If you’re needed more in the cockpit than you are in the galley, here’s a versatile recipe that can be easily made under way and thrown into a multitude of yummy meals. I prepared this braised roast beef one evening while we were looking for anchorage. 10 minute prep time: brown the beef, toss the ingredients into a pot, set to cook on your gimbaled stove, then go help your captain in the cockpit. By the time your anchor is set, your meal will be ready.

I like making roast beef in the pressure cooker under way, for all those great pressure cooker reasons: quick cooking, fuel efficient, won’t spill as it cooks and can be preserved in the pot without refrigeration for a couple days. But of course this exact recipe can be made in a conventional pot with a tight fitting lid. It will just need to cook a good half hour to 45  minutes longer.

Braised Roast Beef

3-4 lbs beef chuck roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large or 2 medium onions, quartered
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
2 bay leaves
8 juniper berries
2 sprigs rosemary (roughly 3″)
1 cup beef broth (can be made with bouillon)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2/3 cup red wine
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in your pot or pressure cooker until hot. Brown the beef for three minutes on each side.

Throw the rest of the ingredients into the pot. The seasoning salt can be anything, from Lawry’s to whatever is in your food locker.

Lock down your pressure cooker lid and bring it up to a good steam, then take the heat down to low and let it simmer. Now you are free for 45 minutes (or 1.5 hours if you’re using a conventional pot) to help your captain in the cockpit with “…hand me that winch handle. Take up the traveler. No. A little more. Ok, you’re good. How are my tell tails? Are there any more beers down below?…” You get the picture.

For the pressure cooker: after 45 minutes, turn off the heat and let cool down until the pot stops steaming. Carefully lift the pressure valve to make sure all the steam has released before removing the lid. All that roast beef will be tenderized and easily flaked with a fork.

After we found a good spot to drop the hook, I boiled up a pot of pasta. Quick and easy. Then we sat down to a wonderful meal of braised beef on buttered noodles. Yum!

But’s not the end of the beef. After dinner, with the left over beef still in the pressure cooker, lock down the lid and bring it back up to steam. Once it’s up to pressure, turn off the burner and let the beef sit tight in its vacuum packed pot overnight. There it will keep fresh from bacteria. The next day the beef can be enjoyed in soups (see upcoming French Onion Soup on GP!) or as we did in wonderful sandwiches.