UKLloyd Posted January 5, 2016 #1 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Sorry, Was just sitting here thinking and thought I would ask the question. When I think of cruising, I automatically expect decent food. With good quality ingredients. So i was just wondering, How much of the food on NCL is actually made on the ship? Or is everything frozen on board and defrosted. Do they even bake their own bread fresh? Sorry, Just thought that this board has so many knowledgeable members, Wouldn't hurt to ask. It doesn't change anything for me, Still love cruising NCL, Just curious is all. Thanks for any answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpyNor Posted January 5, 2016 #2 Share Posted January 5, 2016 As far as I know, the meat is frozen and the majority of the rest is fresh. And yes, they make all breads on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marelind Posted January 5, 2016 #3 Share Posted January 5, 2016 They bake everything fresh each morning. In certain parts of the ship you can smell the fresh bread. And yes, Norwegian brings on board fresh ingredients and prepares them in the galleys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slhopper Posted January 5, 2016 #4 Share Posted January 5, 2016 (edited) We just got off the Dawn, this was just a tiny part of the food being loaded on the day we boarded in NOLA. :) We thought the food was great. Edited January 5, 2016 by slhopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casofilia Posted January 5, 2016 #5 Share Posted January 5, 2016 If you walk the promenade first thing in the morning you will be delighted by the aroma of baking, one of the pleasures of an early morning walk. :D Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaver1975 Posted January 5, 2016 #6 Share Posted January 5, 2016 They bake all of their bread except burger buns, hot dog buns and bagels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted January 6, 2016 #7 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Sorry, Was just sitting here thinking and thought I would ask the question. When I think of cruising, I automatically expect decent food. With good quality ingredients. So i was just wondering, How much of the food on NCL is actually made on the ship? Or is everything frozen on board and defrosted. Do they even bake their own bread fresh? Sorry, Just thought that this board has so many knowledgeable members, Wouldn't hurt to ask. It doesn't change anything for me, Still love cruising NCL, Just curious is all. Thanks for any answers. About the only thing most cruise lines don't bake onboard are the hotdog and burger buns. The bakery has special machines that will roll out 29 dinner rolls at a time, or roll out baguette loaves. Even sandwich bread is baked onboard, and sliced in the bakery. There are even special machines that press the dough into the tart forms precisely. Loaves or rolls are placed on full baking sheets, these are then put on racks that take a dozen trays, and then the rack goes into an oven where a turntable holds 4 racks (so 48 full baking sheets per oven), and rotates the racks like a rotisserie (except the spindle is vertical). There are also proofers where the dough is put on the racks (4 at a time) in a temperature and humidity controlled cabinet to rise. Due to USPH food sanitation regulations, very little food comes aboard already prepared and frozen, and nothing gets made ahead of time and frozen. Yes, the proteins (meat, fish, poultry) come on frozen, but that is because you cannot keep thousands of pounds of meat fresh for a week. Soups are made from scratch in 35 gallon steam kettles. Vegetables are steamed in 30 lb batches in pressure cookers the size of a dining table. Racks similar to the bakery racks, that will take 10 full baking sheets will be used in ovens to cook meats and fish, and the ovens can be conventional, convection, or steam injection cooking. I've had to repair virtually everything mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luddite Posted January 6, 2016 #8 Share Posted January 6, 2016 They bake terrific breads. It is frankly amazing how good their bread is yet the biscuits they make have a kinship to hockey pucks. Just amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobg529 Posted January 6, 2016 #9 Share Posted January 6, 2016 As far as I know, the meat is frozen and the majority of the rest is fresh. And yes, they make all breads on board. I'm not sure of ALL of the meat being frozen. I remember being on a tour of the ships galley multiple times and seeing them cutting beef into steaks, etc. I think it may be a mixture of fresh and frozen meat. The baking operation is amazing to see in person as well. The behind the scenes tours are really fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger001 Posted January 6, 2016 #10 Share Posted January 6, 2016 On one cruise, at the dock a vendor was preparing to load huge quantities of fruit (i believe it was) onto the ship. The head chef was on the dock sampling all the items and rejecting major quantities of it, much to the dismay of the vendor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted January 6, 2016 #11 Share Posted January 6, 2016 I'm not sure of ALL of the meat being frozen. I remember being on a tour of the ships galley multiple times and seeing them cutting beef into steaks, etc. I think it may be a mixture of fresh and frozen meat. The baking operation is amazing to see in person as well. The behind the scenes tours are really fascinating. They may bring some specialty meat in fresh, but even frozen meat is defrosted prior to prepping and cooking. The chefs will advise the provisions staff what is on the menu for the next couple of days, and provisions will get the product into coolers for defrosting. It is much cheaper to purchase say a whole beef tenderloin and then cut it into filet mignon, than to have it come prepared. On many ships, there is a "meat prep" room, where they will cut the steaks and such, using a bandsaw, and it is much easier to do this when the meat is at least partially frozen. There will also be a "fish prep" room where they break down whole fish into portions, and a "veg prep" and "salad prep" rooms for those items. So, lots of the scullery work is done before the food moves to the main or specialty