Cooking Teams

The team setups for cooking are a bit unusual but they work. I'll explain. The baker kind of has his own hours that usually start way early in the morning and finishes up around midday...nothing really unusual there. Right now the baker takes Wednesday and Sunday off. Before the baker used to take the weekend off but made sure and had enough backup bread in the freezer to last thru the weekend.

Then we have 2 or 3 people on salad team which usually runs 8-5 Mon-Fri. But our cooking teams, of which we have two, work 2 on-2 off- 3 on- 2 off- 2 on- 3 off...confused? It looks like this. Team one works Monday and Tuesday, then Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then Wednesday and Thursday of the following week...that's a two week schedule. Team two works the alternating days. Their schedule on each team starts at 8 in the morning and ends about 7 at night. Oh its not that bad if you think about it...two fifteen minute breaks one at 10am and another at 3pm(approximately) then usually an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner.

We also have devotions (devo's for short) or some kind of meetings every morning Mon-Fri so that is another half hour deducted from actual physical working time...and they do work hard! But if you subtract the breaks, lunch and dinner break, and devo's you eliminate 3 hours from the 11 hour shift which brings it nicely back to an actual 8 hours physical work time. The stress and heat of it can can make it feel like 12 hours straight sometimes.

In addition to that at least one person is dedicated to being ward cook on each team (cook for local patients on the ward) because if the locals ate our food it would probably give them some extra grief adjusting to a new diet so we have a local person cook local food for the locals, sounds like it makes sense doesn't it? (at least locally right?). Also a dedicated dishwasher (this usually takes two sometimes) and two storeman because a crew and local workers of this number/multitude eat a lot of food and we don't have the privilege of ordering food every week from a local supplier who can meet our demand. So most of our stores are in months supplies stored in the bowels of the ship. Including 4 walk in freezers and a walk in cooler/fridge/reefer as well as a few upstairs (mini versions).

Back to the teams...

Instead of calling them team one and team two, lets change the name so in case they read this post/blog they won't start teasing each other about who's number one and number two.

Right now we are actually staffed right in the galley, dining room needs more workers.

Team Fried Chicken consists of the following nationalities: Ghana x2, Guinea x1, Canada x1, Australia x1, Liberia x2

Team Water Melon consists of the following nationalities: Australia x1, US x1, Ghana x1, Guinea x1, Hong Kong/Canada x1, Liberia x2

Salad Team consists of the following nationalities: US x1, England x1, Liberia x1

Storeman consists of the following nationalities: Ghana x1, Canada x1

Baker consists of: Germany x1

So you see its a very diverse group of teams I work with daily, and its constantly changing.

I'll get more into my role later on...don't want to put you to sleep all at one time.

For all the coffee lovers...

Coffee Art

There is a restaurant in Vancouver ..actually three
where they dress up the lattes.

You get to watch them create the pictures.

(thanks Carol for passing this one along!)

Welcome to the Ward

Here are some pictures of the ward patients. The little boy is Adolpho. He had a mass removed from his ear. He is a very rambunctious child. He played with a truck constantly, supporting the theory "boys will be boys" even in Liberia. The little girl is Godgive (yes that is her real name). The rest are of the ward nurses getting "handover" and of various other patients. We are not allowed to take pics on the ward due to patient privacy, these are the communication departments' pics, hence the watermark.

Henry

Henry is a 21 year old guy that was brought to the ship from a dental clinic about 8 days ago after he pulled out his own infected tooth.When he was brought to the ship he was in bad shape. His heart rate was in the 150's, his blood pressure was low and he was really struggling to breath. The infection had taken over his mouth, jaw and right chest. He was brought to surgery emergently and they cleaned out the horrible smelling stuff that was killing him.

I received Henry from the recovery room and he had 14 penrose drains (drains that allow the exudate to leave the body to get rid of the infection) in his mouth and chest. Over the next couple of days I spent countless hours with Henry, changing his dressing, starting IVs, giving him meds, and just trying to keep him comfortable.

