Chow time!

I love cooking, especially the kind done by someone else. So when Leonard took up the craft as a kind of hobby, I was thrilled to support his interest. Still am.

In order for Leonard to practice his cooking skills from an RV, we needed to manage the limitations of Kong's small (but mighty) kitchen, starting with space.

 

The kitchen takes up about 20% of Kong's 390 ft. sq. living area.

RV size matters when it comes to kitchen counter space and storage area. It also affects campground options. Our desire to stay at public parks (state and national) drove us to select the shortest model possible so as to accommodate facilities built before the age of “big rigs” (i.e. 5th-wheels and motor coaches 40' and longer). We ultimately decided on a trailer with an exterior length of just over 39' – long enough to keep us from feeling cramped, short enough to accommodate most public sites. 

Leonard started by looking at the stove. It has three burners, all fired by liquid propane (LP). We prefer gas cooking, so that would be fine, especially for camping at sites that lack electric hookups. But what about those times when we needed additional cooking surface or when electric made more sense? Leonard's search for answers revealed what I think may be the best invention since roll-on deodorant: induction cooking.

An induction burner expands cooking area
and adds an electric option to our gas stove.

Induction cooking elements use electromagnetism to heat a cooking vessel rather than the surrounding surface. It requires less energy and is very sensitive to changes in power level. This makes burnt food and boiled-over liquids (both of which I'm prone to) less likely.

 

Leonard found a single-burner unit that slips right into Kong's limited kitchen storage space. The only hindrance to adding this to a cook's repertoire is that induction cooking requires using magnetic pots. Since we needed to buy new cookware anyway, having left our old set in Costa Rica, we went searching for a set. This brings me to Leonard's next great discovery: nestable magnetic cookware.

Nestable cookware with removable
handles: 5 pots for the space of 1.

He learned of this while perusing the RV message boards. People raved about pots designed specifically for small-space living. They had detachable handles, could be used for any type of cooking (except microwave) and all the pans and lids bundled together for easy storage. What's more, the non-stick surface really was non-stick and durable. A set of 5 pots, 2 lids, 2 handles and storage cord runs about $250, definitely more than we normally spend for such things, but the cost has been worth it.

Next came the matter of an oven. Our RV model came with both conventional and convection/microwave options. Applying the RV rule of thumb of, “entertains 6, feeds 4, sleeps 2,” we thought it unlikely we would ever bake anything larger than a frozen pizza so asked the manufacturer to install drawers in place of the conventional oven. We probably wouldn't have used that for anything more than storing pans anyway, so this proved to be another good choice.

Other items we included were a residential-style refrigerator and small-capacity dishwasher (both good choices) and what has thus far turned out to be a completely unnecessary garbage disposal.

There you have it. RV cooking as we like it.

Should you decide to track us down on the road, we'll be the ones with the walking shoes and weight set out front. After all, we've got to burn off all of chef Leonard's tasty creations somehow, now don't we?