Is all food prepared "from scratch" on board?

[janicar]

We recently returned from a cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy. A question came up about the food at our table (for 10) during dinner that maybe some of

you can answer.

 

Does Carnival prepare all food fresh and from scratch on board or does some

of it come in some form of a frozen, pre-prepared, or ready-to-bake state?

 

It seems it would be a huge task to prepare that much food with that much

variety completely from scratch. I know that almost all restaurants have

some menu items that are prepared elsewhere.

[shof515]

i remember from the gallery tour and the behind the fun tour that some of the apps in the dinning room are pre made in advance and they are store in some kind of refig. container

[imaboo]

I imagine that some of it does come semi-prepared. That said, I took the 'Behind the Fun' tour on my last cruise, and there was a lot of 'from scratch' going on too. We saw 3 vats of soup stewing and one very large pot (don't know what it was called) braising ingredients for the au jus served with the prime rib.

 

My advice is to take the tour and ask the Chef de Cuisine yourself :)

[salty dingo]

It is pretty much all from scratch. At least for the mega meals they serve to the masses. Perhaps there is prepared caviar in a can... LOL :D

[98Charlie]

We've taken the galley tours on several cruises. A majority of the food is prepared on board from recipes.

 

Some reasons that restaurants here use "heat and eat" products is consistancy of the product quality and the cost of labor to prepare the dish. I don't know how much the cooks, Sous Chefs and Executive Chefs make on board. But I would hazard a guess that the overall labor cost on board is significantly less that a land based US restaurant.

 

Charlie

[ChefSusan]

Everything is made from scratch.

 

Most everything is held in walk-in refrigerators, and "finished" off minutes before plating and serving.

 

If you take the Behind the Scenes tour, they will explain in layman's terms how a ship prepares and serves the thousands of meals that are readily available throughout the day.

 

Very little is prepared off the ship due to dietary/food safety rules and regulations.

[MrFancypants]

Per the head chef on the Behind the Fun tour last week on the Legend, they (Legend) use about 90% "from scratch" and about 10% pre-made items. He said that just a few years ago it was about 60% scratch/40% pre-made.

[*Mach*]

The Executive Chef on the Conquest told me that virtually everything is made from scratch... all the way down to the fish stock.

Don't EVER let anyone tell you that ship board food is the same as cafeteria style food... it's MUCH, MUCH better...

:)

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We recently returned from a cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy. A question came up about the food at our table (for 10) during dinner that maybe some of

you can answer.

 

Does Carnival prepare all food fresh and from scratch on board or does some

of it come in some form of a frozen, pre-prepared, or ready-to-bake state?

 

It seems it would be a huge task to prepare that much food with that much

variety completely from scratch. I know that almost all restaurants have

some menu items that are prepared elsewhere.

 

we were told that everything was made from scratch except the dinner rolls/bread.

 

Bill

[oldrailfan]

we were told that everything was made from scratch except the dinner rolls/bread.

 

Bill

According to the Chef when I went on the "Behind the Fun" tour, the only finished product they buy is sliced bread. Everything else, including dinner rolls and pastries, is "scratch-made."

[Name Of The Game]

I thought the pancakes were frozen and microwaved...they're tasteless. :(

[patseacruiser]

I took the galley tour and they said they buy frankfurter, hamburger rolls and sliced bread and that's about it. It was 9:00 and they had vats of stock cooking and bread baking with lots already baked for the day.

[luckycruzer]

even mayo was made on board..as the salad dressing..all baked goods from scratch..as well as delish ice cream. Portion control was not an issue, as the continental service motto was...pile it on..and on..and on. Desserts were phenom! All Italian..and Midnight buffet every night ! Food was just wonderful..always "Crudites" on the table, crackers and bread basket awaited w/ your own butter plate. Even the slightest request was honored. There was tableside/flambe' dishes. I'm glad I started cruzin back then.