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Kitchen Gear "Surely the mountains bring forth food, where all the beats of the field play." Job 40:20
Stoves and stuff: Food is great pastime of mine. On the trail though I don't eat a great variety of stuff. The simpler the better. And the simpler the better when it comes to how I go 'bout cookin' it. Gas stoves to me are just plain 'ol silly. Why would I ever go all the way out in the backcountry to fart around with technology? Especially with all that good wood layin' around that I can use to cook with. I like to make a small cooking fire to cook over. Nigal's shown me some of the new fangled stoves that are around and the only two I like are that Esbit one and the alcohol burning one. That thing's so easy even Nigal can run it, haha! The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it burns alcohol. Seams like such a waste of good hooch. I tried takin' it once and ended up drinkin' all the fuel. Nigal gave me this really wicked hooch to burn in it called Methanol or somethin' like that. Man, that stuff burnt goin' down! For some reason I haven't been able to see as well as before either. I think it's the stove. One bad thing about the stove is that I had a hard time lighting the Papt's Blue Ribbon in it too. Again, I think it's the stove. My favorite way to cook up some good vittles (yes, I just said vittles!) is a good hot cook fire. Through sharing my preference for cook fires with others on the net I have found that this is such a "hotly" debated subject that it has driven me to examine it from all angles. I set out to build a better mouse trap, as it were. Fires are something that I have become very aware of and very passionate about. In fact I have created a page solely for the instruction and information of building the lowest impacting cook fire possible. That's right! I... Get serious about backcountry fires!!
Pots: As far as pots go I like whatever is handy. A small coffee can works just fine but I also like a small light aluminum pot too. A large metal cup will work if all I have to do is heat water. I don't take any kind of utensils like forks or spoons and spatulas. I take the free chop sticks that ya get from the Chinese guy that brings my takeout. They work great for anything I may have to eat. If I have to have a spoon to eat something I can just drink it. They are great for stirring because they are longer than a fork or spoon, they are light, free, and they can be used as fire kindling in a pinch. Heck you can even stake out yer fly with them. I have even made chopsticks from a sapling tree and they worked great. Other Goodies: Dirtbag's Aluminum Foil Reflector Oven: Sometimes a good camp fire is OK and acceptable. This is usually when kar kampin' in campgrounds. This is not my idea of a perfect wildness outing but me and my girlfriend Dirtbag Darcy stay at state campgrounds from time to time when traveling. I found this method of baking in an old book. Basically you will have four sticks stuck in the ground in a rectangular order about 12" X 6". Take a long sheet of foil and wrap each end a few times around a long thin stick. You will want this piece of foil to be about 15-16" long with a stick on each end. Now place the two sticks in front of the two front sticks in the ground with the foil folding in two back to the rear two sticks. Place a long stick within the fold but behind the rear sticks. It should look like this:
"The Dirtbag Reflector Oven" I have played around with sticking stakes through the foil and into the ground to create a pan shelf to keep the pan up off the bottom of the oven for even heating. You can either use a regular small pan or you can even make one from a piece of foil by doubling up a piece of foil and then bunching up your corners so it will hold batter. If you're making something like hoe cakes or a thicker battered pastries you could even use a flat rock that has been cleaned. Make sure it didn't come from a river though because it could have water in it and blow apart. You should place your oven directly in front of your fire and you should be baking when the fire is burning the hottest. Baking with coals is useless with a reflector oven. You may be surprised how small of a fire can be for baking. If you have one good log you can make the fire on the side of it and this is plenty for a small pan of goodies. You could also roast meat with this method.
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