Cooking

[steveh]

We are refitting our boat ready for a trip to the med next year. At present we have a two burner hob and a seperate oven. I am looking to replace with new but cannot decide if I would use the cooker. It would free up a lot of valuable space and I could fit in a four burner hob with grill. We would also have a barbie over the stern!. Does the oven get used much in warmer climates? Thought about a microwave but needs too much power.

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[tcm]

I wd say that you could easily get away without an oven. And perhaps the fact that you have asked the quuestion rather shows that you don't think you'll use it much. You will eat less in warmer weather, and likely cooler salads etc. You won't be able to make bread without an oven erm but i've never tried anyway. Biggest use of an oven in uk for us was to keep things warm, heat plates etc.

Most people in the med wd readily swap an oven for an icemaker, tho. Come to that on some days they might even swap the engine for an icemaker:-

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[DavidJ]

We don't use ours a lot (in the Med) but it is exciting to bake a cake on board once in a while or make a pie perhaps. If you don't do much cooking at the moment it's an interesting dimension to get into......keep the cooker!

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[AndrewB]

Reheating & Bread.

Those are the two main things we use the oven for. For us, making bread is essential if on passage for more than 3 days.

A pressure cooker will cook most of the things for which an oven is traditionally used, e.g. pot roasts if you fancy that sort of thing. It takes up a lot less space.

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[Paulka]

Never had an oven, and never missed it.
As already said, a pressure coocker does it.

Welcome to the Med.
Paul

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[davidbains]

Steve, I've been in the Med for 14yrs every summer with a two burner grill only.
We've never missed a cooker and most of the time it would make the cabin
unbearably hot. I don't even like people making toast for breakfast in July/August.
I do carry a very large deep frying pan with lid, and also a pressure cooker which
would see more use if we were there in the cooler months.
I've seen a recipe for bread making in a presure cooker and if anyone has it
we'd all like to know how!!
If you spend the winter there you'll most likely have AC power so can then have
an electric kettle, fan heater and even an electric casserole or microwave if you want
very hot food with no flavour!!

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[hilaryjane]

We keep our boat in the Ionian and decided we needed space rather than an oven so got a Remoska - a Czech electric oven, low power, we can run it from our generator or shore power when we have it. It does everything a convential oven would do and can be on deck, ashore etc. Lakeland Co. sells them. We also have an excellent fridge which runs off the engine and solar panel and makes ice in an ice bag next to the plate.

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[MedMan]

You don't say how long you intend to stay on board each year, and in that lies the answer to your question. If you only to intend to make one or two six-week passages per year in the summer months as many folk do you can most certainly do without an oven. However, if you intend to live aboard for more than 6 months and/or over-winter aboard you will become desperate for the added variety that an oven can give you. The Med can be very cold in the winter and a roast dinner is just as great a treat there as it is here.

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[steveh]

I have only managed to wangle a year off work so have to make the most of it! Will more than likely head to the Canaries for the winter months. Think I will ditch the oven and get a pressure cooker instead. Room for a bit of creative cooking instead.

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[bluet36]

Well, I've got a Taylors (the really big one with the griddle) and I use the oven loads. Bread, cakes, pies, lasagnia, roast dinners. And I live on a Sadler 25. And I'm in Gibraltar (I'm smug as well). I used to be in Holland, but it got toooooo cold there in winter.

I think I posted a recipe for saucepan bread on this forum before, but I can't remember when exactly.

Basically, just follow a recipe for bread dough, but make it looser, like really thick batter, let it rise then stir it down, grease a saucepan, and line it with porrige oats or something similar to provide a heat barrier, pour in the dough and let it rise again, then cook on low heat with a flame tamer under pot for about 40 mins. then turn bread upsidedown and cook other side. Lovely!

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[Robin]

Not in the Med but we use a gas BBQ (S/S Magma) on the pushpit. It is every bit as good as the oven (which we don't use in summer). In the heat of a S Brittany summer I often cook a full roast dinner, usually roast beef joint or lamb, roast potatoes, roast carrots roast shallots. The whole lot takes <45mins, the BBQ gets very hot even turned down and a meat thermometer is essential. If you do it in a disposable foil tray there isn't even a dish to clean! Steaks, fish, homemade burgers etc are all done on a cast iron skillet in the BBQ too with the lid on, quicker than normal and again no heat down below unless we need some boiled veggies.

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[ccscott49]

You dont really need an oven, i raely use mine. asTCMsays, an ice maker would be better!! Ido use the oven to store all my pots and frying pans in though. Very useful for that.

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