Gourmet meals.

[Barriesimpson]

I love cooking and prepare all the meals at home. We love good food and I'm wondering if I will be able to prepare proper meals in the van. Barbeque is always an option, but does anyone here prepare gourmet style meals on their travels or is that not really possible? I will have an air fryer (portable convection oven - doesn't fry anything) 2 ring gas hob and maybe the Instant Pot pressure cooker (depending on the payload). Please tell me some of you do real cooking while out and about.

 

[cyberyacht]

Gourmet meals to me suggests 'Quails in Aspic' or some such. I don't buy 'super' grade diesel and the same approach applies to food. KISS.

 

[M-J]

I could cook almost as much in the MH as I cook at home but choose to keep it simple where possible. Last night and today for example, pizza on the Cadac, wedges in the oven, full English this morning cooked on the Cadac, microwave for the plum tomatoes and tonight spag bol cooked at home and reheated in the microwave, spaghetti on the hob

 

[Spriddler]

Don't like pizza but cor, that mixed grill looks delicious.

 

[Jays2]

That looks very nice, you do need a bit of mustard to set the black pudding off, also a light lunch!

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[Gina M]

I could cook almost as much in the MH as I cook at home but choose to keep it simple where possible. Last night and today for example, pizza on the Cadac, wedges in the oven, full English this morning cooked on the Cadac, microwave for the plum tomatoes and tonight spag bol cooked at home and reheated in the microwave, spaghetti on the hob

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That all looks so good, you have made me very hungry

 

[Barriesimpson]

Cadac, wedges in the oven, full English this morning cooked on the Cadac

I see the Cadac is an electric barbeque, but surely it is not as good as a proper barbeque, ie using coals or wood, or am I mistaken?

 

[M-J]

I see the Cadac is an electric barbeque, but surely it is not as good as a proper barbeque, ie using coals or wood, or am I mistaken?

More like a gas bbq, I have a gas bbq at home so no different for me.

 

[Spriddler]

I see the Cadac is an electric barbeque, but surely it is not as good as a proper barbeque, ie using coals or wood, or am I mistaken?

BBQ's I detest, and I avoid them like the plague, along with Monopoly and spiders.
I certainly couldn't put up with the faff and mess from a wood or charcoal/briquette BBQ.

 

[Gina M]

BBQ's I detest, and I avoid them like the plague, along with Monopoly and spiders.
I certainly couldn't put up with the faff and mess from a wood or charcoal/briquette BBQ.

I'm with you on BBQ's too much hard work cleaning them after every use. Monopoly I haven't played since my boyfriend now husband did my head in he was so competitive I chucked the board across the room. Spiders I always rescue and put back outside

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[Spriddler]

I'm with you on BBQ's too much hard work cleaning them after every use. Monopoly I haven't played since my boyfriend now husband did my head in he was so competitive I chucked the board across the room. Spiders I always rescue and put back outside

Even in medieval times they had the good sense to cook indoors and have the loo outside. Now folk have the loo indoors and cook outside .

 

[Barriesimpson]

BBQ's I detest, and I avoid them like the plague, along with Monopoly and spiders.
I certainly couldn't put up with the faff and mess from a wood or charcoal/briquette BBQ.

So you are not a foodie then.

 

[Gina M]

I am a massive foodie and cook but I detest BBQ cooking. I don't know why I have never embraced it, edited to say I hate grease and fat and the cleaning up of it

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I am a massive foodie and cook but I detest BBQ cooking. I don't know why I have never embraced it, edited to say I hate grease and fat and the cleaning up of it

Carry a Weber Q1000 on our van and it’s a brilliant little BBQ, have cooked for 12 before on it plus shut the lid and you can use it like an oven definitely better than the Dometic crap they put in vans
Clean it once a year all the other times I just fire it up leave it for 10 mins and let it burn itself off, quick wire brush and it’s good to go.



 

[Shrimp]

duplicate!

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[Shrimp]

I cook ‘proper’ meals all the time.
Roast chicken in the gas oven, I split my whole chick in two-cooks quicker and the potatoes go in with it.
Curry, rice, naans (flatbreads really, got a very easy recipe) still trying to perfect my bahjis, sometimes aloo gobi or similar too.
Stir fry, cottage pie, toad in hole.
Yes I do cook not just warm-up or buy-in.

 

[Soycd]

I see the Cadac is an electric barbeque, but surely it is not as good as a proper barbeque, ie using coals or wood, or am I mistaken?

As a wood/charcoal fired bbq person I have had to go down the gas Cadac route. It’s no longer possible on many southern European sites to use an open fire bbq due to fire risk.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Yes absolutely. I'm a big foodie and lived in the van for nearly 2 years. Cooked almost as normal including sourdough bread and pizzas. It's more difficult and I lost count of the times I managed to burn my arm on the awkward oven! Get a decent BBQ such as the Weber q and also get a large burner you can run from a gas bottle as my biggest complaint on van cooking is the pathetic gas burners though I do understand why they would be limited for indoor cooking.

Vegetable Biryani.

Macaroni cheese

Quesadillas

 

[Spriddler]

So you are not a foodie then.

I certainly am a foodie, but not of my own cooking.
I've been on my own for 16 years and learned from my Mum: Sprouts (25 mins), Bugg*r*d Burgers (aka 'Flip Flops'), Quick-setting gravy (lumps a choix), Fish fingers bien cuit.......

 

[Helen Ariel]

Using the magic of Google Photos and searching for "plate of food" here's a sample of what we eat. We do have a grill and oven. When somewhere hot lunch is invariably some sort of salad.


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Ooo I didn't know you could do that. How useful! Wow just had a go it looks like I have thousands of plates of food photos

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[DBK]

Ooo I didn't know you could do that. How useful! Wow just had a go it looks like I have thousands of plates of food photos

It also works with places. I have to have Google Timeline turned on because it records where I've been and I guess this means it knows where a photograph was taken. It also says it can use recognizable landmarks and of course any GPS data embedded in the photo by your camera or phone. There will be a setting to turn this on.

So, for example, if I search for Roscoff it shows me all the photos I've taken in Roscoff. It also works for countries. Entering Switzerland up come all my Swiss photos.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Here's the latest Barriesimpson . Free range pork chop marinated in balsamic vinegar and garlic with chanterelles foraged today, cooked in a garlic, butter and cream sauce, green beans from veg patch at home and a baked sweet potato. Just about makes up for the pissing rain hitting the van roof all evening in a very wet Wales.

 

[Peavy]

Three easy examples from us
Pasta with chorizo and egg, quesadillas (ham with cheese in a tortilla) and rice with vegetables.
Of course, not gourmet meals

 

[Barriesimpson]

Two easy examples from us
Pasta with chorizo and egg, and quesadillas (ham with cheese in a tortilla).
Of course, not gourmet meals

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[Helen Ariel]

Three easy examples from us
Pasta with chorizo and egg, quesadillas (ham with cheese in a tortilla) and rice with vegetables.
Of course, not gourmet meals
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Yum love quesadillas!

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[daveclare]

We've had quite a few nice meals cooked in or outside the van. Either using the multi function air fryer or George Foreman grill:

Secretto cooked in cherries and chassis

8hr Ragu

Harissa lamb

We even make blueberry jam and roasted red pepper chutney.

The lithium and inverter make it so easy to do stuff when not on hook up. The air fryer is brilliant at roasting chickens too.

 

[M-J]

 

[Jo-jo]

We've just been chatting to a chap next to us. He's just bought lobster straight from the harbour and has them still alive in his van. He caught 4 mackerel yesterday, but a seal nicked 3 of them .