On Sunday and Monday they took Henry back to the OR to clean him out again. As of Sunday morning Henry was not looking good, I was starting to think maybe we would loose him too. All of this time Henry was quiet and very stoic. But on Tuesday I came in to take care of him, I almost started to cry. Henry was sitting up in a chair, the drains in his mouth were gone. I think I actually screamed in excitement and Henry started to laugh. Woohoo!! That to me was pure joy, to see a boy that was so miserable and incredibly sick, laugh. Henry still has a long way to go. His wounds are very open and really need to heal. Please pray that Henry will have no more infection and that he will recover quickly so he can go home!!!!

Pink Meatballs, Pasta in oil or butter

I have had the report back that some of the meatballs were pink in the center...alright, fair enough.  But let me give you a little bit of education and science behind some of the things and preparation we do.  (because it didn't bother some people)

The meatballs were first boiled for 20 to 30 minutes to quickly set the shape of the semi-ball form (we don't have the luxury or time of making them machine produced perfect orbs, I am sure you already know that so we will move along) and additionally to boil off and leave behind meat juice 'residue' and fats.

Then the meatballs are cooked at about 325F or 160C (roundabout proximation) for about an hour.  This tightens up the structure of the meatball as well as colors it with a better roasting brown (thats a color for you to request at the paint store, roasted brown meatball - it works well with a burnt caramel, or creme brulee on the molding and trim).  In addition to this it completely cooks the meatball.  Then I check the temperature for at minimum for 160F (71C).  Then it is held in the warmer/oven for an additional half four or more before being served on the line.  Sometimes meat can be fully cooked and still appear pink, this is true with smoked meats especially.

Another example is science that most people will not accept because their upbringing or knowledge will not allow them to...that is that meat can be cooked to a varied (depends on kind and cut of meat) temperature for a certain length of time and not be well done, BUT STILL has been cooked to the appropriate specs allowed by government regulations.  Which is the standard that most of the world goes by that has these health governing agencies in their country.  Some exceptions are of course fowl, more specifically (in our situation) turkey and chicken which internally should/has to be 165F or 74C.  Most of my specs are drawn from the food and drug administration.  Here is a link if you are interested in this: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fttmeat.html or here http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/MeatTemperatureChart.htm 

But of course, you and I both know I couldn't have or didn't check every meatball. (laughing)  Just a few in different batches.

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Pasta!  Some of you may want to argue when I get done with this section but putting butter or oil in the pasta water doesn't really do what you think it does...I say its 50/50 (and food science backs me up with plenty of experimental statistics to prove it) and the experts say its 0% that oil or butter in the water actually helps the pasta not to stick together in the water.  Its one of those old traditions that was handed down and taught to everyone so long its hard to change the mindset.

From my experience and all the food science books I have ever read all you need is the proper amount of water per pound of pasta, a high enough temperature for cooking it, and salt in the water (for taste, not the silly change the degree in the water explanation, because even if it did what use is 1 or 2 degrees difference?).  Thats it. 

I have talked to Italians, Chinese (because supposedly they had the pasta before Italians but I won't be in that argument) and worked for a 'boat load'of chefs that all agree, water and salt.  Here on the ship I cook the pasta without watching it all the time.  A few stirs here and there, my pasta comes out beautifully time and time again...and when I teach it to others they have the same experience, no oils or butters.  No sticking.

So what does the oil do?  In the water it will attach itself to the pasta but not consistently because of the moving boiling water.  And then when it does it 'seals' the pasta so to speak.  What is the outcome of this?  Ever had that plate of pasta bolegnese or spaghetti and meatballs only to have watery sauce in the bottom of that plate?  Yep thats what it did, locked the sauce out of soaking into the pasta.

Now, all that being said...I add olive oil (when available, its extra virgin 'the good stuff' right now) after the pasta is in the pan, yes it still locks out some of the sauce from attaching itself to the pasta but this is the compromise:  When you are at home and want to add the pasta straight into the sauce or vise versa and eat it right away I would never use an oil or butter directly on the pasta, because the fresh cooked pasta will suck it up like a child and a milkshake...BUT when you are feeding 400 plus people that little drizzle of olive oil mixed with the remaining wetness of the noodle keeps the pasta from sticking together in big clumps while it sits on the line.  So a compromise is made for the best.

I will only add additional oils or butters (besides the drizzle) if I am applying some herbs or flavors to  the pasta...otherwise, NO I do not.  Although our cooking teams may decide to cook things differently this is my standard.