Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Kitchenless in London


Recommended Posts

Fellow readers,

I live in London and am getting a new kitchen installed. It's going to take 4 weeks (still not sure why!)

this could present many opportunities or problems depending on your point of view from a culinary perspective.

A person has got to eat.....

i don't want to bankrupt myself or become (more) obese so what would you recommend I do to fill these weeks without a kitchen?

is there some food/eating challenge to attempt?

fergal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you seen the cookbook "Manifest Destiny"? It shows you how to cook on your car engine--with mileage instead of cooking times :laugh:

I have a Japanese butane grill burner for tabletop and mobile cooking. Comes in handy when there is no stove.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about buying a cheap baby belling? You need to get inventive and think like a student, but in might be fun! (also alot cheaper than eating out every night, although not nearly so much fun!)

Our first flat had a baby belling, and not much else, andits long enough ago to have fond memories!! :biggrin:

http://www.allium.uk.net

http://alliumfood.wordpress.com/ the alliumfood blog

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming - Whey hey what a ride!!!, "

Sarah Poli, Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's no fun i lost count of the weeks we were kitchenless i think it was 6 or more, cooked on a 2 electric ring 'stove' and washed up upstairs in the bath. not fun, though you'll survive, a baby belling would have been positive luxury!

you don't win friends with salad

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the problem you inevitably have is that whilst eating out is lots of fun, once you don't have the option to eat at home and are forced to eat out, it becomes a chore and you just long for a warm comfort meal at home

On that basis I'd go for that baby belling.

And by the way - it won't be 4 weeks - it will be 8 - at least, trust me :wink: ....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get a month's worth of MRE ration packs, live off them and sell the story to a magazine :biggrin:

Tim Hayward

"Anyone who wants to write about food would do well to stay away from

similes and metaphors, because if you're not careful, expressions like

'light as a feather' make their way into your sentences and then where are you?"

Nora Ephron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Suggest you get a combination microwave/grill/fan oven and a basic electric hot ring or two.

These will plug into any standard mains socket, don't take much space, and give you amazing versatility.

You could go for new and high end, or used and local paper small ads. You could spend hundreds on a deDietrich/Neff/Siemens combo oven (and build it into your new kitchen) or collect a local £15 bargain. For the electric rings, you just might be interested in checking out the 'induction hotplate' offerings for something you'd want to keep and even use in the new kitchen (but do check your pan bases with a magnet - for induction compatibility - first!)

In a former life, I "camped out in a sort of a building site" for a couple of years, suffering cooking in a Panasonic combi oven and on a bizarre (Czech?) pair of electric rings. Happiest time of my life probably.

Menu planning for entertaining did have to be considered quite carefully though!

On the other hand, my student memories of a Baby Belling were, um, rather more limited...

PS - don't part with the old fridge until the new one is actually usable...

Edited by dougal (log)

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks for your replies. unfortunately cooking elsewhere in the flat is not an option. we have a fridge though.

The idea of a raw vegetable does seem quite appealing from a health perspective.

I am wondering though whether I should try and do a cookery course or shameless try to get myself invited to as many dinner parties as possible; a bit like Come Dine With Me without the reciprocation

maybe I should do a circle line restaurant crawl.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have small appliances such as an electric teakettle and a (micom/fuzzy) rice cooker?

I can't imagine surviving a remodel without proper tea! Many things can be prepared in the latter (main dishes, whole grains, soups, desserts such as bread pudding) and, being compact, could even be temporarily set up in the bathroom, hall, or whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a 3 tier electric steamer )and the kind of cheap electric fryingpan/slow cooker/food warmer that you can buy in Turkish Shops in Green Lanes (for some reason called pizza cookers) would cost about £60 all together,be surprisingly useful in the future even when u have a functioning kitchen .and enable you to feed 6 people pretty easily.

you couldn't do any baking or a roast dinner, but you'd still be able to knock out a decent variety of meals.

gethin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you want to really be practical - since it is summer, hot food you can do without all the time. my plan would be simple:

so hot and/or proper food when you go out.

at home since you'll have a firdge i would stock up on the following: pates, cornichons, anchovies, tuna, smoked mackrel, horseradish, butter, lemon, capers, mustard, tabasco, etc....then i would buy excellent bread, wine, and loads of cheese...along with any of: smoked salmon, charcuterie, roast beef, maybe some tomatoes, good yoghurts and fruit. guaranteed you'll eat better than when you go out!

-che

Edited by CheGuevara (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A useful thread! We'll have this problem in the near future. Moving into a house, don't already have a fridge, and we're redoing the whole thing. It might be as much as 12 weeks for us without a real kitchen. We're still trying to decide just how much equipment to buy to tide us over. At least it'll mostly be summer and thus grilling is an option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The idea of a raw vegetable does seem quite appealing from a health perspective.

The book I linked here has some gastronomically-inclined raw vegetable based recipes...

Ian

I go to bakeries, all day long.

There's a lack of sweetness in my life...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

gas barbeque. i use mine all the time even when not barbecueing, great bit of kit. no mess, easily controlled cooking, little burner on the side for pans, all different levels inside, gets bloody hot, lid down it acts just like an oven.. not sure i would recommend it for souffle or custard tart but i reckon i could survive with it for a while

its the way forward

Matt Christmas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...