About Chef Ken

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Chef takes to the Islands Dockwalk December 2000

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For Chef Ken, food is more than a nutritional exercise. Anyone can adhere to the traditional food pyramid and keep the body healthy. But he believes food can be nourishing for the soul as well. Dining on Chef Ken's creations is a sensory experience, with each meal having its own kind of harmony, and he leads diners along paths they never knew existed.

Before each charter, for instance, Chef Ken sends the guests a food preference sheet so he can cook foods they like. Invariably, they say they just want a regular filet mignon. So he gives them the filet, but to the delight of the guests, it turns out to be buffalo chateaubriand served with an Au Poivre Dijonaise sauce.

Or instead of simple lamb chops, they'll be served a grilled herbed rack of lamb with a shitake mushroom Bordelaise sauce. That might be paired with parmesan and roasted garlic mashed potatoes, gingered baby carrots and a flaming rosemary sprig.

"It's fun to create something no one has seen before," says Chef Ken.

On virtually every boat Chef Ken has cooked on, the compliments have focused on his creativity, his flair, and his presentation.

Back on the U.S. Brig Niagara, a reconstruction of an 1812 warship, when Ken wasn't climbing 120 feet aloft to wrestle in the foretopsail in a freshening breeze, he was scanning the contents of the ship’s limited larder to see what he could concoct.

Likewise, on the GAZELA, a three-masted square-rigger that originally sailed the Grand Banks of Newfoundland fishing for cod and now is Philadelphia's tall ship.

This was all well and good, but on the more modern vessels he's had the luxury of abiding by his personal cooking credo: No compromise when it comes to ingredients. They have to be the freshest, the richest, the best.

"For me, quality food starts with quality products." he says.Even the most well equipped yachts have their challenges, however. A chef never knows when the boat will lurch suddenly, causing a pan of lasagna to pitch from the shelf of the refrigerator and land squarely in the center of an elaborately decorated wedding cake. This actually happened. Chef Ken’s ensuing reconstructive surgery _ performed after the whipping cream had run out and just moments before the cake was to be served _ was evidently a success. The guests never suspected a thing.

Desserts are a particular forte of Chef Ken. The appropriate finale for a meal, he believes, is "a spectacular dessert." He appreciates the dichotomy: "You spend four hours making it and in a few minutes, it's gone."

But what a few minutes! Think of minted chocolate mousse sunflowers. Or strawberry grand marnier trifle. Or chocolate croquembouche towers filled with White Chocolate Cream.

Or, just perhaps, a resurrected wedding cake.

Like we said, imagination and creativity are what it's all about for Chef Ken.