Sunday, July 13, 2008

Your Submarine Cook Was a Piece of Work, but not from Hell

UPDATE (16 Apr 2009): Chef on Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless on secrets of feeding 130 under the sea
PO Bailey's ability to stay calm under pressure and his dedication to producing fresh, home-made food on missions have prompted his crew to compare him with Gordon Ramsay.



Our 1st class cook was never very popular with the crew despite his considerable talents. Apparently, he had some abilities besides submarine commissary that made the MMs and TMs suspicious, jealous, or both.


Two things always amazed me about our infamous cook, who was loud and gave as good as he got:

1- When did the guy manage to qualify? He had done so in jig time and subsequently proved he knew his stuff responding to a real emergency when it counted most. and;



2- Considering the rumors spread about him by our TMs and MMs, how did he avoid the brig? -He never deserved it and his attainments after retiring from the Navy proved the integrity and executive ability for which leading submarine cooks have been legendary.



Cooks always seemed to get a bad rap. How were yours? Too few cook sea stories from submarines (if you have got one, please share it).




The photo above is of course the famous TV personality ( the 'Chef from Hell'), Gordon Ramsay, one of only three chefs in the United Kingdom to hold three Michelin stars at one time.



Here's a 90-sec scullery drama from what appears to one of those fancy Trident subs:






Like the cook staff uniforms on UK subs? ...


Chef Ramsay claims, 'The problem with Yanks is they are wimps.' But like submariners, this chef is a veritable man of action. See the bird salad in the photo at top? That bird is the Atlantic Puffin, not our usual food bird.



Ramsey brought a team of six people to Laekjarbrekka to shoot the puffin feast. ... Ramsey liked the puffin they prepared for him. According to chef intern Saevar Pálsson, he’s going to try to hunt a puffin himself in the Westman Islands.


Want to try Puffin? Here's the plain recipe (not Ramsay's): Remove feathers, clean, soak in milk for three days to remove oil. Fry meat, salt and pepper to taste. ..............................................................................................................................................




Have a flair for cooking like Bothenook? Try this one-day Icelandic recipe (see Mjólkursoðinn lundi), which adds bacon and a caramel, redcurrant jelly or whipped cream sauce. ......................................................................................................................................................


Iceland has some excellent fare as a I remember. One day at brunch, hotel patrons were seated at only one other table - that was the only time I ever encountered Johnny Carson in person.


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3 Comments:

At 14 July, 2008 15:05, Blogger wtfdnucsailor said...

My best submarine cook story occurred on USS SEADRAGON (SSN584) in the mid sixties. We deployed to WESTPAC with the recognized two best bakers in PACFLT on board. They proceeded to have a 'sticky bun' cook off for much of the patrol. Loaves of bread replaced popcorn at the evening movies. It was great until the CO held a zone inspection about two months before the next port call and determined that we had a weeks worth of flour on board at the current usage rate with two months to go at sea. Needless to say, the 'sticky bun' cookoff stopped and bread was rationed so that we could still have toast in the morning. This was the same deployment when SEADRAGN pulled into Okinawa for supplies and was 'forced' to take three months worth of KOBI BEEF on board because that was all that was available on the island. We certainly ate well on that trip.

 
At 14 July, 2008 18:52, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never trust a skinny cook, right? Well, we had one on the USS RI.

I got relieved late and got down to the Mess Decks just 5 minutes before closing. At one of the tables, I see one of the cooks, let's call him Smith, eating a bowl of cold cereal.

I ask him if there's any chow left. He says he doesn't know, go look. Then I asked who was the Galley Watch Captain. He said he was. I was flabbergasted.

Not believing my ears, I said if you're the Galley Watch Captain, and you're eating a bowl of cold cereal? WTF, Smith!

He replies he didn't like what was for dinner.

I thought I couldn't get more flabbergasted, but here I was - more flabbergasteder.

So I asked him "the question" - how do you expect us to eat it if you don't like it?

His reply? It's not my problem.

So where did this cook go to shore duty? THE WHITEHOUSE! Just proves it isn't ability - its appearance in todays navy.

 
At 15 July, 2008 11:34, Blogger Tom Goering said...

@Sonarman I can't stop laughing.

The President walks down to the kitchen for a MIDRATS sandwich and the cooks reply, "get it yurself - oh and make me one too while your at it, lite on the mayo!"

 

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