Roughneck Gourmands

Texans don't let anything stand in the way of a home-cooked meal. A case in point is the well-fed crew on the Rowan Gorilla III oil rig, a 22,500-ton mobile platform that operates in the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas-based company that owns this rig brings in provisions (by boat) from terra firma once a week. Tuesdays are steak days: here, cook Donald Brown prepares Black Angus rib-eye steaks marinated in olive oil, garlic, herbs, and Cajun spices for 170 workers on a king-size charcoal grill that's kept on one of the rig's four decks. When the steaks are done, he'll take them into the galley, where two other cooks have prepared a lunch that also includes fried shrimp, salmon filets, and potatoes au gratin.