CELLAR & GALLEY
A CHEF AND A MASTER SOMMELIER SERVE UP THE PERFECT PAIRINGS.
A CHARTER CHEF AND A MASTER SOMMELIER SERVE UP THE PERFECT PAIRINGS
Tim MacDonald, chef aboard the 180-foot (55-meter) Amels Elixir, grew up in gritty downtown Melbourne, Australia, where his father was a city engineer.
“I never understood what he did exactly, but something to do with putting humps and roundabouts in streets,” MacDonald says. “I was not interested in following in his footsteps.” However, for amusement, he often accompanied his father to job sites in the suburb of South Yarra, and those forays presented to him a new world of possibilities.
“The suburbs had posh patisseries and glamorous stores with fancy food,” he says. “I was mesmerized by the window fronts. I went home and tried to make my own sweets with what was in the pantry. I got creative with cornflakes.”
Throughout his teenage years, he set about learning every recipe in his mom’s Woman’s Weekly cookbook. He remembers the book as being the basic cooking bible given to Australian mothers to inspire them to feed their families dishes from around the world. The U.S. recipe, the Aussie says, was “Chicken Marry-land with corn fritters.”
Upon finishing high school, MacDonald apprenticed in restaurants, starting with salad assembly and moving up. He attended culinary school while working in upmarket pubs and restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney. He then ventured to the Mediterranean.
“My wife and I worked aboard those horrible couples cruise boats,” he says. “After several years working together, those gigs finished off the marriage.”
In his late 30s, he started working on yachts. He is now a youthful looking 50-year-old. For a high-powered chef, he is quite personable and playful. He has an easy breezy manner and likes to listen to American singer/songwriters Ryan Adams and Alicia Keys while he prepares everything from macrobiotic to vegetarian fare to Aussie barbecues. He believes the key to good food is simply to source the best in local produce and provisions.
“You want to eat burrata in Sorrento,” he says, “not in the Caribbean.” When he is not involved with food, MacDonald engages in remodeling and woodworking projects. He owns a