Chef Adam Glick, newly minted author of the cookbook “Live Free, Eat Well: Elevated Cuisine for Outdoorsy Travelers and Modern Nomads,” started his career cooking aboard superyachts, freshly graduated from the now-closed San Diego Art Institute of California’s culinary program.
When he got an email from the school encouraging him to apply for the chef’s position on a 120-foot Christensen yacht sailing out of Alaska, his only real experience was two apprenticeships in San Diego, at Mr. A’s and the University Club, and a brief stint in his first restaurant job peeling 50-pound bags of potatoes at La Valencia — which he didn’t enjoy.
“The crazy part was that I was underqualified, way underqualified, with zero experience on boats. I think I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, not only on a seafarers’ level but also on a culinary level,” Glick, 39, explained in a phone interview.
If you’re a fan of reality television or culinary competition shows, Glick’s name may be familiar. For three seasons between 2017 and 2020, he served as chef on the crew of Bravo’s “Below Deck Mediterranean” and “Below Deck Sailing Yacht.” Afterward, he hosted his own outdoor-focused show, “Stoked with Adam Glick,” and, in 2013, he competed on “Cutthroat Kitchen” on the Food Network.
Yet he’s proudest of those 10 years and over 115,000 nautical miles he traveled as a working chef on a wide array of superyachts, overcoming the difficulties of working in confined galley quarters, constantly producing fine dining-level cuisine for demanding engers while rocking and rolling in often heavy seas. The experience challenged both his creativity and his endurance while providing the solid base that’s enabled him to reinvent himself successfully whenever wanting to refresh his life and career.
While at sea, he acquired the everyday skills, the flexibility and adaptability, plus the understanding to substitute whatever he had on hand for traditional kitchen equipment and recipe ingredients. On board, Glick could produce a pizza at 2 a.m. or whip out a devil’s food cake on a enger’s whim. He gained the knowledge and developed common-sense shortcuts that he never learned in culinary school.
Now in “Live Free, Eat Well,” he’s sharing that simplified approach toward cooking, along with lessons, techniques and tips he learned along with recipes that evolved into his personal, highly practical style of cooking. These are valuable tools for any home cook, especially anyone setting up a first kitchen, radically downsizing their kitchen or learning to cook in a small space such as a boat or RV galley, tiny home or over a campfire. His book is illustrated with his own beautiful photographs of both his dishes and sites he’s explored as the “Adventure Chef,” as he’s branded himself.
Unlike most chefs who’ve just published their first cookbook, he explained that he wants cooks to use his recipes as jumping off points for their own creativity and experimentation, using what they have on hand as substitutes for a recipe’s ingredients.
In his book’s introduction he explains that “the goal … is to use minimal ingredients and equipment and lots of intuition any time you’re making a new dish. Written recipes are meant to serve as a guide, in my opinion. Work with what you have, don’t be afraid to bend the rules a bit, and try to create your own unique version of the dish every time.”
Creativity, he explained, is the essence of a fulfilled life.
“A lack of creativity is the only thing keeping you from turning water into wine. It doesn’t apply only to your food, but also to your life. Be more creative, more open-minded. A huge part of what creativity is is the ability to let go of the strict rules that have been placed on you from the day you were born,” he added.
The vagabond lifestyle of a yacht chef, bouncing from short, weeklong assignments to longer gigs of several months, suited him well. Glick grew up in a family of ionate travelers, as his father’s work with a multinational corporation took the family from continent to continent, while his teacher mother instilled an instinct to share his knowledge with others. His turning point, setting his path toward a seminomadic existence, was his family’s transfer to Kuwait, where he attended high school. When riots broke out in the city following the 9/11 attacks, they were evacuated to their California hometown of Carmel.
“A wire snapped,” he explained, with the move to Kuwait, leaving him unable to settle in one place. He attended college in Northern California, pursuing his creative interests by studying graphic arts, but he hated classes and preferred working with his hands, remaining on the move. His older sister encouraged him to go to culinary school since he loved to cook, steering him toward a career he loves.
The pandemic led him to find a home in a southern Oregon cabin, now his home base, as he travels after reinventing himself following the reality shows. Now his cooking focuses on demos to promote products for clients including Messermeister Knives, for whom he helped design a special line of “Adventure Chef” knives geared to outdoor cooks.
What’s next for Glick? More adventure: He’s contemplating buying a liveaboard catamaran, for sailing the West Coast and beyond.
