Cooking Up Some Shipboard Memories

“How was the food?” is often the first question asked of a returning cruise passenger. Now, thanks to seagoing cooking schools, travelers can share their most delicious memories with friends and family.

Besides cooking classes from world-famous chefs, these culinary sailings provide wine tastings and classes in napkin folding and flower arranging.

Several cruise lines, including Celebrity, Disney, Classical, Cunard and Seabourn, offer cooking demonstrations or guest chefs on board, but the most extensive culinary cruises we’ve seen are the Wine and Food Festival sailings aboard Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises.

Next year, about 26 sailings aboard the luxury Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony are set to headline guest chefs who will prepare two gala dinners during each cruise and present two hourlong cooking classes demonstrating recipes from those dinners.

We sailed from Venice, Italy, to Barcelona, Spain, last fall aboard the Crystal Symphony with a young British chef named Nigel Haworth, whose small country inn, Northcote Manor in Blackburn, England, was awarded a Michelin star for his take on regional dishes. The most unusual, at least to American tastes, was a variation on an 18th century Lancashire specialty: black pudding with buttered pink trout and mustard and watercress sauce. It’s been the “best-selling dish at the hotel since I put it on the menu,” Haworth said.

Passengers receive printed recipe cards as they enter each cooking demonstration and can watch close-ups of the preparation from an overhead camera projected on video monitors around the lounge. Afterward, on stage, the chef answers questions from the audience.

On the evenings when the guest chef’s dinners are presented, the passenger can opt for the full menu or mix and match the courses with selections from the regular dinner menu. A guest wine expert suggests vintages for the chef’s dinner and conducts several wine tastings during the sailing; ours was Michael Broadbent, retired director of Christies International wine department.

Besides enjoying these special meals, the cruising gourmet can dine in one of Crystal’s alternative restaurants, selecting Mediterranean dishes at Prego aboard both ships, Asian/Pacific Rim cuisine in the Jade Garden aboard the Crystal Symphony or classic Japanese specialties in Kyoto on the Crystal Harmony.

On days at sea, the ship may serve a Mozart tea complete with costumed servers and music by a classical trio; an All-American deck barbecue and picnic; or an Asian buffet with specialties from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Crystal’s all-day Bistro Cafe offers espresso, cappuccino and freshly baked croissants.

Guest chefs on the Crystal Symphony’s 2000 World Cruise include Hawaii’s Sam Choy on the Feb. 1-12 segment between Peru and Tahiti; Barbara Tropp of San Francisco’s China Moon Cafe aboard the March 4-20 segment from Singapore to Mombasa, Kenya; Andre Soltner of New York’s Lutece on the April 12-May 4 segment between Cape Town, South Africa, and Southampton, England; and Paris pastry experts Alain and Patrick LeNo^tre on the May 4-16 leg from Southampton to Rome.

Passengers who book the Crystal Harmony’s South American Sojourn Wine & Food Festival sailings in early 2000 can cruise with chef-proprietors, including James McDevitt of Hapa Restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz., sailing Jan. 19-Feb. 2 from Barbados to Buenos Aires; Rocco DiSpirito of New York’s Union Pacific, cooking on the Buenos Aires-to-Valparaiso, Chile, leg Feb. 2-16; Los Angeles’ Suzanne Goin of Lucques from Feb. 16 to March 1 between Valparaiso and Buenos Aires; and James Mazzio of Denver’s 15 Degrees, sailing March 2-18 from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Brochure prices on these winter and spring sailings begin at about $300 per person per day, double occupancy. On the 104-day World Cruise, segments as short as 12 days are available; the 57-day South American itinerary can be divided into cruises from 13 to 16 days.

Just released is “The Crystal Cruises Cookbook,” by the director of culinary services, Toni Neumeister, and his team, the first cruise-line chefs to be invited to cook at New York’s James Beard Foundation. It details 65 of the line’s most-requested dishes, plus 50 basic preparations, stocks and sauces. Priced at $39.95 plus $9.95 handling and shipping, it can be ordered by calling (800) 567-0557.

Among the book’s recipes are Wolfgang Puck’s grilled lamb chops with cilantro-mint sauce from Chinois on Main; a classic lasagna served in Crystal’s Prego restaurant; tuna sashimi and wakame seaweed salad from the Kyoto restaurant; and the line’s white chocolate bread pudding with caramelized coffee sauce.

A free brochure that includes a schedule of upcoming food and wine cruises is available from your travel agent or by calling Crystal Cruises at (800) 820-6663.