Essential utensils for traveling

[Tuber magnatum]

Greetings,

When visiting family and/or friends, my wife and I like to contribute by helping to cook meals. However, this is often a huge frustration when as is often the case, necessary kitchen utensils are missing! This is occurs particularly at friend's cottages. I don't like to think I am a food snob, but I just can't stand not having at least a sharp chefs knife and a pepper grinder.

So, my question is, if you had to put together a traveling kit, (sort of like a journeyman apprentice chef?), what would you put in it. I would like to have a "travel lite" kit, and a more extensive kit for when space and weight are not an issue. Thanks in advance.

Edited March 29, 2005 by TUBER MAGNATUM (log)

[jsolomon]

Serrated knife, 4-6 inch chef's or paring knife, steel, cork screw, pepper mill, good skillet, good saucepan.

Those are the things I find myself and my friends most often lacking. Perhaps a cutting mat, too.

[battlepanda]

I love cooking in other people's kitchens when I am the guest. The problem is, the more your host is going to appreciate your efforts (because they don't cook much), the harder your job is going to be (those who don't cook much don't usually have a very well-stocked kitchen).

The problem is, I travel the most often by air, making it impossible to carry bulky/dangerous kitchen tools. Oh, how I would love to be able to take my sharp knives and a few good pots with me! So, from an equipment point of view, I tend to make do with what my hosts have. But I always make a point of carrying my own favorite spices (cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon...hmm...all "c" spices) and all my favorite recipes in my palm pilot.

The important thing to remember is that they'll be so thrilled that you've cooked for them that it wouldn't really matter if your onions are more of a Rachel Ray-esque rough "chop" than the fine brunoise you usually reduce them to.

(Yes, I am a freak of nature. All my favorite recipes are on my computer and my palm pilot, which I also use to track grocery store prices when I'm feeling virtuous.)

[abadoozy]

Knives. I know why a large percentage of people don't cook: it's because dicing an onion with a dull 3" paring knife is enough to make anyone run to McDonald's instead. I don't know why it's such a hard thing to spend money on one or two good knives, but it's common for me to see a kitchen stocked with all sorts of non-essential crap - pizza ovens, egg peelers, pancake cookers - but not even an inexpensive chef's knife.

Don't forget cutting boards. Far too many people use a plate to dice things on. Not for me, thank you very much. You can get thin plastic boards that can be rolled for easy carrying; if I cooked outside my house a lot I'd invest in some of those.

The pepper grinder's a good one, but chances are most people at least have pepper around, albeit the pre-ground kind. Instead of carrying a grinder, I'd carry around a stash of commonly used herbs & spices, as it's no guarantee that people will have, say, basil or oregano around. Sure, you can buy them, but spices add up quickly and I'd rather not have to purchase $20 worth of spices whenever I cook something at someone's house.

The other thing I tend to carry around with me is a waiter's corkscrew. People don't have corkscrews, or, if they do, they're broken, dull, or otherwise unusable. I like to stash corkscrews everywhere; in the car, in my purse, in a drawer in the bedroom, the bathroom, the garage. But maybe that's just further proof that I drink too much.

[piperdown]

I always bring a good knife and a pot or two (usually a skillet). Honestly though I bring as much as I can, since my friends are mostly students they have nothing. Once I was cooking dinner over at a friends place and was making claufoti. I had make the crust ahead of time, and was going to finish it at my friends. I went to sweeten the creme freshe (which I also had to make from scratch since you can't find it in town), my friend informed me she had no sugar in the house. NO FUCKING SUGAR! Who doesn't have sugar?

[Holly Moore]

For some reason hosts typically turn to me to carve the turkey come holiday season. Alas the turkey is usually as overcooked as the host's carving set is dull. I have learned the hard way to pack my own carving knife.

Or, to show up with my carving arm in a sling.

[Safran]

Greetings,

When visiting family and/or friends, my wife and I like to contribute by helping to cook meals. However, this is often a huge frustration when as is often the case, necessary kitchen utensils are missing! This is occurs particularly at friend's cottages. I don't like to think I am a food snob, but I just can't stand not having at least a sharp chefs knife and a pepper grinder.

So, my question is, if you had to put together a traveling kit, (sort of like a journeyman apprentice chef?), what would you put in it. I would like to have a "travel lite" kit, and a more extensive kit for when space and weight are not an issue. Thanks in advance.

←

Hi TUBER, and welcome!

Hum, yes... my pepper mill, some sea salt in a small bag, a corkscrew THAT WORKS, a small paring knife and, when I can, a chef's knife. I usually can work around bad pots and pans for one meal, but have been known to knock on my hosts' neighbors' doors to borrow "things". I have also bought things on site for friends' kitchens...

BTW, my mother HATES to cook. Any meal at my parents' place means that I bring basket upon basket of food and equipment. One Christmas, two years ago, other folks taking the elevator with me asked me for my business card. They thought I was a caterer!

[lala]

The corkscrew is taken care of - it's always in my purse. I have been known to take my own knives when I go visiting, and often pack my stone and steel, so that I can leave them with sharp knives.

When I go on vacation to rental cottages or condos, they usually have the cheapest set of kitchen equipment on the face of the earth. I bring a few knives, a rollable plastic cutting board, mini pepper grinder and sea salt, whatever herbs I think I may need, a small bottle each of olive oild and balsamic vinegar, and any specific items that I will need, if I have a menu in mind. I bought a man's bathroom kit, the kind that unrolls and has a hanger, with many pockets and use this - there's always a knob to hang it from in a kitchen, and all my necessary stuff is easily at hand. I also bring a good frying pan, as I've found that this is always the worst piece of equipment in any rental kitchen.

When I visit my parents, I always bring a selection of freshly bought herbs and spices, as they never replenish theirs, and they're always old and stale.

[petite tête de chou]

Chefs knife

Pepper grinder

Head of garlic

Fresh herbs from my garden

[Sthitch]

A credit card ...