Special delivery: Sign up for the free Marlin email newsletter. Subscribe to Marlin magazine and get a year of highly collectible, keepsake editions – plus access to the digital edition and archives.
Capt. Phillip Fender, Claytime, Charleston, South Carolina
In addition to a grill that is small and easy to travel with, such as a propane Weber, my favorite thing to cook with on the boat is a sous vide. It makes cooking for a large group easy and efficient, especially when you have access to just a small grill. You can do all your prep work early and then have the sous vide running while you’re fishing. Once it’s done, all you have to do is finish the steak or chicken breast on the grill to sear the outside. It’s especially great for overnight trips in locations like Mag Bay. For cooking on the dock, I use a Traeger for Boston butts and a deep fryer for frying up fresh fish.
Capt. Luis “Speedy” Larez, Freelance, Venezuela
I like using an air fryer and a square Oster pan. With those two things, I can make just about anything we might want to eat on the boat. They’re both easy to use, and they’re relatively small, so they don’t take up too much space. I usually have two air fryers on the boat so I can cook chicken, pork chops and other meat whether we’re back at the dock or offshore. I like to cook a lot, and I make food for our crew as well as others often. I like to say that the air fryer and that square pan help me make the magic happen in the galley.
Read Next: The Catch highlights some of the world’s best seafood dinner ideas.
Capt. Tim Richardson, Tradition Marlin Charters, Australia
On Tradition, we do liveaboard charters for around 75 days per season, plus another 15 to 20 days traveling up and down the Queensland coast from the Gold Coast to Cairns each year. Our most used item for cooking is a plug-in Kambrook electric fry pan. We use it for most meals, from frying fish to cooking bacon and eggs in the morning to nice thick rib-eyes at night. We generally get two seasons out of them, and the non-stick ones are much easier than those with a stainless finish. They are easy to clean and care for, and they’ll also last a lot longer if you use wood or plastic utensils instead of metal ones.
John Darby, Owner, Artemis, Charleston, South Carolina
A hot meal is a staple on Artemis and a pastime we enjoy preparing while at sea or at the dock. Our cockpit grill gets used just about every time we fish. A typical day consists of venison sausage patties for breakfast and a lunch of Three Gates Cattle cheeseburgers with grilled onions and all the fixings. We have also found cooking to be a creative way to get a guest involved in the program who is not a savvy angler but wants to contribute to the day and get their hands dirty. Artemis has been refitted twice over her 20-year career—a lot has changed, but one thing has remained a constant, and that’s the grill!
