Ask the Chef.
 

Ask the chef, not me. Surely there are some chefs on this board that are willing to exchange their advice on how to prepare good food given the bare essentials often provided in hotel rooms?

I am fortunate enough to be a previous part owner in a successful Michelin starred restaurant. I am not a chef, but through working with colleagues I gained several helpful habits. Now, none of these are particularly helpful when traveling given the typical hotel room has no cooking devices, except maybe a microwave. Let's try and remedy that.

For example, the best scrambled eggs I ever tasted were made by myself at Holiday Inn Phuket in a perfunctory room about 10 years ago. I bought three fresh eggs individually on the street, mixed them with one of those small milk capsules with added salt from a satchel, and a hot sauce tablet I'd commandeered from the restaurant the night before. Mixed in the microwave and voila! Not terribly elegant but they tasted fantastic.

Do other FTs/ chefs have advice on how to make simple and tasty food given the constraints of a typical hotel room?

Maybe it's just me, but in the types of places where you can buy eggs individually on the side of the street, I'd much rather spend the pittance it probably costs to enjoy a hot, local meal.

I follow a hard and fast rule..

Frequent places that are popular with locals.. chances are you can enjoy authenticity without getting sick..

Lots of park cars at an establishment.. means excellent food..

Your logic is sound, but I was asking about hotel/ serviced apartment cooking tips.

Cool link - thanks for that!

That is fabulous. You are the link guru.

Fair enough. I do like the grilled h&c sandwich idea though!

Please continue to follow this thread in the Dining Buzz Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Certainly entertaining...but could he really purchase all those ingedients for ~2 pounds?

For those that could not face the stuff served in the hotel restaurant on extended periods away from home, one of the great tragedies of hotel room improved design was the removal of the bed side tea maker.

In this, it was possible to make frankfurter, instant mash and (dried) peas. The ingredients did not need a fridge.

Much better if you omit the foil!

I'm a chef and have a background in hospitality. I have a keen sense for being budget minded when traveling, and I do enjoy a good meal, as opposed to having an Egg McMuffin or manufactured food when I don't have to.

Sorry to be a spoil sport, but I don't condone using hotel appliances for things beyond their intended purpose. Heating hot water and then pouring it into a cup with bullion or over noodles is one thing, but putting the food into the kettle or making a grilled cheese on an iron? That's disrespectful of the hotel's property, let alone the next guest using the appliance.

Now if you're talking about staying at an extended stay hotel (or even a hostel) that has a true kitchen, I can tell you many stories about foods such as a blueberry pancake breakfast for a crowd that I have made from the basics; that's a real challenge.

A bit sanctimonious! I'm not certain anyone sought your approval.:)

lol... sounds terrible, even when I was 13. You weren't educated at Eton too, by any chance?

My own standards are high, and I understand your concern and appreciate it - welcome chef!

Any cooking tips would be appreciated. Surely your recipe for pancakes could be prepared in a serviced apartment (e.g. Fraser Suites).

I know the breakfast spread is usually solid, but sometimes I just feel like cooking myself (even if breakfast is prepaid). It makes me feel..... normal.

Self-educated at eating but certainly nowhere near as grand as Eton. I would have enjoyed all that fancy dress!

I'd been obsessed with cooking in inventive ways ..... first date with my now wife was when I cooked her a meal on my car engine ... all the distances were planned around steak "doneness" ie the number of miles for medium rare. Home to Epping Forest produced a great cooked picnic with a lovely smell of onions coming from the engine on the way.

ps. My standards are high as well!

I really hope you're serious (not that I'd think Robt760 would approve of that either - only joking chef)!

FYI I used to measure distance by how many glasses/ bottles of wine I/ we could consume (e.g. it's a two bottle trip vs. a two glass one). Of course that standard is very subjective, as proved by that guy here on FT that drunk like 12 bottles of DOM in 24 hours.

Perfectly serious! It was in the era when sports car engines were sometimes air rather than water cooled ......

Life today and pretty much always has revolved around lunch. It's the core of our lives.

Must admit I no longer drink and drive at all. Entirely through fear of discovery!

I also don't D&D. Prefer to pay $500,000 a year or thereabouts for someone to drive for me (I think that's what my wife typically spends).

Sorry to get off track Robt760 (and others)... It would be great if you hung around this thread and shared your cooking tips, starting with the pancake procedure. All other chefs are equally welcome.

Unluckily my wife is scared of my car so refuses to drive it. And she has my old car. So that doesn't work.

I'm not clear that Robt760 is still a cook as I gathered from another thread he was seeking a job as a diplomatic bag courier. Perhaps he'll clarify.

Have you cooked fish in the dishwasher too?

Talking of what can be made in a hotel - you can poach a piece of fish in a shallow dish, with water from the kettle. But please, do post what room number and where, so I can take pains to avoid that hotel room after you!!! ;)

I think you and your co-poster here are making incorrect presumptions about how you cook with a bedside teamaker. No different from a kettle - it just happened to be a bed side tea maker. Sometimes it might have been nice to use the teapot - but in my experience they were always too stained. Did you ever see how these places allowed them to get stained!? So you needed to be prepared and travel with a little picnic kit of essentials! No one would know that it had been used afterwards and it's a bit insulting to presume otherwise!

