Monday, November 8, 2010

Mayonnaise

This blog is about my trip. My trip is almost exclusively about the
Brotherhood of the Coast. And so, I make entries about the trip and I
make entries about the Brotherhood. I apologize for those who not being
part of our community are either not interested or do not understand. It
is very much part of me and I can't just ignore one aspect or the other.
Besides, I do not write to please or to seek agreement with what I
write. I just put out my feelings as they result of my various
experiences during this voyage. Some entries have been praised, some
have been criticized and that's OK. This is how I feel. At 70 years of
age, I am made, not likely to get rebuilt or changed.

Yesterday, I made mayonnaise while Papy Jovial was speeding at 8 knots
under Gennaker. I usually don't make mayonnaise at sea as I like to
start by adding oil almost drop by drop until the emulsion holds. And on
a moving platform, it is not easy. But it was a success.
I start like everybody with the yoke of an egg, salt and pepper and a
wee bit of mustard to help the emulsion start. I use a hemispheric bowl
so that when I whisk the mayonnaise, nothing gets away from the
whisking. And I use a regular stainless steel fork for the whisking. As
you add oil (I use Canola oil because Olive oil has a too strong taste
for me), the mayonnaise will get harder and harder. I continue until it
forms a kind of hard ball in the middle of the bowl.
Then, if it is for meat, I would bring to boil one table spoon of
vinegar, either in a stainless steel measuring cup or a stainless steel
laze, add it in one go to the mayonnaise while whisking. The mayonnaise
will become lighter in color, smoother in texture, it will loose its
oily taste and keep better in the fridge without falling apart.
If it is for fish, I replace the vinegar with fresh squeezed lemon
juice. If is for shrimps, crab, lobster, crayfish, etc..., then I use
cognac and after that I add some ketchup until the mayonnaise has a pink
color. A touch of cayenne pepper to give it a little spring and you have
a "cocktail sauce".

Today we made good progress. And we no longer have to fight any current.
For the last 25 hours (we move the clock by to Z time), we covered 170
n.m. both through the water and over the ground and we have now 2221
n.m. to go to the entrance of the channel to Cabedelo. I still plan on
getting there on the 24th. Since we left Lobito, we have not used the
main engine, except for the one hour to get out of the harbour, and we
ran the genset for 2 hours, because we keep having an overcast sky and
the solar panels don't produce as much as I wanted. Maybe after St
Helena, we will get the blue sky, long swell and warm air.

We find the South Atlantic Ocean, at least the area where we are, much
more comfortable than the Indian Ocean. The seas are much better
organized, and once Papy Jovial is locked in her 10 degrees list to
starboard, not much rolling goes on. Much easier to cook.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds delightful.
Gary

Robert said...

Sounds and smells like your "plumbing" problems have been resolved.

PTx (Jajão) said...

No fishing??

Enjoy!!

M.Pimentel