Your Top 5 Galley "must-haves"

[Globie64]

AirKar, we met a couple with a new AS with the Atwood range, and they said the issue they had was with uneven baking. I'm curious to see if the pizza stone idea helps. My home oven (Dacor) is terribly uneven and I rotate the items I'm baking.

[Fly at Night]

Still outfitting the FaN - plan to purchase a toaster oven. Found this set of toaster-oven sized bakeware.


Also love the mini pie, springform, loaf pans.... Wilton 3 Piece Mini Springform Pan Set - Black : Target

I also have a one-quart electric kettle (with large flip-open lid). I figure it could double as a pasta/boil-in-a-bag cooker or vegetable steamer. (I try to buy things that are multi-functional).

Also purchased a set of three stainless-steel mixing bowls with lids - can be used for mixing, serving, and storing.


Don't forget your favourite cookbooks....



Airstreamin' is kinda funky; a lot of my kitchen/serving ware reflects that.....

Titanic and berg ice-cube tray....


Martini glasses, for food or drink.....









Bamboo and disposable chopsticks - great for the road....

[Globie64]

Nice stuff, looks like the makings of a fun camp-out. The primary thing for me was a working range, seems like a no-brainer but trying to get the old one fixed was a big nightmare. Installed the new one yesterday and did a trail run baking today, worked pretty well. Thanks Cameron for the thermometer idea, I have a good instant-read one that I use, have to remember to bring it!

[cameront120]

Peter, I found an oven thermometer (old school, not digital), that hangs off of the wire rack inside the oven and just stays there all the time. If you have a good cooking store near you, you might be able to find something that you can leave in. BTW, the oven looks great! Have you been able to try it out?

[uluwene]

#1 Melita Cone coffee maker with filters and a tea kettle
#2 colander, measuring cup, cutting board.
#3 set of 3 sauce pans and a skillet
#4 small "cookie sheet" and 8" X 8" cake pan, maybe a muffin tin but I skipped that last winter.
#5 nested stainless steel bowls.

Other than the usual pancake turner, forks, slotted spoon etc. we cary a set of stainless steel flat ware and Coffee mugs. But we use paper plates and bowls.

We use the propane fired stove and oven in the trailer and NEVER fry anything to keep the cooking odors down. I burn a candle sometimes to help with that. We gave up taking a propane fired camp stove long ago as too much trouble, and almost never have camp fires because we are camping in areas where the fire danger is usually extremely high.

[Globie64]

Hey Cameron, I had one of those thermometers, that's good for the temp in the range. I use the instant read a lot. I baked bread in the new range today, it baked evenly and pretty on par for my kitchen range. We're going camping next weekend and we've got the menu figured out . I'm really happy with the quality of this thing.

[SilverGate]

The AcuRite Refrigerator/Freezer Wireless Digital Thermometer is now one of our galley essentials. It accurately displays the refrigerator's temperature without opening the door and shows the highest and lowest temperature since it was last cleared.

Read more about this (and why it is so important to maintain the right temperature, especially in RV refrigerators) in my blog posting, "Cool... and wireless", History Safari Express, Airstream Life Online community.

[extiger]

RE Wireless Digital Thermometer
You may want to take the batteries out after each use. We found the dampness that resulted from the change from cold to normal temps accelerated battery failure and/or mildew in the battery compartment.

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by extiger

RE Wireless Digital Thermometer
You may want to take the batteries out after each use. We found the dampness that resulted from the change from cold to normal temps accelerated battery failure and/or mildew in the battery compartment.

Thanks, extiger, for your suggestion and sharing your experience.

In our case, our trailer refrigerator has been on and in use since we got it over 6 years ago, except for very brief defrosting periods about every other trip or about every 2 months. When I defrost the refrigerator, I place frozen food items in a nearby cooler during the 20 minutes or so of defrosting while blowing room air into the refrigerator by using a fan set on the lobster sink.

I'll take your suggestion, though, and place our refrigerator thermometer sensor (#1) in the cooler with the frozen food while defrosting (to prevent condensation from forming on the batteries and/or in the battery compartment).

As noted in my blog article, "Cool... and wireless", I initially did some tests and moved the sensors around to different places, but now one sensor stays in the refrigerator and one stays on or near near the magazine rack to detect the room air temperature of the trailer.

Also note that we only use lithium batteries for this thermometer (Wikipedia article states lithium batteries last longer than alkaline batteries). The main unit (receiver) takes 2 "AAA" batteries and each wireless sensor takes 2 "AA" batteries. AcuRite's Setup Instructions recommend that lithium batteries be used in a sensor that is placed in the freezer compartment because "Lithium batteries function at lower temperatures better than alkaline batteries."

We have not had problems with our original lithium batteries and have not had to change them since we started using this thermometer last April.

