simple but easily forgotten cooking tips!

[RAPPLEBY2000]

when you have finished cooking with your pot or metal mug place it on a mat of twigs or grass, this will give it insulation and prevent it from cooling too quickly!

when cooking on open fires the pots always get black, i have two tips for this.

1. black soaks up heat so theoretically the pot should get hotter quicker!
by all means wash inside the pot but not washing the outside can be an advantage!

2. put a thin coat of washing up liquid on the base of the pot before you cook in it this will help the soot come off more quickly!

its always worth having some thick gloves or cloth handy to move hot pots about!

[ally]

just a quick note on users with meths burners, if you put a small ammount of water in with the fuel (5-10% ish) then you don't get the soot on the bottom of your pans......

[bagman]

A used tea bag works really well for getting the the black sooty stuff of the bottom of mess tins etc

[RAPPLEBY2000]

several times whilst using my trangia it has :shock:
flared up unexpectedly, a fireball aprox 1 ft diameter!

i see no reason why, i use pure meths, nothing fell into it, the times and weather it has happened are random.

i would like to use my trangia closer to my tent but daren't because of this!
:-?

[Stew]

Wow!

Never seen anyone have that happen before!

The only thing I could think of is that one or two of the vent holes are blocked?

Worth a look.

Stew.

[RAPPLEBY2000]

:shock: :shock:
i know, i know,
i used to sell them too!

thanks for the advice i shall go about cleaning the holes :biggthump

[clcuckow]

A past of 'vim' and washing-up liquid works well and cleans up very easy. Don't know how good its for the environment though.

[Viking]

Natures washing machine:
Put the pot in a stream and put a stone in the pot and wait a couple of minutes. Works great with the trangia pots.

Sand and water works also great to wash your pots and pans.

Whitemoss (dont know what is called in english) works also great to wash up pots. I use it often when there is no water around.

[Gary]

Use a handful of grass pulled from a bank with roots and grit still attached like a scouring pad then wash out pot and hey presto clean.

[Justin Time]

If it's burnt on food, then slugs are the answer...of course you've got to leave the pots out for a few nights so the wee buggers can do their job.....

Justin
My previous garden was hoaching with the wee buggers

[Roving Rich]

Good to know slugs are good for something!
I've resigned to having sooty pots, just shove em in a good old poly bag before putting them in yer pack. Cooking on embers rather than flames also helps
Rich

[maddave]

Blackened pots transfer heat more efficiently. I was given an old Trangia clone (you know the cheap £10 copies) and I sprayed the outside of the pots with matt black, high temperature engine paint. They need to be put over the flame to "cure" the paint which is a bit smelly (put a little water in the bottom of each pot too). But once done it cuts down cooking times and the heat seems to be distributed more evenly.

[leon-b]

yes i found this on my first bushcraft night out about a week ago
i was cooking on my hexicooker with my mess tin and it went realy black

[Scally]

tringa flare up ( could it be down to poor air ciculation and to much heat build up were you using big pots at the time)?

[Siecroz]

Once you've used your mess tins/billycans... save a smidge of water and pour it onto either some grass, or onto some moss (moss works better).. then rub the tin onto the moss/grass.. circular motions sometimes work.

If your using Heximaine.. do it as soon as you can as cool Heximaine goes into a sticky substance and can be a b1t#h to clean... especially if you leave it to cool, and then cook on it again later without cleaning.

I recently used sphagnum moss on the inside of the tins after welding some pasta to the inside . That worked great (also has a slight soapy and absorbant property when wet..)

Tea bags are good... but a time I think is the best solution.

[Wayland]

If you have a fire add some ash and water to your pan.

Ash + water = alkali + gritty silica

alkali + fat = soap

soap + gritty silica + slight scrub = clean pan.

when you have washed the pan pour the water into the fireplace, this area has already been affected by the alkali.

Rinse with water and again pour it into the fireplace.

On the next rinse you can pour the water away elsewhere but not into the water source.

All too often I have seen people washing pans directly in streams or lakes only to pour the dirty water back into the clean source.

Always throw the water well back onto the land, this way the ground can filter out the organic materials, reducing contamination of your source water.

For a final rinse use clean drinking water or boil the water in the pan.

[Mantic]

All too often I have seen people washing pans directly in streams or lakes only to pour the dirty water back into the clean source.

Always throw the water well back onto the land, this way the ground can filter out the organic materials, reducing contamination of your source water

Big Bump.
...

[Siecroz]

If you have a fire add some ash and water to your pan.

Ash + water = alkali + gritty silica

alkali + fat = soap

soap + gritty silica + slight scrub = clean pan.

Thats a superb post Wayland... I will try that next time

Thanks

[Phantom]

To be honest I don't see the problem with leaving the mess tins black.
________________
Phantom

[Spikey DaPikey]

To get rid of the greenheat "crud" from your crusader cooker, just fill the crucible bit with water, leave for abit, and a quick wipe will shift it