In a previous blog post I talked about essential spices to have on board. Well, I got to thinking it's a lot more than that. What about cooking oil, condiments - olives, capers, pickles, mustard, ketchup, other sauces, cooking wine, I could go on and on. My fear is that the stores required for a complete galley would require an expansive galley only found on a cruise ship. So what do I have for my galley essentials? Here's what I found in my galley recently:- Olive oil - great for tapenades, appetizers and more.
- Mustard - adds flavor to cooking, a must for appetizers, and a requirement for the occasional hot dog. (By the way, I have 3 kinds of mustard, a good stone ground, a spicy-sweet, and your ordinary yellow.)
- Ketchup or catsup - added to cooking when a bit of tomato flavor is required, needed for cocktail sauce, and required for hot dogs and hamburgers.
- Soy sauce - adds flavor to cooking, required for rice.
- Worcestershire sauce - adds flavor to cooking, great for gravy, sprinkled on meats.
- Pepper sauce - No galley is complete without this. Adds "zip" to cooking, and "zip" to sauces.
- Mayonnaise - No sandwich is complete without this. An important addition to macaroni and potato salad.
- Red wine vinegar - Great for salads and to add flavor to cooking.
- Red pepper relish - Bick's Relish. I use this all the time to add "zip" and flavor to my cooking. Unfortunately I can only find Bick's relish in Canada.
- Horseradish Sauce - Essential for cocktail sauce and when you grill steaks.
- Green olives - You can do lots with olives - tapenade, pesto, add to cooking, and martinis.
- Capers - Not always found in my galley, but it was this time. Adds Meditteranean flair to your cooking.
- Pickles - Can be used in a wide variety of things, adds great "crunch" to food.
- Canned tomatoes - Don't leave port without a can. Can be used on almost anything.
- Grated Parmesan cheese - Well it's not gourmet, but it always finds its way in to my galley to be put on top of almost everything.
- Vermouth - adds flavor to cooking, a must for your martini.
- Pancake mix - can be used in cooking or for making pancakes.
- Powdered milk - tastes awful, but I do use it in cooking when fresh milk is not always available.
- White beans - good for soups, and salads.
- Coconut milk - Okay, while not essential it does find its way in to my galley stores to be used for curries.
- Pasta - I always have some plain spaghetti and elbow macaroni with me.
Wow, that is quite a list. I've got a bunch more "stuff" in my galley, but as I inventoried my galley I thought you know I always seem to have the above items whenever I leave port and consequently I always will have a good meal.