Watermelon Gazpacho
These gazpachos ingredients are easily cross-utilized and can be used in other dishes before or after making this recipe. The other half of a watermelon used for a lunch salad with cucumber and feta can be used later for this quick-and-easy gazpacho. You’ll utilize all your ingredients with nothing going to waste. Gazpacho is a dish most people don’t fully understand, but once you try it, this recipe will become a staple among your summer favorites. It’s light and refreshing on a hot afternoon.
Makes 5 servings
INGREDIENTS
1/2 small seedless watermelon, rind removed, cubed (1 cup [152 g] reserved)
2 Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 jalapeño, roughly chopped
1 red onion (1/2 roughly chopped, 1/2 diced)
1 cucumber, peeled (1/2 roughly chopped, 1/2 diced)
1/2 cup mint, minced (reserve 3 to 4 leaves for garnish)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cup (80 g) feta, crumbled
Basil leaves, to garnish
DIRECTIONS
1: Fill a blender with the watermelon cubes, reserving a cup of cubes to use later as toppings. Puree until smooth.
2: Add the tomatoes, jalapeño, half the onion (chopped), half the cucumber (chopped) and mint to the blender along with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper. Blend thoroughly until well combined and no lumps remain. Taste, adding more salt and pepper to your liking. Refrigerate the mixture.
3: While the gazpacho is cooling, prepare your toppings in a medium bowl by combining the remaining watermelon cubes, red onion and cucumber. Toss to make a salad.
4: Once the gazpacho is thoroughly cooled (at least 1 hour), pour it into bowls and top with the salad, feta and basil.
Maple-Glazed Carrots
This simple dish brings out the best flavors and qualities of the humble carrot without overpowering or drawing attention away from it. I find that simple dishes are often the most crowd-pleasing. Applying a less-is-more ethos allows the flavors of a few ingredients to truly shine. The simplest approach is often the tastiest.
Makes 3 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
5 to 6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup (75 g) whole roasted almonds
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 sprigs chopped rosemary, plus 1 sprig to garnish
DIRECTIONS
1: Begin by preparing your heat source. You’ll need a fire, a grill or a stovetop burner set at medium heat. Warm a medium-sized cast-iron skillet or other appropriate roasting pan over your heat source. Add butter and let it melt to coat the skillet.
2: Add the carrots to the pan with the flat sides facing down. Season the carrots with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the brown sugar, coating evenly. Cover the skillet with a lid or tin foil and let cook for 5 minutes, allowing the carrots to steam until fork-tender.
3: Remove the lid, increase to medium-high heat and fully caramelize the carrots, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the almonds and drizzle on the maple syrup.
4: Remove from the heat. Garnish with the rosemary, serve and enjoy!
Steelhead With Blackberries
In recent years, I’ve found myself spending most of my time at home in the Pacific Northwest. My little cabin sits close to world-class steelhead fishing and rivers lined with plentiful blackberries ripe for the taking. It didn’t take long for the chef in me to realize these two ingredients made for the perfect local recipe. All I needed was my fishing rod, a skillet, butter, some garlic and a lemon. I recommend you fish in the morning and get yourself a fresh catch. Spend the early afternoon foraging for a hatful of fresh blackberries, and come evening, light up a fire and enjoy the accomplished feeling of making this dish from ingredients you harvested yourself. (Note: you can substitute salmon for steelhead trout.)
Makes 2 servings
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 steelhead trout, portioned into 2 or 3 fillets
1 tablespoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons pepper, divided
1 shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
25 to 30 fresh blackberries
1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar
1 lemon, halved
Fresh dill, to garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1: Begin by preparing your heat source. You’ll need a fire or a stovetop burner set at medium-high heat. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a medium-sized cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat. Season the steelhead with 1/2 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Place the fillets flesh side down in the pan. Sear for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown, fully caramelizing this side of the trout.
2: Once fully caramelized, flip the fillet and continue cooking another 2 minutes, or until just cooked through. The fish is fully cooked when it’s fully opaque with no transparent parts. If unsure, try to separate the thickest part of the fish and peek to make sure none is raw. Remove fish and transfer to a platter.
3: Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the skillet. Let it melt. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the blackberries, 1/4 cup water, sugar, 1/2 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to the skillet. Simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.
4: While the blackberry sauce is simmering, grill the lemon halves on high heat until nicely charred. The blackberries should have popped and created a beautiful sauce. If you need to help them pop, use the back of a fork to break them up and thicken your sauce.
5: Spoon the finished blackberry sauce over top of the fish fillets. Garnish with fresh dill and the charred lemon halves.
Recipes and photos by Adam Glick, adapted from “Live Free, Eat Well,” published with permission from DK Penguin Random House.
