Grilling without a campfire

[Emdiesse]

I really love the freedom you get from cooking with fire, there seems to be endless permutations of ways to cook. Hanging something over it, putting something in the embers, grilling something on top of it, burying something under it. I realise that I should look into alternative ways to cook when fires are not allowed (which seems to be most places). However I want to keep as much versatility as possible. Mainly, just that little extra cooking space you can have so you can have one pot cooking yer' beans, a couple of sausages grilling and an egg frying away happily in a small dish next to the sausages.

I am toying with the idea of either:

Alcohol Stoves
carrying a few nice cheap pepsi can stoves or trangia stoves. The pros are it's quiet, clean and leaves no trace. I guess, grilling on a pepsi stove is out of the question however I guess I could still fry up some sausages, some beans and an egg with a far amount of simplicity.

Fire Pan
Purchasing a cheap stainless steel tray (but with high enough sides it wouldn't warp)... or a dog bowl. allowing me to raise a fire off the ground (which I feel you should be able to justify as a bbq in most cases ). Seen some trays and cooling racks which would be plenty big enough. I'd be able to vary where the heat was by shifting embers about, could even have the whole area covered in embers for a huge cooking area... With this set up I could boild pots on the top, grill, fry with a pan... I could even have a spit! On the other hand, there would still be the smoke, the ashes (which I could scatter). On the plus side, I would not need to carry fuel. Not entirely no trace, however, maybe if where I stay is really fussy I could just fill 'er up with meths and place a mesh over the top for an ultra large meths stove

I am really liking the idea of a portable dog bowl fire pit with grill...

Choices.... How do you open up your cooking possibilities to more than the simple one pot wonders in a world that doesn't like fire?

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Rod Paradise]

Tengu's folding BBQ's would probably do you well....

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82004

 

[mountainm]

If you're car camping then get a Cobb - there's no looking back.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

u need to have a chat with martink9 and if you do car camping u need to have a look at his jerry can fire pit cos they are the dogs whats its and u then put the jerry can on bricks


drew

 

[Emdiesse]

Cheers for the replies. I am looking for a solution for when on foot. I have purchased a 24cm dog bowl and a round cake cooling rack to see how I get on with it. I really like the versatility you get with fire so I am going to just give it a go, see how I get on with it. It cost me about the same as one trangia burner but i'll get a whopping cooking area of about 450cm^2.

 

[Shewie]

Teepee brought a couple of charcoal bags last time we were out, just those little ones which you light the paper. They're not particularly heavy but they are bulky.

After the waxy paper had burned off there was no smoke and no flames which was perfect for our stealthy camp.

Might be one to think about

 

[Emdiesse]

Sounds a nice idea, especially for a rainy day or when stealthiness is a priority.... plus, it's even more a bbq than if you are using wood.

I have been thinking of the grill and versatility, I love hanging my pot up, and I saw about on a ' “French” windlass ' waylands site and figured that even more versatile than a grill would be to purchase some bike brake cable (found stainless ones on ebay for not a bad price [3.98 for 2 * 1.6mm * 1700mm cables]) that I can use to hang up my billy and also modify the dog bowl to include little hooks/rivets/bolts around the rim so I can lace the cable back and forth to create a grill.

 

[lannyman8]

emdiesse, i am in exactly the same boat as you, i totaly love an open fire to cook on, but when walking a set path where you come into contact with others, its not a great idea to be having a fire...

i have been looking into wood gas stoves, im playing with a home made one ATM, they are nearly smokeless, and infact are once they start to gasify, its just that initial lighting they smoke. the other good thing is they are light dont take up that much room, and you can store some meths and a coke can or Lynx meths stove inside the main stove, just incase you want a quick brew or dont have any wood to use on the stove...

i was thinking of a dog bowl sort of stove but thought against it, its probably the same as a hobo stove which is easy to make and probably burns better, due to shape size etc etc...

if you come up with a solution be sure to let me know..

regards.

chris.

 

[Emdiesse]

Yeah, I have also been reading about woodgas. Looks great, but then I felt it might not be wide enough for multiple pots or for grilling whilst I boil, etc. So part of me has opted to trade the depth for the width so I can have more cooking area. Basically a small raised fire so I can at least be observed as following a leave no trace philosophy.

I'm going to try and see if I can make something out of a 25cm dog bowl. I plan to drill holes in the bottom to get air to the fire and to place bolts all around the rim so I can take a length of bike brake cable and lash it across the bowl and round the bolts in a grill like fashion. Not an over complicated pattern mind you as I envisage being able to remove it and use it to hang my billy can up over a fire.

I am thinking of a way that I can create a large meths burner, I wonder about if I can get a coiled copper tube and riddle it with holes. Have a cap in one end and a pressure fitting on the other end for filling so once lit it provides lots of little upward flames? No idea if that would work mind you. But that's one plan I have for when wood fire it a total no-no.

 

[Shewie]

Have you looked at the Yukon stoves? You can just about squeeze two pots onto those. I have the titanium version but there's a steel one in the classifieds I think.

 

[Emdiesse]

Actually, rather than a coil of copper, that'd be heavy, hopefully I can find some sort of large diametred, shallow, circular, lightweight tin... like a large shoe polish tin but the same depth that I could riddle with holes and use as a large meths stove!

 

[Emdiesse]

Nope, wow, I like the look of the Yukon stoves. Now I have bought the other parts I might see how that turns out, but I'll definitely keep it in mind for future.

 

[Emdiesse]

Actually, one further thing. I like things to be multi use, or at least have the potential. What could you do with a dog bowl riddled with holes in the bottom

I thought maybe in an extreme DIY style way I could potentially use it with charcoal as some sorta makeshift water filter that may help remove heavy metals? Then again that's just a thought on a more mega-long stay level that I never actually have time for anyway... i think carrying water would be far easier for most trips!

 

[bilmo-p5]

I guess, grilling on a pepsi stove is out of the question ...

A couple of Trangia burners under a stovetop griddle works very nicely.

 

[lannyman8]

i see what your saying and understand totaly... meths needs to be turned into vapour for a good burn, so pre heated in some sort of way before the flames are used for cooking....

im also looking into a jet stove for fast boiling water when walking, a sealed container basicly with a very small hole in the top, this then has meths inside and is placed inside another tin/container with a meths fire underneath, this heats/boils the meths in the top tin causing pressure which is ignighted, its like a bloomin blowtorch when it gets going..... 1 litre in 4-5 mins id say....

 

[bilmo-p5]

Instead of the dog bowl setup you could get a couple of 8" steel woks (I think Wilko's still have them), take the handles off, so they nest for packing, and use a Trangia-style potlifter. Where you can have a fire you'd have a couple of versatile pans and where you had to have a raised fire you could use one of the woks as a firebowl & cook in the other. A small kettle would stow quite nicely in them too.

 

[mountainm]

Have you seen the honey stove hive?

 

[Badger74]

Or even a folding steamer insert for a saucepan.

 

[Emdiesse]

Yeah the hive expandion pack? Looks good, the honey stove was on my wishlist.... but I heard it was a bit fiddly at times?
I tried the folding steamer insert, found it nested well with my billy but I managed to warp it, whoops.

I guess that's the thing with bushcraft, there is just so many ways to do something so even if you find one way to do something it's always nice to try lots of other ways aswell.

 

[Whittler Kev]

If you're car camping then get a Cobb - there's no looking back.

2nded but get the Aussie beads as they cook loads better (I know from bitter experience)