A taste of the charter life

The yachting lifestyle is more within reach than you may think, thanks to the subcategory of the yachting industry known as the charter yacht experience. And perhaps surprisingly, one of the most impressive parts of that piece of the business can be the culinary options found in ships’ galleys.

Recently, the 33rd edition of the Newport Charter Yacht Show was held at Newport Shipyard. This trade-only show is attended by those who for reasons of economics or just choice wish to spend a limited time on a yacht at sea. And it can be almost at a moment’s notice.

The charter yachts and their captains and crews that work the East Coast during the popular cruising months of June through September are often engaged last-minute with notice as little as a day or two. This apparently is a New England phenomenon.

The yacht show has long-held traditions, including chef competitions and “tablescape” contests – yachtspeak for setting a decorative dining table.

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The major competition pitted six yacht chefs in a whisk-to-whisk battle for the title of Best Charter Yacht Chef. The participants were given a mystery basket of ingredients and charged with the task of creating four servings of an entrée that fit a specific diet request.

I sat on the judging panel along with Executive Chef Allen Ferriera of the on-premise restaurant at the Shipyard, Belle’s Café, along with foodie and former onboard sous chef T.J. Orr. The chef competitors were international in scope, as well as broad in experience.

The youngest of the six, Chef Frida Eklund of Sweden, had just signed on with her yacht Jupiter six weeks ago. The veteran of the entrants, chef Craig Rosado, hailed from New York and has more than 25 years in the kitchen. He has spent about the same length of time in the galley of the yacht Siete.

Others in the contest were from Canada, Texas and two were from South Africa. The Canadian chef, Cayley Coulburn, cooks with her husband on the yacht Bandido. The couple were yacht owners in the Pacific Northwest until earlier this year, when they sold their boat and signed on as crew of the yacht, which found its way to Newport.

The chefs were all impressive in their presentation, creativity and use of local ingredients. They prepared their meals from a bountiful pantry of foodstuffs from local farms. Fava beans, shiitake mushrooms, kale, microgreens and dill were all in the baskets provided to the chefs. Two of the chefs used tuna that was caught off Maine.

While there was not a subpar dish to be found in the half-dozen we sampled, there was one distinct difference to me at least. The two chefs of the six competitors who had actual restaurant experience were much freer with their use of seasonings. Rosado made a spot-on peanut sauce to complement his summer-roll-like spring roll stuffed with crisp seasonal vegetables, but contained in a rice noodle wrapper instead of wonton.

The chef of Loose Ends, a Texan named Mike Nichols who drew a vegetarian dish to cook, did shiitakes three ways, including grilled and tempura fried, and did not spare the savory seasonings nor a bold mint fava pesto. On the other hand, Eklund, in her second month in the galley, just barely allowed the lemon to come through in her aioli as well as the soy in her salad dressing.

I admired each chef’s skill, but even more so when we saw the phone booth-sized galleys they cooked in, although the size of the space appears to be a yacht owner’s whim.

A Newport restaurateur recently invited fellow proprietor Richard Sardella onboard his and his wife’s new vessel. Said Sardella, “The galley on that boat put my [home] kitchen to shame!” •

Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio show is heard on 1540 WADK-AM, wadk.com and the TuneIn mobile application. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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