"The real trick is to make fish more than once a day every day into something edible without any herbs or spices you didn't find laying on the ground somewhere. Francis is better at it than he lets on."

Not that Raju's standards are high, exactly. He's under no illusions there, and maybe the things Francis makes here wouldn't pass muster with a cook back home — but they aren't back home, and Francis does do more than simply not burning the food, and it's nice to feel like it's more likely than not that he's got some backup in giving Francis Crozier compliments.