How to make airline food actually delicious, according to chef Monica Galetti

Airplane meals have long been the punchline of bad food jokes, but chef and MasterChef judge Monica Galetti is on a mission to change that. With her new in-flight menu for Singapore Airlines, she’s bringing a taste of her Samoan and New Zealand heritage to the skies, proving that even at 30,000 feet, you can indulge in a fine dining experience – if you’re in the right cabin, that is

The food is often prepared before departure (Singapore Airlines)

Who among us hasn’t had a dire meal on an airplane at some point in our lives?

Airline food doesn’t exactly have the best reputation – after all, it’s hard to cater to hundreds of people purely by reheating pre-made meals, all while you’re thousands of miles in the sky.

But it doesn’t have to be all dry meats and soggy salads, says chef Monica Galetti.

In fact, the Samoan-New Zealand chef, who is a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals, suggests you can have a proper gourmet experience while flying – and that’s exactly what she’s created with a new set of exclusive in-flight menus for Singapore Airlines.

Galetti, 49, is familiar with dining in the sky, “Especially going back and forwards to head home to Samoa or to New Zealand,” she says.

She describes the meals she’s chosen as “an introduction on who I am – my culture and dishes and ingredients that are quite dear to me”. This includes yellowfin tuna oka (“a very traditional Samoan dish, which is like a ceviche with coconut milk and lots of lime and chili”) and the “hokey pokey” honeycomb and chocolate dessert (“inspired by my childhood growing up in New Zealand… based on an ice cream, a caramel [and] a chocolate biscuit that I used to love”).

Monica Galetti has developed dishes to eat 35,000ft in the air (Alamy/PA) (Alamy)

Her four-course menu will be available for Suites and First Class customers, while Business Class passengers are treated to three courses – unfortunately you don’t have the same options in economy.

But that being said, Galetti suggests there’s really no excuse for diabolical airplane food anymore – and through developing this menu, she’s worked out the secrets for creating mile-high dishes that actually taste good.

Make adjustments

Galetti is used to working in restaurants, complete with multiple stoves, grills, burners and everything you might need to whip up a meal. It goes without saying that you don’t have this on an airplane – making it tricky to come up with recipes for hot dishes that will actually work.

“It’s a standard 20 minutes reheat on 190 – no less, no more,” Galetti says of how food is prepared on planes. “Twenty minutes is a long time – that’s why the food comes out piping hot and it takes the roof of your mouth off.

“It’s part of the safety procedure… but at the same time, it can completely destroy the dish. So I’ve had to adjust the cooking, or choose cuts of meat that would be less affected when reheated in such methods.”

Galetti calls the hokey pokey ‘one of my signature desserts’ (Singapore Airlines/PA) (Singapore Airlines)

She also says you have to put extra care into things like the “finishing touches on a dish”.

“For example, certain things you don’t want to go soggy or too soft – how do you get that? Maybe in a little container, pre-mixed, so all you need to do is open it and [it’s] still crunchy, then just pour it onto the dish at the last moment.”

Focus on ingredients

Galetti says that eating seasonally can really take your in-flight meal to the next level.

“Seasonal is the best time to be eating certain ingredients,” she says, which is why her autumn menu includes things like squash and porcini mushrooms.

Sourcing the ingredients “as fresh as possible” is “half the battle won”, she adds.

It’s widely thought that chefs need to add a whole lot more salt onto dishes to make them taste good in the air, but Galetti says that while that might be “true with the older airlines”, newer planes counteract the need for that.

Bring a taste of home

The seasonal menu includes an autumn squash soup (Singapore Airlines/PA) (Singapore Airlines)

“Sometimes, when you’re travelling, you want the familiar,” Galetti notes. “You look at something and think, ‘Oh, I know what that dish is, I’d love to try that’.”

This could be something like sticky toffee pudding. “We all have a vision of what that is in your mind, and a reason why you enjoy it,” she adds.

Sauce, sauce, sauce

The secret to a really good airline meal? Sauce, Galetti says – and plenty of it.

This is because the reheating of dishes often mean they “dry out” – so a delicious sauce can rescue even the most parched of meals.

Ultimately, she says, it’s important to get an “understanding of what’s needed for food to be replicated that high in the air – as opposed to throwing it on a tray on top of mashed potato and sticking it in the oven for 20 minutes, so there’s no sauce at all”.

Singapore Airlines has partnered with Monica Galetti to create seasonal menus for Singapore Airlines Suites, First Class, and Business Class cabins departing from the UK. For more information and to book flights, visit: singaporeair.com