62 years in time
6 hours ago
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Cooking Methods
Sometimes I’m amused at my relationship with technology. Yesterday morning I was in a hurry for coffee so I heated the peculator on the induction cooktop. While that was going on I was stoking up the woodstove. The rest of my breakfast was prepared using wood fire. Like much of my life, it’s as if I have one foot in the 21st century and the other stuck in the 19th.
For my camping/sailing trip this winter I’m bringing two campstoves. One uses propane. The other uses gasoline. So why am I bringing two stoves? There’s a chance my lovely wife will be camping while I’m sailing for a bit. Even if that doesn’t happen, it’s always nice to have fuel options.
I also have a Back Country Boiler. It’s a light weight chimney kettle. Basically it looks like a cross between a fat metal water bottle and a rocket stove. Not sure if that particular model is still available, but there are other companies making them. The cool thing is that you can use little bits of scrap wood to boil water. It works fairly fast. I’ve even heated up my tea water using nothing but pine cones.
Maybe saying I have one foot in the 19th century is too modern. Cooking on an open campfire is one of my skills. That means my cooking skills go from caveman to spaceman.
-Sixbears
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Hey, pack that induction cooktop and an extension cord, too. You never know when you'll be forced to stop in a regular campground with hookups or at a hotel for a night. Hotels really don't like fire-cookers much. Induction cooktops work fine in that situation.
ReplyDeleteEven when I used to go off-road camping, I'd still pack an electric skillet and an electric hotpot for cooking in places with electricity. If I knew I'd be near electricity for more than a day or so, I'd also pack a crock-pot (I guess all the cool kids today are doing those instant pot thingies...)
Basically, don't limit yourself on non-electric cooking unless you just really aren't going anywhere where electricity is available.
My induction cooktop is a big bulky thing so it'll stay at home. If I had a smaller one burner one I'd probably take it. However, we tend to stay in places without power. They tend to be closer to nature and cost less. Of course, I have solar panels for my own small electric system.
DeleteWe will stay in places with electricity, but not often enough to make it worth while.
I'm always amused at my relationship with technology too. A one time avowed Luddite who now makes his living via computers and technological things. Weird. I like knowing all the first principle ways of doing things but some gadgets save way too much time to ignore. Assuming they don't break, of course! Then you have to know how to do it another way or, even more important, know how to fix the thing or work out a solution. You seem to have that approach down pat...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Mr Hi-Tech Caveman.
Techno-Luddite!
DeleteThe Amish don't shun technology. They pick and choose what works best for the community. I get that. Of course, I tend to go for a higher level of technology than the Amish.
Being able to do things the old way is much better than not being able to do things at all.
That Backcountry Boiler appears to be similar to the old Kelly Kettle. Mainly for heating over a fire rather than stove.
DeleteThere's a chimney that runs right up the middle and it sits on a platform with a fire hole in it. Fires up nicely with twigs.
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