Overseas vacations are becoming popular thanks to the "open sky policy" that has lowered airfares, as well as the reduction of the Airbnb method. Many Orthodox families are preferring private homes vacation, because the possibilities to cook kosher food by ourselves
On other hand, there is still a problem with dishes and cookware in Non-Jewish homes offered by Airbnb apartments and Simmers. Therefore, too many religious travelers are reluctant to enjoy the advantages of Airbnb. I think it's a big mistake, since hundreds of dollars can be saved while traveling abroad through Airbnb
Many people do not know how easy it is to transform a kitchen to become Kosher. Nope! My wife and I are regularly doing it in less than half an hour. Here's a very simple method of preparing a kitchen, step by step, after consulting with a kosher expert's leader, Rabbi Oren Duvdevany
Firstly, we start with the stove top. The stove which the pots are placed on, must be cleaned thoroughly, and the residue of food that is affixed to it must be removed
Then we find pots in the kitchen cupboard that we'll need during our vacation. We fill them with water to their upper lip. Placing it on the stove and light the fire. A few minutes later, the water in the pot is boiling and bubbling. Then we put in an egg-sized stone in a way that the water slides evenly on the sides of the pot. By this the pot becomes kosher
Meanwhile, as the water heats up in the pot and before boiling, turn on the baking oven on the highest heat. It's called "incandescent", or "Libun" in Hebrew. In fifteen minutes the stove will be kosher and can be turned off. The oven molds are difficult to transfer, so before baking, we coat them with aluminum foil. There are also kitchens with state-of-the-art pyrolytic heaters that clean themselves 500 degrees. They can also be used in templates and networks
The microwave has different laws, because it has no heating element, but only radiation of waves that heat the food. But it may be that the food the gentiles heated before us was glided and spilled on the rotating base, or stick to the walls. So we clean the rotating plate well, return it to the microwave, and put a glass full of water over it. Turn on the microwave for a long time. When the water boils and the microwave's interior is filled with steam, the microwave is kosher like new. It'd lasts between 5 and 10 minutes. Sometimes we'll see from the microwave door window that the glass had evaporated completely, but the microwave cavity is still not filled with steam. In this case we'd add more water to the glass and continue to heat
The next step is to prepare the cutlery and dishes made of metal or plastic. There are two methods to prepare cutlery: 1. To put them in the sink, and to pour the boiling water on them. This is called "infusion" (Iruy). 2. To light the fire under the water pot again, wait a while for the water to boil again, and then put the cutlery into the boiling water in the pot. This is called "scouring" ("Haghala"). It is better to throw in one cutlery after another, not all of them together. That's because each cutlery must be surrounded by water, and when cutlery touch each other, there is a divide in the place of their obsession
Those who also want to use also the BBQ facility in the Zimmer backyard, should first fire up the BBQ, and only about five minutes later we may put our kosher meat on it
Plates and cups made of glass are kosher in the first place. Just enough to wash them well from food scraps that might be sticking to them. The glassware group also includes plates and cups of Corning, Pyrex and Coral. This is how all Sephardi rulers and most Ashkenazi Rabbis have ruled, (though there are few Ashkenazi rabbis who aggravate and treat glassware like pottery). Some prefer to "infuse" into glass plates as well, and pour boiling water on them. We don't have to, but it doesn't hurt
In contrast, plates made of porcelain and pottery are very difficult to make kosher under conditions of a Zimmer. Although they can be trained by incandescent fire, the fire can burn and blacken the clay coating, and possibly to crack it. So it's better not to start dealing with it. Simply do not use them at all
The same goes for a regular frying pan and a Teflon-coated pan. They should be trained by fire, but the fire could harm Teflon. Instead of getting into it, I bring a pan from my home, or buy a small pan at a local store abroad.
This allows us to finish the kitchen preparation in about twenty minutes. Personal experience
For advanced users: The Halacha principal about non-kosher leftover food that had sponged in dishes and cookware is: "It will vomit it as it swallowed it". In Hebrew: "כבולעו כן פולטו". Just as we use it in the cooking process – so we'd make it kosher. There are three types – incandescent, scouring, infusion. Frying and roasting cookware – should be "incandescent" on fire. Cookware with water – should "scour" and immerse in boiling water. Cutlery cups and metal plates – can only be treated with the "infusion" of pouring boiling water on them
Remark: All of the above relies on the majority of the rule of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The writer is not a rabbi and does not rule, but only a Jew who studied with his Rabbis how to behave in an non-kosher environment while traveling abroad