Pots and pans

[roverhi]

The cooking gear you bring is really determined by the storage possibilities. We did fine with a largish frying pan with lid that we used mostly for making popcorn, smaller fry pan, pressure cooker that doubled as cooking pot, Small pot for heating up a can of something, a couple of bread pans, a cookie sheet and some miscellaneous hardware. It was all stored in the space outboard of the stove or in the stove's oven. My wife turned out some fantastic meals with that limited supply of hardware. Something about dining on lobster neuberg anchored in Hana Menu Bay, Hiva Oa, Marquesas that we haven't been able to equal since.

Living on a boat, it's doubtful that you will often have more than another couple over and most of the time only cooking for yourself. Prep and stove space pretty much confines a meal to a two pot affair unless the boat is over 40'. Figure out what you really need to prepare meals and keep the hardware carried down to that.

[1affiah]

My No.1 cooking utensil, at home and on the boat (and I do 99% of the cooking) is a $25 stainless steel, uncoated flat bottom wok with glass cover. And yes, the wife is still the better half.

[ObsessionSTJ]

I stewed for ages about what items were critical when we bought our 1980 37C Hunter in 2013. With Obsession (mountainsandseashore.blogspot.com) which is actually our third boat, I started with about 2 medium saucepans, one small frying pan and one larger frying pan and a large saucepan. I have a two burner propane stove so eventually discovered after two months, hey, I only use two at a time! So I gave away one of my medium saucepans and am getting ready to toss the smaller of the frying pans. The large saucepan for chili or soups, a medium saucepan and one frying pan will be my go to items. But, I cook very simply on the boat and so this suits me perfectly. Everyone has their preferences.

I've often thought about a pressure cooker but honestly, I don't feel as I would use it. If someone gave me one I would try it though. I just hate to toss $100 plus for something I might use.

Safe travels,

Camile

[Reach]

Originally Posted by SSgtPitt

The Admiral and I are having a "discussion". It goes something like this, "I need to bring this" , " No, you're not taking that."
The conversation mostly revolves around my Griswold cast iron, which has taken YEARS to slowly acquire and which I use daily.
I can't find any posts or blogs about this very important subject and would like to take 3 or 4 of my most used pieces with me.
Other than a small to medium sized pressure cooker, what are "must haves" and what are items you brought that you tossed ? Who else out there is using or has used cast iron ?

That is one item I coveted when my friends were using their cast iron pans for searing fish. I ended up buying a nice cast aluminum pan to do the same.

Of course, it's great for lots of uses so if you use it every day now you'll probably do the same on the boat.

[Cheechako]

I think you should take your most used pans. If that happens to be one cast iron so be it..... but can you compromise? Is it really that important?
I would avoid it if it were mine. Just seems too heavy on a boat, think of it falling on your toe or foot when you are days away from health care.
I liked the pans that nest (other than fry pan) There is only so many burners on a boat stove and big pans will not all fit at once! The Revere Ware saucepans come in a special deep model. They are light weight and the extra depth means "when the boats rocking the soups not slopping"!


It's a process, you will bring too much, you will then realize a year later after having to move that one cumbersome pan around every time you get in that cupboard that you don't need it and give it to a local woman, or chuck it overboard.

[XIUMA]

Take a good look at what fits on your stove top. Try different combos as if you were cooking. Stacking sets is a good idea however anything in sets seem to contain too many.Better to pick exactly what fits for what you will be cooking.
For my stove, small i find that narrow and taller are better than wide.
One large/tall for stews, soups and pasta with lid.
One high sided frying pan with lid. Small frying pan for omelettes/reheating.
Smaller tall pot with lid for cooking veggies/rice.


You don't need many but you need a combo of the right size that fit on the stove together. Lids are helpful. I like ceramic pans, as they clean easily and are non toxic. Cast iron is ok, one pan for all, but heavy and large.

[Cheechako]

Here's an example of the Revere Deep pans. They come in big or small, albeit a bit hard to find.

[frozenhawaiian]

my cast iron stays home, chalk it up to my racing sailor roots but thats way more weight than I'm willing to haul around in cookware.

[Greenhand]

I see that the Magma 10 piece sets come with two handles. Is it possible to get additional handles?

Never mind, I found it, for a mere $30.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Greenhand

I see that the Magma 10 piece sets come with two handles. Is it possible to get additional handles?

Never mind, I found it, for a mere $30.

FWIW, we've never needed more than two handles. They switch from one pot to another in about a nano-second... so it's even rare that I've had two handles out of the drawer at the same time. Rare enough that I can't ever actually remember doing that.

-Chris

[a64pilot]

Cast Iron has an amazing property, I don't know why, but a tiny flame that wouldn't keep an aluminum pan warm, will heat a Cast Iron one hot enough to blacken fish. This saves propane, and maybe more importantly keeps a lot of heat out of the boat.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Livia]

We bought a nesting set of stainless pots and pans from WM with a clip on handle 7 years ago and still have and love them..

We didn't have a pressure cooker for years of cruising until I realized I could cook a whole chicken in it, with whole potatoes in 20 minutes. Often when there aren't any good meat options in the groceries of the S Pacific there will still be whole frozen chickens. But who wants to roast a chicken in the tropics??

Invasion of the Pressure Cooker | Estrellita 5.10b

[Greenhand]

For all the Magma lovers out there, do you use the stainless, non stick, or ceramic?

[jwcolby54]

Originally Posted by 1affiah

Also, I can recommend Corning Corelle dishes. They are lightweight, compact, nearly indestructible, and not plastic!

That's interesting. I just recently bought a full set of Corelle and was intending to replace it with lightweight indestructible plastic.

Should I rethink?

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Greenhand

For all the Magma lovers out there, do you use the stainless, non stick, or ceramic?

Our is stainless, NOT non-stick except for the "skillet" (or sauté pan, whatever it is). Nor is ours induction, partly 'cause induction wasn't invented yet when we got it... but also 'cause our cooktop isn't induction either. (It's replacement will be, should that become necessary.)

Originally Posted by jwcolby54

That's interesting. I just recently bought a full set of Corelle and was intending to replace it with lightweight indestructible plastic.

Should I rethink?

I expect plastic -- like Melmac (sp?) or whatever -- would maybe be slightly more indestructible in case of catastrophic dropsies. OTOH, we've not lost a Corelle piece yet, over about 15 years...

And I don't think weight is a real issue; in the plastic set we used to use for camping, I think the plates weighed about the same as a Corelle plate. (That's just from memory, though.)

Corelle has some useful "accessory" pieces. Big bowls and platters and so forth. Our "accessories" are just plain white, don't match the pattern of our basic set, but then I didn't much care about that.

-Chris