What did you cook in your Ridge Monkey?

[motacyclist]

You can’t heat a couple of pasties in a frying pan

Or spring rolls, sausage rolls, part baked rolls etc

 

[Elly Swanson]

Some people use them as mini ovens and bake small things in them. I’ve seen people do cup cakes! Lizzy from “Bus and beyond” did a video on making Valentines cup cakes, it’s on YouTube and their blog.

I have the old XLs and use them at home and when campervanning. Outdoors have had them on a Kelly Kettle (Kettle top and the little fire pit) and also over a trangia spirit burner. They’ve had loads of use. I think the new ones, that come apart would be even more useful as then you could have one closed or 2 separate and open.

Fried eggs are brilliant with just a touch of oil, put some water in and they’re like flat poached eggs.

 

[Elly Swanson]

If making toasties with commercial sliced bread (even thick sliced squashes to thin and puny):

• do a double decker with 3 slices of bread and filling between. The middle slice won’t get toasted but will be soft & yummy and soak up any liquid or gooey fillings.
• Cook 2 at a time: prepare 2 toasties and stack on each other, when the outside’s done separate and turn to cook the other side. As these are in the pan for longer it’s good for fillings that need a bit more time.

If your flame heat is too high or fierce for what you’re cooking, use a heat diffuser under the ridge monkey.

 

[Denzilgts]

We have done loads of cheese toasties , bacon ( if fat comes off just pour it away and continue cooking) , great for deep pan pizzas from the freezer aisle.

I only use the heat on the lowest setting works absolutely fine , no splatter and reduced steam in the van .

 

[Elly Swanson]

We have done loads of cheese toasties , bacon ( if fat comes off just pour it away and continue cooking) , great for deep pan pizzas from the freezer aisle.

I only use the heat on the lowest setting works absolutely fine , no splatter and reduced steam in the van .

Yes, good point Denzilgts, in the van or on a gas stove everything is very controllable and you can get the heat nice and low. I was thinking more along the lines of when using over charcoal or with fire outside the van.

What “monkey” do you have? Mine are the old XLs and I’ve been so impressed with them. As you’ve said, no splatter and steam - brilliant. I have been looking at the new ones that split and that larger combo pan with compartments. When I saw it in the shop I was surprised how big it was (I think it would be really versatile, especially as when split you would have 2 good size pans).

 

[Elly Swanson]

We have done loads of cheese toasties , bacon ( if fat comes off just pour it away and continue cooking) , great for deep pan pizzas from the freezer aisle.

I only use the heat on the lowest setting works absolutely fine , no splatter and reduced steam in the van .

Do you cook the pizzas from frozen or let them defrost first, Dezilgts?

 

[steve and lisa]

We also use ours for pizza, we cut them to size and cook one at a time, they are ready within a few minutes (you need to keep turning the RM over)

Also for toast, we have perfected it with two slices of toast ready in under 2 minutes.

For such a simple device, the possibilities are endless

 

[Elly Swanson]

I bought a Ridge Monkey and we took it away with us for our long summer holiday. Turns out that it offers very little over a normal frying pan and a lid and frying pans are bigger. Waste of money IMO.

I can see your point, Bigmac, and I think it depends what you’re cooking. If you’re frying and don’t want the steam trapped in (if your monkey is closed) you’d be much better with a good frying pan. But you can use them as a kind of mini oven and cook all sorts. Also, when closed you can just flip them, which I really like. I also like that the lid is attached (so I can’t lose it or forget it).

 

[Auberg-ine]

Yes, good point Denzilgts, in the van or on a gas stove everything is very controllable and you can get the heat nice and low. I was thinking more along the lines of when using over charcoal or with fire outside the van.

What “monkey” do you have? Mine are the old XLs and I’ve been so impressed with them. As you’ve said, no splatter and steam - brilliant. I have been looking at the new ones that split and that larger combo pan with compartments. When I saw it in the shop I was surprised how big it was (I think it would be really versatile, especially as when split you would have 2 good size pans).

I have these new ones. The handles fit inside the pan! The pans perfectly fit both Ocean gas pits, even without splitting them. Lots of picts around here. Definitely not too big. Splitting both pans is a bit of a trick, but you get used.

 

[Elly Swanson]

We also use ours for pizza, we cut them to size and cook one at a time, they are ready within a few minutes (you need to keep turning the RM over)

Also for toast, we have perfected it with two slices of toast ready in under 2 minutes.

