Airstream Pizzeria

Even though the Airstream’s plumbing has been winterized, Number 1 son still considers it great fun for he & I to watch movies & sleep in the Overlander on special occasions. Number 2 son enjoys both having the house to himself, and his mother’s undivided attention during brother’s absence. Although I also enjoy staying out in the Airstream, I am getting to know Barney the purple dinosaur a lot better than I ever thought I would.

This past Friday night found the two of us roughing it in the trailer battling the frigid mid-forty degree outside temperature with only Aunt Ela’s quilts, and the built in propane furnace. Even with one of the three roof vents partially cracked open, and keeping the inside temperature warm, I am still surprised at the amount of condensation that forms on the insides of the windows during winter camping with just two people. But that is the way it is, and after Daniel awoke & went inside, the furnace was switched off before opening the roof vents fully, and latching the door open to let everything dry out.

As is usually the case when the Boyz realize that the Airstream’s door is open, after the weather warmed both of them proceeded to make themselves at home in the Overlander watching videos & eating snacks. I am still proud of my decision to install low maintenance sheet vinyl flooring in my American Classic.

Weekend suppers tend to be something out of the ordinary, but after finding out that Kim would probably only have popcorn, I decided to make myself a calzone. Specifically, a bratwurst, ham, onion, black olive, and cheese calzone. A good home-made pizza or calzone requires a very hot oven. Since Kim does not seem to care for the smell of a bratwurst calzone cooking, I usually end up baking it on the grill. But Daniel overheard his mother & I discussing meal plans as he walked by on his way out with another video, and advised us he wanted chicken nuggets in the Airstream. Hence the basis for this story.

Now, although I had a world of confidence in the Magic Chef Oven’s capability, I had only qualified it to a good canned biscuit cooking temperature of 400 degrees. Not that I did not think the oven could do 500 degrees safely, its just that ovens have a tendency to smoke a lot when asked to operate 100 degrees higher than usual. And just to make sure there would be excitement, the pizza stone I would be using, which normally stays in the house’s oven, had a month’s worth of low temp spatter on it.

Knowing that gas ovens preheat rather slow, and that the temperature may need adjustment at unusually high temperatures, the oven was lit about an hour and a half in advance. Advising the Boyz to leave the knob alone, I returned to the house to finish meal preparations.

About a half hour later, Number 1 son comes in to advise me that the Airstream was making a funny noise. Knowing what it was before I got there, the smoke detector was moved to fresh air, and one of the two powered ceiling fans was turned on to blow air out of the previously opened vent. The Boyz returned to their video.

Since Kim was just reading a book, I asked her to please read it out in the Airstream to keep an eye on things. Ten or fifteen minutes later, I checked on everyone, and decided to turn on the other ceiling fan, and open the refrigerator’s access door to supplement whatever was blowing in through the open door. Ten or fifteen minutes after that, Kim & the Boyz returned to the house explaining that it was getting kind of tough to breathe in the pizzeria. Daniel asked that I microwave his chicken nuggets.

The smoke haze was not that bad. It did, however, remind me of an interview I read once where some great chef was asked if he prepared the same fine meals at home he was gaining world renown for at work. “Nah, I tried a few times, but it just smoked up the place & really annoyed my wife.” I hear you brother! On a brighter note, the thermostat was only off 20 degrees. But after adjusting it, I remembered things in the house I needed to do…

At calzone cooking time, the oven had pretty much smoked itself out, and the interior air was breathable. I thought about calling everyone back out until I slid the well-olive-oiled calzone into the oven. Uh, maybe not.

The calzone turned out well. It had a couple of scorch marks on the bottom, but I think it was due to the pizza stone’s placement. I have an idea on what to do different, but I kind of doubt I will cook another calzone in the Airstream although it did seem to do a good job drying the place out.