For the crew of
the square-rigger, Chef Ken made do with what was already in the larder
and whipped up a more modern, tastier version of fare than the hard tack
and biscuits the original sailors would have had to endure.
The guests on the
luxury vacation cruise would be more likely to get lobster tacos with
yellow tomato and Jamaica salad for lunch and roast duck with pear cinnamon
sauce for dinner, along with icky sticky coconut pudding with macadamia
nut rum toffee for dessert.
Whatever the
occasion, people like Chef Ken's flair for the unexpected. His creations
are limited only by the scope of his imagination. Rather than
sticking to one style, he’ll incorporate elements of Chinese and
Japanese cooking, plus French and American, not to mention a pinch of the
Middle East and a liberal dose of Caribbean. "I like
putting them together, mixing and matching and trying new ideas. You can
never get bored with cooking. There is always so much more to learn."
he says.
A meal by Chef Ken
is likely to be a series of unexpected delights, an exotic,
Impressionistic mélange of meats and side dishes.
A trademark, of
sorts, is his ability to pair fresh fish and fruit. "Once you put
lobster and mango in with papaya and heavy cream, it's fantastic," he
says, sighing slightly at the very thought of it. After reducing the
cream, maybe he'll add a little papaya juice. Then maybe some passion
fruit for an added twist.
Mmmmmmm.
Since 1996 Chef
Ken has been working on private and charter yachts. He's cruised along the
East Coast of the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean, including Costa Rica,
Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, the British West Indies, Venezuela and
Trinidad, plus the Bahamas.
Although Chef Ken
likes to think of himself as "the kid who never went to culinary
school," now reaping compliments from royalty and the wealthy, he
actually apprenticed at a variety of restaurants throughout the United
States. He learned a lot along the way, both from professional chefs and
"regular" people like the rest of us who simply like good food.
For him, cooking
comes naturally, starting way back when he was in grade school, puttering
around the family kitchen and coming up with unusual dinners.
Those were the
days when he also spent 12 years studying classical piano and learning to
play jazz on the trumpet. But he later left the musical arts to focus on
culinary art.
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