For such a simple device, the possibilities are endless

Do you put your bread slices on top of each other, Steve and Lisa, do one side and then turn them face out for the other?

Who cooks the toast in your van?

 

[Elly Swanson]

I have these new ones. The handles fit inside the pan! The pans perfectly fit both Ocean gas pits, even without splitting them. Lots of picts around here. Definitely not too big. Splitting both pans is a bit of a trick, but you get used.

OMG! I didn’t know the new ones had detachable handles. That makes them even better. Fixed handles on mine make them harder to store effectively. Thanks for the heads up, Aubergine-ine.

 

[Elly Swanson]

I would agree, if your pans would be square, you could remove the handles, you could flip them over for the tortillas, and they could contain rectangular envelopes...
To me square items have just more useful surface for less storage volume. For the same reason I have my plates also square.

View attachment 37891 View attachment 37890

Looked at the pics. Love where you’ve put your fresh herbs. What container are they in and how have you attached them?

 

[Elly Swanson]

3 courses apparently on the latest model

Wow, great video, Matt. One monkey and all that food, brilliant. Patrick’s workspace was so organised.

 

[Auberg-ine]

Wow, great video, Matt. One monkey and all that food, brilliant. Patrick’s workspace was so organised.

Haha, and I thought it was plane chaos! In fact I did not really plan well at all. But when cameras are rolling, one has to rock!

 

[MattBW]

Haha I have footage for a video about Patrick’s organisation of the Cali. ;-) very good use of space. A very different situation to my own organisation haha

 

[Skylark2.0]

You can’t heat a couple of pasties in a frying pan

Or spring rolls, sausage rolls, part baked rolls etc

We heat pasties in a frying pan!

 

[motacyclist]

We heat pasties in a frying pan!

But when you flip it over your pasties would fall out!

 

[Denzilgts]

Do you cook the pizzas from frozen or let them defrost first, Dezilgts?

We just put frozen pizza in fridge before we leave home.. usually when we get to the site and need them they are chilled . Straight into the monkey. Works every time , do prefer the pepperoni pizzas , even better with more cheese

 

[Ady77]

Thanks for the heads up, we tried pizza on our Ridge Monkey at the weekend, cut them in quarters and each slice was ready in around 5 mins, awesome !

 

[Elly Swanson]

Haha I have footage for a video about Patrick’s organisation of the Cali. ;-) very good use of space. A very different situation to my own organisation haha

That would be great, Matt. It’s always good to have some starter points. I’m using his photos from another thread to work out measurements for other things I‘d like to do when I get my Cali. A video would be really useful and help me to put things into perspective.

 

[Leigh-R]

These are not just chips,
These are Ridge Monkey cooked M&S chunky chips.
So tasty.

 

[Elly Swanson]

That would be great, Matt. It’s always good to have some starter points. I’m using his photos from another thread to work out measurements for other things I‘d like to do when I get my Cali. A video would be really useful and help me to put things into perspective.

Will be interesting. He’s very inventive.

 

[Elly Swanson]

Should I buy a RidgeMonkey Deep Fill Sandwich Toaster XL or a RidgeMonkey Connect Non Stick Combi Pan? Can you cook a toasty in the connect combi?

I like the idea of the detachable handles & that the combi can be used as two separate pans, but is it as good as the original design?

I have 2 of the old non-removable handled XLs in the kitchen at home. For our new van I bought the new XL and the combi pan. But, I found the combi took a lot of storage space and I already have 2 brilliant tefal ingenio fry pans, I also didn’t think it would be versatile enough with its “static” compartments, so I took the combi back.

The XL “toaster” is great and very versatile. The tool kit and the handles stored inside is genius. With the handles off it will also fit in my Cobb grill/oven. Not tried it yet but will post when I do.

 

[Elly Swanson]

A normal pan is easyer to wash up , as the two sides are not detacheble neighter the handle ....but still a good thing to carry imo.

On the new versions the handles detach.

 

[Elly Swanson]

I’ve done those “Petit Pans” in ours (the ones that are half baked). Quite handy to carry because they have a long shelf life, so if you run out of bread you can use those.


I very nearly did that too! Maybe we should attach a piece of bright coloured tape to the tool set so it sticks out to indicate they’re inside!

Good thinking, motorcyclist.