Food preparation

[Fietsen1]

Hello all,

 

  My wife and I generally love the food on board the various ships. We were having a discussing about how the dishes are being prepared. Are the MDR meals made from fresh ingredients, or are they premade, frozen and reheated? For example, we had duck a l'orange on a cruise about a month ago - it was delicious! I wonder if the entree' was frozen and then reheated or if they literally make everything from scratch. We were just wondering how much of the food was processed, if any!

 

Thanks!

 

[Pitzel]

Most of the meals are prepared from scratch onboard. Some ingredients (like french fries) do come "processed" (eg. precut and frozen) and other ingredients come frozen (eg. fish) for safety and product longevity, but almost all of the provisions are restocked at each turnaround day while in a homeport.

There are a number of videos online showing how many of the cruise ship galleys operate and behind-the-scenes tours will show many of the areas where food items are prepared from scratch onboard.

Edited September 24, 2023 by Pitzel

[Pitzel]

Here is an example of how Royal Caribbean does it. NCL is quite similar.
 

 

[Fietsen1]

17 minutes ago, Pitzel said:

Here is an example of how Royal Caribbean does it. NCL is quite similar.
 

 

This might be one of the neatest (and informative) things I have ever seen - thanks!!

[Pitzel]

You are welcome! Happy to help.

If you go to YouTube, you can find many similar videos showing how cruise ships operate. We find them fascinating!

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, Fietsen1 said:

My wife and I generally love the food on board the various ships. We were having a discussing about how the dishes are being prepared. Are the MDR meals made from fresh ingredients, or are they premade, frozen and reheated? For example, we had duck a l'orange on a cruise about a month ago - it was delicious! I wonder if the entree' was frozen and then reheated or if they literally make everything from scratch. We were just wondering how much of the food was processed, if any!

Most things are cooked from scratch. In the MDR, most things are cooked in bulk and held for service. So, your duck may be cooked in a big patch (like a buffet), and served individually. Something like a salad may be prepared and plated during the graveyard shift the night before and held for dinner service, with only the dressing being put on at the last minute. When any food hits it time limit, it is thrown in the trash and sent to the grinder to become fish food. So, if cream corn is not selling one night, whole trays of it may be thrown out... and at the end of the night, most food is thrown out. 

 

In a specialty restaurant, you may see a few more things cooked to order. But a lot is also pre-plated. 

 

On a big ship like the Encore, weekly:

22 catering areas

28 bars and lounges

200,000 meals served per day 

30,000 lbs of fresh produce (30 varieties of fruit and 80 kinds of vegetables)

50 types of breads baked daily

100 kinds of pastries served daily

15,000 cups of coffee served each morning 

15,000 lbs of beef

12,000 lbs of prok

2,000 lbs of chicken

25,000 lbs of seafood

50,000 eggs

17,000 lbs of potatoes

10,000 lbs of flour

10,000 hot dogs

7,000 burgers

2,5000 lbs of salmon

5,000 lbs of french fries

5,3000 lbs of bacon

6,000 lbs of flour tortillas

2,000 lbs of wings

700 lbs of ice cream

21,000 ice crem cones

2,000 gallons of milk

31,900 bottles and 900 cans of beer

16,900 cans of soda

620 bottles of vodka

150 bottle of whiskey

293 bottles of scotch

765 bottles of rum

3,360 bottles of white and 2,776 bottles of red wine

 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by BirdTravels

[Ellis1138]

As someone with access desk form food allergies, I can answer that a majority of the food, even in the buffet, is made from scratch on board. They know all the ingredients in those foods. Most of what I pre-ordered on the menus the day before, they were able to make me that dish, but modified for my allergies.

 

There are some things that they told me are "from outside", which they couldn't guarantee the ingredients of. The hush puppies at lunch on day one was from outside (but tasty and non-allergenic for me). The matzo balls were pre-made and gotten from somewhere in NYC. 

 

So if you're on board and you want to make sure, just ask "Is this made on the ship, or is it from outside?"

[UKstages]

there is one notable exception to "meals from scratch."

 

on NCL ships with a "Q" (texas smokehouse), it is believed that the smoked meats and BBQ are made offshore somewhere, as you can't very well have a smoker or an open flame onboard. they are most likely brought onboard in sealed vacuum packs, much as some of the barbecue franchise fast casual restaurants in the USA do.

[graphicguy]

The ship’s galleys are amazingly clean and models of large scale food preparation.  

 

Produce and vegetables are fresh, as are cold cuts.  Order your eggs custom cooked.  Premade scrambled are liquid variety!   

 

Seafood, Chicken and Steaks are mostly frozen.

 

The galley posts pics of how each and every app, entre, side and dessert is supposed to be prepared and what it’s supposed to look like.

 

Some Specialty Restaurants (thinking Cagney’s, Noodles, Teppenyaki,and Food Republic) have open kitchens where you can see the food made.

 

BUFFET has some stations you can see the food prepared (omelets, burgers, pasta).  They have open carving stations for Prime Rib, Roast Beef, Ham, etc.

 

Many meals are souse vide and then finished off at a cooking station!

Edited September 25, 2023 by graphicguy

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Seafood, Chicken and Steaks are mostly frozen.

I think that they all come onboard frozen. Even fish for sushi needs to be frozen when it comes onboard to kill parasites. 

[chengkp75]

10 hours ago, UKstages said:

there is one notable exception to "meals from scratch."

 

on NCL ships with a "Q" (texas smokehouse), it is believed that the smoked meats and BBQ are made offshore somewhere, as you can't very well have a smoker or an open flame onboard. they are most likely brought onboard in sealed vacuum packs, much as some of the barbecue franchise fast casual restaurants in the USA do.

I don't know for sure, since these speciality restaurants came after my time at NCL, but there are electric smokers and electric barbeque grills, and the ships have had salamander type broilers for years, and these can reach 1000*F (that's how they "finish" a steak with grill marks).  I don't see any safety concerns with electric smokers or bbq grills.

 

Open flames are allowed, such as the propane torches used to make creme brulee.  There are safety protocols as to storage, access, and use of these.

 

To answer the OP's question, while most of the food is not "cooked to order" (they know roughly how many of each entree is historically used, and prepare that many), it is nearly all "made from scratch", including the soups and sauces, breads and rolls (though things that require consistent size and shape, like hot dog or burger buns, will be brought onboard ready made.

Edited September 25, 2023 by chengkp75