xcapekey

Hey all...just about to push off on an open-ended trip. Just got a paella pan to bring with us to cook paella but to use as a general stir fry/wok pan. Does anyone else bring a fun or unconventional bit of cookware?

https://pathlesspedaled.com/?p=262

Best,
Russ

Gordon P

That is a brilliant idea and a great link!

The French have a pan design, I can’t remember the name, and it is something like a frying pan, a wok and a sauce pan. It has a flat bottom with high round sides and I would love to find a small one in steel with a lid.

While I was backpacking in Mexico and Central America back in the 1980’s, my traveling companion always carried martini glasses with him. We had many martinis in very odd locations!

mr geeker

i intend to take a mini sauce pan as my only cook ware when i hit the road. i don't know if thats weird or not though, being as when i typicaly go camping i take a full cook-set or nothing at all.

though i may just get one of those nifty looking paella pans.

kuan

Saucier pan. They're available, but too expensive for me to take camping.

positron

im still looking for a lightweight pressure cooker...

other than that, my espresso maker always comes along. a 3 cup bialetti aluminum one....

Black Shuck

My french press, wouldn't get far without it. Otherwise just the pot+pan that came with my mini-trangia. Oh, a titanium spork too just for the geek factor.

staehpj1

Pressure cookers can only be so light. You might check out the GSI Outdoors Compact Pressure Cooker. It is 3.5 quarts and weighs 4.26 pounds. That is way heavier than I would consider carrying on a bike tour, but if you carry a 1 pound coffee maker it might be acceptable to you.

I tend to carry only one pot. Depending on the trip it is either a really light one ($6 Stanco grease pot from Kmart, under 4 ounces) or a bit heavier one with lid that doubles as a fry pan (MSR stainless the larger pot from the MSR Alpine cookset). The MSR is kind of heavy at just under a pound, but it is an old friend by now. I cook multiple course meals, one course at a time, or do one pot stuff. Sometimes if I have a fire I heat canned stuff in the can so I can cook more than one thing at a time.

For three of us the MSR worked out OK. When alone I am less inclined to cook much and the 4 ounce pot is all I carry.

positron

Yeah, Ive seen that one... too heavy- unless I was doing extended touring at high elevations where it might offset the weight of extra fuel needed to cook for a number of people. And there is no way my espresso maker is a pound, not even half I'd guess.

staehpj1

There is more than one Bialetti 3 cup, so maybe I am looking at the wrong one, but the references to weight I saw online all seemed to be a bit over a pound. They did not seem to be shipping weights, but maybe? I did see one site that listed the shipping weight at 1.75 pounds.

imi

For bread making: a stainless steel plate, frisbee, wine bottle and guitar.

Mix flour, water and salt (sea water is perfect).
Kneed the dough in the frisbee.
Roll the portions of dough with full wine bottle on guitar case
Bake on steel plate over open fire.

Voilá!

Open wine bottle, enjoy with peanut butter or whatever, play guitar

xcapekey

imi...with your permission, I'd like to post the photos of your bread making on my site epicureancyclist.com? Do you mind writing up a few more details? how do you know when it's done? do you need two plates for the top and bottom?

Thanks,
Russ

imi

Hi Russ! Sure, feel free to use my pictures *honoured* ... More details:

1 kg (2.2 lbs) of flour makes approximately 18 flat breads.
Approximately 3 dl of water and salt 'til it tastes like the sea (sea water works fine, especially from the Red Sea as this is where I learned to make pita bread from the Bedouins).
Adding olive oil makes the dough smoother to kneed (and tastier)

When the dough is done, tear off a smallish piece and roll it in your palms until round to make the flattening easier... If you've worked at a pizza place you can do the hand slapping thing to spread the bread out (I've never mastered this myself, but am in awe... the Bedouins are amazing at it)

Piling the uncooked breads without them sticking together is best done by rubbing a little flour on them before gently stacking (the more spread out the better).

Heat the steel plate up (it gets very hot, so aluminiun is not recommended as it flakes (poisonous aluminium oxide I believe)...

Bake and turn until golden brown (or black in places)

If you mix water with sugar and throw it one side of the bread when it's done and flip it over for a few seconds it makes a lovely treacly coating.

hmm that's about all the details I can think of now... you can experiment with herbs, nuts or whatever in the dough, but this is the basic pita bread.

Booger1

I like the pita bread thing.I'm going to master this at home and it's going with me from now on,Thanks.

trenutak

i take a tava that I bought in India with me. I use it to make chapatis. It is small and relatively light, and was v. cheap in Delhi! Chapatis go great with vege curries on the road

imi

hope it doesn't take the mystique away but I've made the same pita bread in camping frying pans over trangia (red alcohol) and camping gaz (butanol) stoves,

If you haven't got a plate or pan you can wind the dough round and round a stick and hold it over the fire

positron

I like this, it makes me want to start a thread on useful cooking tricks.

If you have a good metal lid for a high sided (2') frying pan, you can bake in the pan by building a small twig fire on top of the lid and running the burner as low as possible.

Ive made cinnamon buns and pizzas from scratch at 13,000 feet in the snow on a whisperlight by doing this

Booger1

Yep,I see lots of options for this idea....MMMMM Jalapeno bread with cheese......salivating.....

xcapekey

imi...thanks!

https://epicureancyclist.com/?p=637

Niles H.

In case anyone hasn't tried them, flatbreads are much easier and faster and tour-friendly than loaves. And there is a lot you can do with them -- there is a lot of variety possible.

Here's a book by some bread enthusiasts who bike toured around many countries collecting great breads and recipes,

https://www.amazon.com/Flatbreads-Fla...852390&sr=8-11

(There are a few used copies at amazon.com, and some libraries carry it.)

Niles H.

Just got this today, mainly for making salads:

https://www.amazon.com/FW-CLASIC-UNIV...4852695&sr=8-4

The picture doesn't show it very well. Flip it over and it slices, like a mandoline. On the front, there are coarse and fine graters, plus a wavy slicing blade. It can help with salad prep, and I'm going to try it. It's almost like a one-piece mandoline.

I've taken this on tour: https://www.stylefeeder.com/i/s9gkprt...Storage-Grater

It is called a "storage grater" but it also qualifies as a mandoline. It has a receptacle for the grated, shredded, or sliced cabbage, carrots, onions, tomatoes, beets, whatever.

The Farberware product does the same things, and it is simpler and more compact. You just need some kind of bowl or receptacle for it.

***
(Later note: after trying it out, the Farberware fell short -- the cutting edges were not sharp enough. The idea is good (multiple graters in one unit), but the execution wasn't so great, and I returned it.)

toolboy

Add a bit of lard or shortening or butter to the mix and you have a very fine bannock! Good with jam.

xcapekey

Just a quick update on my paella adventures...i've started using a large enamelware plate as a lid...did a DIY handle using a magnet and piece of hemp twine.

https://epicureancyclist.com/?p=696

Russ
www.epicureancyclist.com
www.pathlesspedaled.com

Lake_Tom

Bring on the patella pain!

willibrord

egg coddler

Tolmion

French design a pan-European, I do not remember the name, and is like a stove, a wok and a pot. It has a flat bottom with highrounded sides and would like to find some steel with a lid.

When I went to Mexico and Central America in 1980, my constant companion executed martini glasses with him. We had a lot ofmartinis in very strange!