COOKING ON THE RIVER

Above, towboat cook Betty Weber checked her soup to see if it had enough pepper while preparing a lunch for crew members aboard the towboat Harry Waddington while docked at Paducah, Ky.

Left, Betty Weber talked with the towboat crew during lunch, from left, Jerry ferguson, captain of the M/V Harry Waddington; and deckhands Brad Patton and Tim Kunz.

A former riverboat pilot, who acquired some fame in other pursuits later in his life, once said that working on the river was a profession "I loved better than any I have followed since."

The humorous fellow was so mesmerized by the "longest, crookedest river in the world" that he wrote a celebration of it. He called it "Life on the Mississippi."

Mark Twain, one of Missouri's favorite sons, and Nigel Moyers, a riverboat cook for Metco in Cape Girardeau, both surrendered to the water's spell.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," said Moyers, 67, of Cape Girardeau. "I mean, I love it. I've done this for 15 years, and I wouldn't want to do anything else ... it's just like being with your family."

Moyers is one of a number of riverboat cooks in the area whose skills in the kitchen have given the cooking on the river its fine reputation.

Just ask Jim Brown of Missouri Barge Lines in Cape Girardeau, a 30-year river veteran.

"Most of it is real good," Brown said. "It's very important, I think. There's some boats that does without (cooks) right now, but that's not the way to compete. We have to have somebody to put out three good, square meals a day -- something that will stick to your ribs that you can use to work."

Not only does this food stick to the riparian workers' ribs, it's quite palatable.

"Well, I wouldn't want to toot my own horn," said Ina Dollins, 56, of Morley, a cook for Missouri Barge Lines. "We have the best to cook with, to begin with."

So the boats are stocked with high-grade supplies, but the cooks are very good, right?

"That's what they tell me," said Wanda Brown, 66, of Jackson, who retired from riverboat cooking 2 1/2 years ago. "Well, yes, I have been told a lot of times that I was a good cook. And I tried my best. I'm going to say that they eat pretty doggone good out there."

Although the cooks, who prepare food for the eight to 10 people three times a day, usually choose the menu for each meal, each has a similar daily schedule -- and you won't find filet mignon.

"Nothing fancy ... most of those boys, they stick their nose up at a casserole," Moyers said. "They like home cooking. You cook out there just like you do at home. They like meat and potatoes and gravy that any normal boy wants."

The calendar that Pat Cook used in her 15 years on the river before she retired six years ago is very similar to other cooks'.

Cook, 66, of Dexter prepared roast beef, roast pork or meatloaf on Monday; pork chops or pork steaks on Tuesday; fried chicken on Wednesday; a different roast on Thursday; fish or sometimes shrimp on Friday; steak on Saturday and maybe chicken on Sunday.

That doesn't include a complete breakfast menu that rivals almost any restaurant buffet. And don't forget all the vegetables, breads and desserts, and alternatives such as pizza.

And it's all from scratch.

"I got a lot of satisfaction," said Brown, "in doing things from scratch. That was a lot of fun. I learned a lot out there."

Said Dollins: "You have to know how to cook a lot of things. You can't just go on and cook spaghetti."

The typical work schedule for a riverboat cook is a month on the boat, followed by a month off. And they need the rest. Workdays can be long, as Dollins' daily regimen shows.

She wakes at 2:30 a.m., starts breakfast at 3:30 and has it on the tables by 5. After a rest, she's back at it at 8 preparing lunch, the biggest meal of the day, which is served at about 11:30.

After another couple hours of repose, Dollins starts dinner at 3:30 p.m. It's on the plates by about 5:30.

"It's a long day," Dollins admits.

Do cooks ever hear any complaints? Sure. But Moyers has a ready response:

"I tease them, I say `if I haven't got what you like, go across the street.' And they just look at me," she said with a laugh. "But they like just about anything that you put in front of them."

It must be the cooking.