[Nozz]

Top 5 MUST haves:
Our Nespresso machine--for without it, I won't ever use the other 4 items! Ha!
A good quality, sharp chef's knife
A good quality cutting board
A good quality sauté pan
A good quality stock pot

[fireflyinva]

We enjoy cooking when we go out, but emphasis is usually on cooking we can do outdoors (particularly this time of year, when our aim is keeping the inside of our trailer cool). Oddly, as we've road tested things, some implements we really thought we'd love aren't in our kit any more, because they just didn't work well for us on the road.

Two that we've largely abandoned are dutch ovens (too heavy, too big and too sooty) and the crock pot (too slow and it heats up the trailer).

The verdict is still out on some things we do still use. While I dream of serving fantastic frozen drinks, I have to confess we rarely use the blender. We do use our Cobb Grill, but since it is for slow cooking--and since it's so tough to clean in the trailer, we mostly only take it on less structured weekend trips. But still, the smoked flavor it gives food tastes so good, it's a nice treat. We also like our SodaStream carbonator, but the home one we drag along is kind of bulky.

On the other hand, last year, I received a (stove-top) pressure cooker as a birthday present--and it has quickly become our favorite trailer cooking tool. It's multifunctional, cooks blindingly fast--and in summer (or at chili cook-offs) I can use it outdoors with our Coleman stove. Favorite dishes include chili, beef bourguignon, braised short ribs, pulled pork, risotto...And I can make a huge pot of any of these dishes in under an hour!

Some other tools that work great for us--I find silicon pads (for dual use as pot grippers and as pot rests) invaluable. I also discovered that the quarter sized jelly pans sold in restaurant supply stores are inexpensive and fit the oven perfectly. We also have a very cheap folding hibachi which I picked up in a 5-dollar store years ago--I love it because it collapses very small, but has a nice cooking area for coals.

Another thing--and this really is more of an approach--is to use "kits" for meals. I try to pre-measure ingredients and pack them up in zip lock baggies before travel, so all we have to do in camp is pull out the baggies and cook. I also find that with careful storage we can also successfully take frozen items and perishables (I like to kickstart the old propane fridge at the start of a trip with a bit of dry ice).

Nifty ideas here, though! I'm going to have to check out that thermometer!

[TCA and GPO]

Chef Karis,

I am enjoying the responses. I never would have thought about hauling my Le Creuset or All Clad but based upon these responses I will rethink!
More importantly I am asking if you will share some recipes in the forum for those of us who love great food-anywhere, anytime!

Have not used my oven yet but was advised that a pizza stone is a useful addition.

Tin Cannie Annie

[SilverGate]

When the feast is prepared and presented, it's my job to open the wine. So one of my galley "must haves" is a good corkscrew. I've tried a bunch and my favorite is the Rialto Corkscrew - Burgundy/Gray by Epic.

This corkscrew has a nice size and feel and comes with an ABS matte finish and rubber trim. Recessed in the handle is a generous-sized curved serrated knife that makes it easy to remove the foil seal on wine bottles. The Teflon easy-glide worm smoothly penetrates corks. The two-stage lever mechanism makes it easy to extract corks without damaging the bottle or corks... and the corks can be used in a variety of arts and crafts projects... such as the cork curtain seen in the background of the photo below!

[AirKar]

Ron and I are on our first weekend in our new-to-us AS. Our first meal was a success! Ron cooked our ahi tuna and scallops in a cast iron skillet on top of his Coleman one burner camp stove. This could very well be one of our Top 5 Galley items.

Lessons learned:
Don't forget dishwashing soap
Pitch the pretty new dish towels and bring the old tried and true absorbent ones
Don't forget extra paper towels when the pretty dish towels fail to dry the still greasy, non-soaped up dirty dishes

SOOOOO much to learn!!

Karis

[janeinthemtns]

Wow. I want to go camping with you guys. When I'm done painting and whatnot, the first two things going into the Airstream will be my Le Crueset and stove top espresso maker. Grinder, good knives, couple of duel use pots with lids and wine glasses. Wooden spoon. Old fashioned enamal ware cups, plates and bowls. Can't break them.

[TinShack]

Gotta have some 12-in-1 utility scissors!

[DIR1]

one of my favs is the Froman grill... cook everything on it..veggies. fish, meat... reheat stuff.... plug it in outside or inside... I have one in each house, one for the Bvan and the Trailer... love them!!!
Oh, and I'm really enjoying this thread!!! lots of good ideas...

[cameront120]

I forgot the most important thing, my martini shaker.

[janeinthemtns]

A Foreman grill came with my Airstream! Must be a good thing to have.

[SilverGate]

The George Foreman Grill... interesting... I'll have to check into this...

The George Foreman Grill Review!