There’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about how advanced new cruise ships like Anthem of the Seas are.
Whilst it’s true, we all know the one thing cruise lines have been and always will be famous for and that’s their food!
Up until now though the only place you’ve been able to get cruise quality food has been on a cruise ship.
However…….
Being the helpful people we are we thought we’d share some of our behind the scenes knowledge and get some of the amazing recipes on-board and share them with you here.
We approached Oceania Cruises to start with simply because when it comes to food they’re the experts.
Cruise Fact: Did you know they spend twice as much as any other cruise line on raw ingredients for their recipes? Clearly somebody at Oceania Cruises is taking their food seriously!
We thought we’d start off simple for the first recipe so you didn’t have to run out and buy a lot of expensive ingredients but Francks mashed potatoes are something that should prove very useful with a lot of different dinners although when we asked the man himself he recommended to us that you serve it with “roasted lamb chops, haricots lyonnaise and a good bottle of Pinot Noir”.
If you’re wondering Franck Garanger is Oceania’s Culinary Cruise Director (he’s the one responsible for spending so much money on the food) and he first came up with this recipe as an apprentice to a French Master Chef when he was asked to prepare mashed potatoes for the chefs personal lunch! Not only did it go down great, he was told it was the best mash the chef had ever tried and the recipe has been with him ever since!
Franck Garanger’s World Famous Mashed Potatoes
(serves 4-6 people)
Ingredients:
1lb of medium sized russet potatoes, (peeled obviously)
Half a cup of heavy cream
A quarter cup of whole milk
A pinch of fresh nutmeg
Eight tablespoons of butter (unsalted) softened to room temperature
One teaspoon of salt
Instructions:
1. Chop the potatoes into mid-sized chunks and place in a medium saucepan then cover with enough salted water so that they’re submerged by about an inch of water.
2. Place on a medium heat and simmer until the potatoes become tender when you stab them with a knife (this should take about twenty five minutes).
3. Drain the water off and cool for five minutes.
4. Whilst the potatoes are cooling combine the milk, nutmeg and cream in a smaller saucepan over a low heat stirring constantly until the liquid becomes hot.
5. Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer (or if you’re anything like us realise at this point you don’t own a potato ricer and run out to buy one quickly) and pop them into another saucepan (hopefully someone else will be doing the washing up!)
6. Stir them with a wooden spatula on a low heat for about five minutes to dry them out and remove any excess water.
7. Once that’s done slowly stir in the hot cream mixture a little bit at a time. You need to take your time with this to make sure the mash absorbs all the liquid which will result in a much creamier mash.
8. Once that’s done stir the butter into the mash a few pieces at a time, again giving it a chance to be fully absorbed. Then add the salt and serve!
Oceania Cruises are an American cruise line specialising in an informal but elegant cruising experience with a high focus on food (as you can see above).
They describe themselves as a five star premium cruise line although a lot of their guests compare them to the ultra-luxury brands – As you can see from some of these reviews.
