By Russ and Tiña De Maris
One of the “joys” of being the RV hubby is the occasional opportunity to perform in the kitchen. When we get out on the road, hitting roadside farmers’ markets and fruit stands is a mainstay. When we get back to the rig, who can resist building a fruit pie? Nobody – until they think of boiled-over pies, burnt onto the bottom of the oven. Well, worry no more! A nonstick oven liner can free you from fear.
While sized for your stix-n-brix stove, many nonstick oven liners can be trimmed down with a pair of scissors to fit your RV stove. For the sake of safety, these don’t cover the very bottom of the oven. Why not? The manufacturers are concerned things might get too hot directly above the burner unit, and they also warn of possible buildup of carbon monoxide. Some may sniff at this idea, but hey, we don’t care to be test subjects to find out one way or the other.
So for RV use, you’ll trim down the mat and install it, as directed, “on the bottom oven rack.” For some, this means the ONLY oven rack, but that doesn’t mean you now have no place to plunk the pie. Nope, you simply slide your pie pan (or whatever it is you’re cooking) directly onto the nonstick mat. Cook away as you would normally.
When cleanup time rolls around, if your rig is “back home,” simply whip out the oven mat and run it through the dishwasher in the house – slick! If not, then a bit of soapy water in the sink and a bit of a wipe-over should be a quick job of cleaning those nasty spill-overs.
You’ll find one fairly well-rated nonstick mat for sale here.
##RVT810;##RVDT1328
Personally I like aluminum foil both in my home ovens and the RV. If anything boils over pluck out the piece of foil and install a clean piece. And if you need some for the BBQ but the roll is empty then take it out of the oven! (Just remember to replace it!)
I agree with Marilyn aluminum foil is great stuff. I found that leaving it just above the burner in the oven also keeps the bottom of stuff from burning. It of course also catches spills and at just 3 cents for the average RV oven is a great deal.
I use my mat on a cookie sheet to give it rigidity and then put the pie (or whatever) on the cookie sheet. Works much better than just putting it on the rack.