughter found some crawfish in the little creek that runs through my backyard! I am excited about the prospect of fresh crawfish. They are alot of shelling also, I guess I just feel that they are neater that cracking all those big leg shells on crab, and having it squirt everywhere, and fly all over the table & floor!

I love blueclaw crab, and will happily spend all day picking them. I've never been big on the King legs, though. A lot of work, as you say, for meat that's on the course side, imo.

Why are crawfish a lot of shelling? You boil 'em up, break 'em in half, suck the heads and bite the tails. No work to it at all.

Y'all from Lousianer?

KYH,
I knowed ya' was a Cajuooon!
The only part of that crawfish eating thing I can handle is eating the tails, delicious eating I must say!!!
Cathy

Not from there, but used to hang out in the swamps alot with some Cajun folk.

Before this get's out of hand, I'm going to start a favorite shellfish thread, and we can move the discussion there.

If you're real nice to her, maybe Nan will tell you about Spotted Prawns.

Spotted Prawns?

Hi Nan,

KYH dropped a suggestion that you know somethnig about spotted prawns.
If you don't mind sharing with us I for one would love to know a little more.

Thank you, Cathy

Thanks to you all for the warm welcome!!!
I will post answers to questions over the weekend, but quickly, not much time for fishing in these vessels.
But, we do eat a lot of seafood, from local markets when possible, but Sysco actually has some great frozen products. Not to start off by ruffling feathers, but I am a firm believer that an excelent quality frozen product is superior to a poorly handled fresh one,
The job for this season is mapping the California coast and I will be departing around May first.
thanks again,
later,
Nan

I'm with you 100% on the frozen, Nan.

FAS is actually fresher than fresh, because it can be as much as four or five days before the consumer sees "fresh" fish. And for anyone who lives more than 50-100 miles inland, well, I'm sorry. Nothing sold as fresh compares to the quality of FAS.

Compare the two processes. For fresh fish, the fish is caught, either by nets or long lines, and tossed on ice until the boat has a full load. Might be a couple of days just for that. It's then taken to shore, where the processor sorts and cleans the catch, and sends it on to the wholesale market (yet another day gone by) where your local fishmonger buys it and puts it on display. It might be in his case for another day or two.

FAS, on the other hand goes like this: The fish is caught, either by net or long line. It is then immediately cleaned, broken down, flash frozen, and stored in commercial freezers until there's a full load. Total elapsed time from deck to freezer: A couple of hours at most.

Nowadays, when there's a quality problem with frozen fish it's either because it was defrosted improperly, or it's been thawed and refrozen. Far too much of the latter going around, unfortunately.

The worst is to use a home freezer. Even zero-degree freezers work too slowly. As a result, the ice crystals are large, and pierce the cell walls. Then, when the fish is defrosted, it gets mushy. Particularly if it's defrosted quickly.

Cook Chatty Cathy said:

Hi Nan,

KYH dropped a suggestion that you know somethnig about spotted prawns.
If you don't mind sharing with us I for one would love to know a little more.

Thank you, Cathy

Click to expand...

Good Morning Cathy,
Spotted prawns are pretty much a Northwest thing to the best of my knowledge? The are very sweet and wonderful, no vein to bother with!
I find most other shrimp bland after having these.

Very interesting, I commerical fished on several shrimp boats and have purchased shrimp from several of the bays here in Southeast.
It is amazing at the different taste when you just duck around a point and set the pots somewhere different.

BTW, most fisherman set pots on a long line with about five or six pots to a string. You are limited to 100 pots total. The best pots are two stainless steel rings supporting the netting. They nest together, so take up very little deck space. Most shrimp boats are tiny.

Nan

Good Morning Nan,

Thanks for the info. on Spotted Prawns! I agree with you on the differing tastes of Shrimp. Many yrs. ago I had access to unlimited fresh shrimp from many different Shrimp Boats, I just never had the Spotted Prawns before! But all the Shrimp Boats I got mine from were in the Gulf of Mexico or over on the Coast off FL in the lower Keys area of the Atlantic Ocean, actually did a trip out with them once on the Atlantic, we had a breakfast the next morning of fresh fried fish, grits, and biscuits OH My goodness was that a memorable breakfast and the whole trip was so much fun! The water was so clear in that area of the Atlantic you could literally see the bottom! I Think the only truly bad shrimp I ever tasted came from the Bay area of New Port St. Richie FL, they were tiny, gritty, and lacked flavor.

Wish I were out shrimping or hangin' on the sand in the Keys right about now! Our weather just wants to be gloomy and chilly this week!

Thanks, Cathy