Crew who learned to cook from the layovers: the recipes that came home from Bangkok, Beirut, Lima and Lagos, and the crew dinner that is a map of the network
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#1 LATAM Lima, and the crew who cook on layovers thread is about the travel kettle. This is the other one: the crew who learned to cook from the layovers and whose kitchens at home are the network. Every long haul crew member has a dish from a city and the crew dinners at my flat are a map. Post yours.
Mine
The ceviche is Lima's and I was born with it. The pad thai from the Bangkok layover cooking class on the 48 hour, with the tamarind I carry home in the crew bag. The mujadara from the Beirut layover (the MEA crews at the hotel taught me, and I learned the lentils and the rice and the onions properly). The jollof from a Lagos layover that I will not rank because I have read this forum. The tortilla from the Madrid layover, learned from Rosa's Iberia crew at the tapas night. And the pisco sour, which is Peru's and which every visiting crew learns at my flat.
How it happens
The 48 hour layover with a cooking class (Bangkok, Hoi An, Marrakech, Oaxaca, Lisbon, the classes exist for tourists and the crew use them). The crew hotel restaurant where the chef teaches the regular crews a dish. The local crew member at the hotel who takes the visiting crew home for dinner, which is the best way and the rarest. The market on the layover morning with the ingredient that does not exist at home, carried back in the crew bag, declared where it has to be. And the crew friend from the city who gives the recipe on the jumpseat.
The crew dinner as a map
At my flat: the Peruvian base, the Bangkok and Beirut and Lagos and Madrid dishes, the Brazilian from the São Paulo crews, the Japanese from a Tokyo layover class, the Lebanese from the MEA crews. The crew who come eat the network and the ones who bring a dish add a city. The dinner is the job without the aircraft.
The ingredients that travel
Tamarind, the dried chillies, the spice mixes, the Lebanese seven spice, the Japanese dashi, the Peruvian ají amarillo paste for the visiting crews to take home. The crew bag has a food compartment at every long haul crew member's home. The customs rules are followed and the fresh things are eaten on the layover and the dried things come home.
The ones who turned it into something
The ex crew who opened the café (the life after flying thread has her), the crew who runs the layover cooking class in her own city for the visiting crews, the crew whose Instagram is the layover recipes and who stays inside the social media rules by never showing the uniform. The layover kitchen is a career for a few and a life for the rest.
Post yours
The dish, the city, the layover, how you learned it. The forum has the layover guides. This is the layover kitchen.
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#2 Iberia Madrid, and the tortilla learned at the tapas night is a Lima to Madrid cultural exchange I am proud of, and the ceviche Carmen taught the Iberia crew at the Lima hotel is now made badly in three Madrid kitchens. The crew dinner as a map is exactly my flat.
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#3 Thai, Qatar, and the pad thai from the Bangkok cooking class is the dish every visiting crew learns and makes with the wrong noodles at home. The tamarind in the crew bag is correct. The Thai crew at Qatar run an unofficial class in the accommodation kitchen for the batch mates.
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#4 MEA, and the mujadara taught to the LATAM crew at the Beirut hotel was me or one of my colleagues and we are glad it reached Lima. The Lebanese seven spice in the crew bag is the Beirut export. Post the recipe and I will correct the onions.
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#5 Ghana, and the jollof from the Lagos layover will be ranked in this thread eventually and it will be the Ghanaian one. Carmen's refusal to rank is wise and temporary. The layover kitchen is the best thread on the forum and it will end in a jollof war.
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#6 JAL, and the Tokyo layover cooking class (the gyoza, the dashi, the tamagoyaki) is the one the visiting crews find and the one I recommend. The dashi in the crew bag is the Japanese export. The crew dinner as the network is the job without the aircraft, exactly.
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#7 Aeroméxico, and the Oaxaca class for the mole is the Mexican layover kitchen and the visiting crews at the Mexico City hotel are sent there by the Aeroméxico crews. The dried chillies travel. The crew bag food compartment is universal.
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#8 KLM, and the Nairobi layover taught me the ugali and the sukuma wiki from the hotel chef who teaches the regular crews, exactly as Carmen describes. The Africa crews at KLM have a kitchen of the whole continent. Post the mujadara and the onions will be judged.
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#9 @kwameflies the jollof war is inevitable and I will host it in Lima with the pisco sours to keep the peace. @leilabey the onions are caramelised slowly and I learned that from your crew. Correct away.