galleys for cooking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinIllinois Posted January 6, 2016 #12 Share Posted January 6, 2016 I love the fresh baked breads and pastries. They have these chocolate croissants in the morning that were fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted January 6, 2016 #13 Share Posted January 6, 2016 On one cruise, at the dock a vendor was preparing to load huge quantities of fruit (i believe it was) onto the ship. The head chef was on the dock sampling all the items and rejecting major quantities of it, much to the dismay of the vendor. Yep, even the stuff that is accepted will be graded into three groups: use today, use soon, and good for the trip, depending on ripeness. A major time consumer for the provisions gang is to go through every box of produce daily, not only to rotate its position in the stacks (to even ripening), but to hand pick out any fruit or veg that looks like it is going off, to prevent spread to the rest of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casofilia Posted January 6, 2016 #14 Share Posted January 6, 2016 On one cruise, at the dock a vendor was preparing to load huge quantities of fruit (i believe it was) onto the ship. The head chef was on the dock sampling all the items and rejecting major quantities of it, much to the dismay of the vendor. We have, more than once, stood at the rail in the early afternoon of the first day and watched ship's officers examining the produce that has been lined up on the dock before it was loaded. There were also port authority or police with dogs checking too!! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triptolemus Posted January 6, 2016 #15 Share Posted January 6, 2016 I'll just leave these here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casofilia Posted January 6, 2016 #16 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Have just had another thought; the ship went through their supply of bananas after leaving Los Angeles before we had cleared all the Mexican ports of call. The last ones were decidedly bruised, you could tell the way they prepared them at breakfast!! I asked about bananas one morning to be told "We will NOT buy bananas in Mexico". Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonmom Posted January 6, 2016 #17 Share Posted January 6, 2016 About the only thing most cruise lines don't bake onboard are the hotdog and burger buns. The bakery has special machines that will roll out 29 dinner rolls at a time, or roll out baguette loaves. Even sandwich bread is baked onboard, and sliced in the bakery. There are even special machines that press the dough into the tart forms precisely. Loaves or rolls are placed on full baking sheets, these are then put on racks that take a dozen trays, and then the rack goes into an oven where a turntable holds 4 racks (so 48 full baking sheets per oven), and rotates the racks like a rotisserie (except the spindle is vertical). There are also proofers where the dough is put on the racks (4 at a time) in a temperature and humidity controlled cabinet to rise. Due to USPH food sanitation regulations, very little food comes aboard already prepared and frozen, and nothing gets made ahead of time and frozen. Yes, the proteins (meat, fish, poultry) come on frozen, but that is because you cannot keep thousands of pounds of meat fresh for a week. Soups are made from scratch in 35 gallon steam kettles. Vegetables are steamed in 30 lb batches in pressure cookers the size of a dining table. Racks similar to the bakery racks, that will take 10 full baking sheets will be used in ovens to cook meats and fish, and the ovens can be conventional, convection, or steam injection cooking. I've had to repair virtually everything mentioned. This is so fascinating! Why do they bake dinner rolls fresh, but not hamburger buns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted January 6, 2016 #18 Share Posted January 6, 2016 This is so fascinating! Why do they bake dinner rolls fresh, but not hamburger buns? Dinner rolls don't have to be as consistent in size and shape as most people expect from burger and dog buns. It is cheaper to buy these from a place that mass produces them. Though the "dough roller", which cuts a large piece of dough into 29 smaller pieces and then rolls these into round balls, does a pretty good job of uniformity, no one really compares two dinner rolls to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squidward Q Tentacles Posted January 6, 2016 #19 Share Posted January 6, 2016 (edited) At the two minute mark you can see fresh baked bread. Edited January 6, 2016 by Squidward Q Tentacles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geegee1 Posted January 6, 2016 #20 Share Posted January 6, 2016 They bake terrific breads. It is frankly amazing how good their bread is yet the biscuits they make have a kinship to hockey pucks.Just amazing. The pretzel breads are usually amazing. But I still have yet to find a good English Muffin, which is disappointing. On one cruise, at the dock a vendor was preparing to load huge quantities of fruit (i believe it was) onto the ship. The head chef was on the dock sampling all the items and rejecting major quantities of it, much to the dismay of the vendor. On our last 2 Breakaway cruises you could see them loading the ship in Port Canaveral with produce and other provisions. Pretty cool to see these giant boxes being lifted up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrumpyNor Posted January 6, 2016 #21 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Below are some photos from one of the galley tours we have participated on: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luddite Posted January 7, 2016 #22 Share Posted January 7, 2016 The pretzel breads are usually amazing. But I still have yet to find a good English Muffin, which is disappointing. Yeah well. Try one of the bagels. There's a new level of disappointment available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lena B Posted January 11, 2016 #23 Share Posted January 11, 2016 One thing that I really love about our aft balconies is the amazing smell of all of the fresh bread being baked. I can't wait for Valentine's Day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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