Haven't tried fish - but I wish I had. Aren't you worried about upsetting the other residents with the smell of fish?:p

I'm a chef and not a cook, as referred elsewhere in this forum. My commentary about using the kettles and such are just common sense/decency and by all means being considerate of other guests of a hotel that use the room after.

I shan't answer any further questions proposed by uk1 or as I have a strange desire to refer to him as Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange).

I think kettles and bed side tea makers are intended to boil water. You are clearly very imaginitive and feel that boiling water is offensive. Anyway, have it your way! Never let a good hissy fit get in the way of decent manners!

You are clearly having difficulties. Good luck in your new career.

Depends what sort of sauce used..

Yep, you can poach fish in a simple room, but I fail to see why that should bother future guests - then again I've never tried it. Smelly? I can't imagine how if it's fresh fish.

Nice movie, sort of. Just checking you understand the difference re: bed side tea makers vs. kettle.

I have a kettle at home which has a foil attached to the spout so you really can't put anything in there apart from water.

A bed side tea maker however is different (and was super convenient in my high school days). You could literally take the whole lid off, and have an open "urn" for which to boil eggs in etc.

I think you'll find that it's cooks and not chefs that understand the difference!:D

Robt760's indignation that I should refer to him as a cook rather than a chef is in contradiction to how "proper" chefs ie those that cook in their restaurants rather than the absent celebrity ones on TV. Many of the top UK ones are really quite anxious to be called and thought of as cooks rather than chefs - and say so.

Are we behind or in front in the UK?:D

Chefs have papers. It doesn't matter if they actively cook in a restaurant. Much like a pilot has a license whether they actually fly or not.

I think I understand your point .... but you are way off beam. Nothing you've said is correct.

Pilots cannot be a pilot whether they fly or not as you seem to think. They have to do a certain amount of flying hours to maintain their license.

Neither chefs or cooks require "papers" to call themselves either. Anyone can call themeslves a cook or a chef.

Apart from that .........:)

IME, "chef" is an honour bestowed upon those that have excelled in a "respectable" kitchen. It is awarded by the primary chef, and celebrated.

FYI I know people who did whatever "cooking course" (and their grunt in the kitchen) and still 20 years later call themselves "cooks". I know them because their food is outstanding.

I love both "chefs" and "cooks".

Pilots may not be the best analogy..

Perhaps graduating high school?.. no matter what happens, you've always graduated high school.

This is a theory I've not heard before ... and doubt whether anyone else has.:)

"honour" ..... "bestowed" ......"primary chef"..... sorry this is a bit of a fantasy!

The word chef ("chief") means just means someone who cooks for a living but in a kitchen is normally the "chief" or person in overall charge etc. It's often just short for Executive chef or Chef de cuisine. Todays classic kitchen organisation was largely formalised by Escoffier in his description of the Brigade de cuisine

In the scenario you describe it is hardly likely that the chief is going to promote anyone else to a title only one person can have unless they are a "pastry chef" (in charge of pastry) sous chef (under chef - second in command) .....

In modern times people simply call themselves chefs when they cook for a living in a kitchen. I think you've been too swayed by the latest fad of everybody calling everyone else on these TV cooking programmes "chef" in rather over theatrical hushed and respected tones.

It is not the first time I have been accused of living in a "fantasy". lol.

I understand the brigade de cuisine and your post is correct. However, the "award ceremony" I previously described is both accurate and real.

As part owner of a Michelin restaurant in Japan over two years (until 2 months ago) I was invited (twice) to celebrate exemplary skill and dedication in the kitchen. The purpose of these "functions" was to allow the "chef" to award their most prized underling the "status" of "chef". The "award" was framed and all.

My business partner (there was the chef, myself and another) informed me that the purpose of the exercise was twofold:

a) Keep staff motivated
b) Stop said gifted "chef" from leaving

FYI, "awards" were also given to other talented staff.

Both occasions were fantastic!

Yes I understand .... but you said it as a general comment and didn't mention that you meant Japan! That's completely different!

And as you know they also have to be qualified and serve apprentiship to do certain things particularly when they handle certain fish so that they don't kill the punters.

None of it true in either America or Europe.

Yeah, I know, my apologies.

BTW we never served "river pig".

Never tried it! Although I once worked with someone that looked like one.

Sad day today .... allowed the wife to use my oven. We're now waiting for an engineer ............:(

I'm not a chef and I'm not a cook but I have high standards and this has forced me to learn to cook well at home.

I don't give a toss about the chef vs cook debate.

My suggestion for making breakfast in a hotel room is to go to the best bakery you can the afternoon/evening before (the bonus is that you often get the goods at a reduced price).
Next morning in your room, pop the baked items in a paper bag and blast the contents for at least a minute with a hair dryer. Helps you regain much of their original 'just out of the oven' appeal.

I'm very serious about good tea and so always travel with a tea kit, including a thermometer.
To make refreshed bread and pastries into a more substantial breakfast you can make onsen tamago in your room. You just need to immerse room temperature eggs in water at 65C for 20-25 minutes (optimally, raise the temperature to 75C for the last 5 minutes or so).
A thermal flask (insulated mug or jar) makes this very easy. A dribble of dashi concentrate makes the already good cracked egg perfect.

A great breakfast and no bad smells or residues on the appliances for the next guest.