I love to cook, even while away. When we rent a place with friends, my favorite part of the day is relaxing around the table after a day of sightseeing or hiking or body surfing at the beach. I also like access to a kitchen because I get tired of eating every meal out and because I can cook with local specialties, like lobster in Maine or Dungeness crab in California.
Cooking on vacation can be a challenge, though. For starters, you don’t have your pantry. Things like ground cumin and maple syrup, always on hand at home, have to be packed or purchased. And after years of renting vacation houses, both here and abroad, expensive or not, I’ve come to realize they all have one thing in common: lousy kitchen tools.
But by keeping the food simple, using fresh ingredients, and packing a few essential tools, cooking on vacation can be truly relaxing and fun—so long as someone else does the dishes.
Wondering what to make on vacation?View the slideshowfor a collection of recipes that are perfect for vacation cooking.
Nonstick skillet: At most rentals, the nonstick pan is more stick than non. Packing your own takes up less room in your suitcase than you might imagine (clothes can nestle right into it). Cooking for two? An 8- or 9-inch pan should suffice. For a larger group, consider a 10- or 12-inch pan.
柔性硅铲：For scrambling eggs, you want a spatula that’s thin and heatproof (nothing spoils a morning on vacation quicker than the smell of burnt plastic). A nylon spatula, the kind used for flipping pancakes or salmon fillets, also comes in handy.
Sharp knives: Rarely are rental knives sharp. (Renters often put everything in the dishwasher, even knives and nonstick skillets.) But sharp knives come in handy, whether you’re slicing bread, trimming meat, or sharpening a pencil for a game of Yahtzee. Just don’t pack your best; we like theKai Pure Komachi 2 linefor inexpensive, lightweight ones. If you’re flying, be sure the knives aren’t in your carryon.
Tongs:Truly all-purpose, a pair of tongs is useful for fishing an ear of corn out of boiling water, flipping a piece of bacon, or grabbing an errant toy from behind the couch. You’ll also look cooler at the grill with a normal pair of tongs instead of those oversize ones from the barbecue “kit” most vacation homes seem to stock.
Instant-read thermometer: OK, you’re thinking, now we’re going overboard. But an instant-read thermometer is tiny and cheap, and if you plan to do a lot of grilling, it will make determining doneness much less stressful. And isn’t less stress what vacation is all about?
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