I like making food at home, where I know my kitchen and ingredients.
I have a several things I make often, and while
I sometimes make new things it’s all a bit familiar. So when I’m on a
vacation in a rental house, one thing I enjoy is cooking. It’s a bit
of a challenge, perhaps suitable for a low-stakes cooking show, but
it’s fun to see what I can make with the constraints:
What pans are there? Do they have any sneaky downsides?
What non-perishable ingredients are left over from previous
visitors?
What’s the minimum I can buy at the store to combine with
what’s already there and make something good?
If we went to the store a few days ago and it’s not worth going
again, what’s a good fit for the collection of things we have left?
What can I substitute for measuring cups? How can I calibrate
them?
If I would normally make a recipe one way, but we don’t have
some of the ingredients, what would make good substitutes?
One constraint I don’t enjoy is knives that have been treated quite
badly. One way I’ll “cheat” is that (when I remember) I’ll bring
along a knife sharpener. I’ll also sometimes bring an instant read
thermometer, and somewhat unusual dry ingredients (ex: flax [1]) that I
need small quantities of.
This morning I made raspberry chocolate chip muffins (recipe):
This involved using an unlabeled measuring cup that might have been
either 1/4C or 1/3C (which I treated as 1/4C and used for everything,
even the 2.5C flour), substituting extra baking powder for the baking
soda, and bigger chocolate chips than usual. They were tasty!
[1] Lately I’ve been using flax as an egg substitute a lot; Lily
doesn’t eat eggs anymore. I used 2.5T water and 1T flax per egg. It
works well in the raspberry muffins, ok in crepes, and very poorly in
brownies.
AirBnB Baking
Link post
I like making food at home, where I know my kitchen and ingredients. I have a several things I make often, and while I sometimes make new things it’s all a bit familiar. So when I’m on a vacation in a rental house, one thing I enjoy is cooking. It’s a bit of a challenge, perhaps suitable for a low-stakes cooking show, but it’s fun to see what I can make with the constraints:
What pans are there? Do they have any sneaky downsides?
What non-perishable ingredients are left over from previous visitors?
What’s the minimum I can buy at the store to combine with what’s already there and make something good?
If we went to the store a few days ago and it’s not worth going again, what’s a good fit for the collection of things we have left?
What can I substitute for measuring cups? How can I calibrate them?
If I would normally make a recipe one way, but we don’t have some of the ingredients, what would make good substitutes?
One constraint I don’t enjoy is knives that have been treated quite badly. One way I’ll “cheat” is that (when I remember) I’ll bring along a knife sharpener. I’ll also sometimes bring an instant read thermometer, and somewhat unusual dry ingredients (ex: flax [1]) that I need small quantities of.
This morning I made raspberry chocolate chip muffins (recipe):
This involved using an unlabeled measuring cup that might have been either 1/4C or 1/3C (which I treated as 1/4C and used for everything, even the 2.5C flour), substituting extra baking powder for the baking soda, and bigger chocolate chips than usual. They were tasty!
[1] Lately I’ve been using flax as an egg substitute a lot; Lily doesn’t eat eggs anymore. I used 2.5T water and 1T flax per egg. It works well in the raspberry muffins, ok in crepes, and very poorly in brownies.