COOKING WITH
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THREE SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR A HOT MEAL
There ’ s something a little romantic cooking over an open flame . The stoking of fire , the smoky aroma , the … oh , wait !
Unless you have a pan melting heat the process can be long and arduous , and often heavy-duty equipment is required to cope with the heat .
There ’ s plenty of other options . Gas , solid fuel , even liquid fuel however , most have their own drawbacks , size , numerous parts , the need to carry fuel and yes , we do concede that most have benefits that far outweigh the negatives but there is another option and one that has a greater versatility than you might realise . Wood burning , solid fuel stoves . These aren ’ t a new thing , in fact some , or at least the concept , have been around since man first struck a spark , lit a fire , and asked for his brontosaurus steak to be well done .
Whilst not as efficient as gas burning stoves , wood burners offer a relatively small , lightweight and cost effective way to heat and cook , and although wood to burn is not always available there are other options , including bovine dung , but we won ’ t go there … just yet …
The oldest design and simplest form are the military style folding stoves that generally burn a block of solid fuel such as hexamine . At less than AU $ 10.00 which includes a packet of fuel tablets these are perfect if you ’ re using with a military style mess kit , the rectangular two pan style .
Putting these to use is simple ; unfold , add the fuel , light , and start cooking . Simple . Yet , they do have a downside , they are susceptible to the wind meaning the fuel is often rendered extremely inefficient .
As for size , a complete mess kit with stove , is no more than 19 centimetres in length , 13.5cm wide and an overall depth of 6.5cm . The great thing is , everything packs inside – stove , fuel , utensils , and lighter . Your complete kit is in one and weighs no more than 500 grams .
After testing this stove with the recommended solid hexamine fuel , a beer can burner ( see instructions on how to make – page 112 ) and wood we came away with interesting results ( see table ).
A small 1.5 litre stainless steel billy can was used to boil 500 millilitres of water on each of the burners whilst the tests were conducted on a 20-degree Celsius day with a slight breeze .
The next tested was a folding stainless-steel stove by Lixada , although many similar versions can be found online . The Lixada is no doubt copied from any other design .
The package size is ultra-small at just 10.5 x 10.5cm and a packed thickness of 3cm , and at around 150gm easily fits in a pocket . With a cost of almost AU $ 25.00 it looks a little small for the price however , it is stainless steel and well made , and it does come with a bowl to contain liquid fuel so at a pinch any flammable liquid could be used . We tested the three fuels as well as the
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