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angry
Aug 12, 2010, 11:34 AM
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Many years ago, I decided to never buy camp cookwear with any coating on it. Sure it "might" be easier to clean but it's such a pain in the ass.
The reality of camp cooking is filling your dirty dishes with sand and rubbing till clean, hacking tortilla's apart with a butter knife, leatherman, or nut-tool.
My last trip we used a coated fancy cookset brought by a friend. It reinforced all of my ideas.
Those plain ass MSR steel pots? You will never do better.
End.
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j_ung
Aug 12, 2010, 1:21 PM
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I don't think it matters that much, personally. IMO, the real difference makers are the stove and the cook.
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lena_chita
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Aug 12, 2010, 1:36 PM
Post #3 of 18
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angry wrote: Many years ago, I decided to never buy camp cookwear with any coating on it. Sure it "might" be easier to clean but it's such a pain in the ass.
Years ago I decided to never buy ANY cookware with non-stick coating on it.
Cast iron or stainless steel -- Pretty much covers the range of uses. Add some earthenware clay, pyrex, and ceramics, and I'm all set. I do have a set of titanium lightweight camping/backpacking cookware, but on regular car camping I supplement that with my regular cast-iron pan...
Cast iron rules!-- and it is honestly as easy to clean as any teflon, if it is seasoned right and used correctly. My Mom still has cast-iron pans that she got from her great-aunt, and I fully expect to inherit them one day. They are as perfect as you could possibly get, and still be called a pan. 
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kobaz
Aug 12, 2010, 1:38 PM
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I use a scorch plate for most of my rocketengine camp stove cooking. I've never been able to cook something like rice or pasta without it burning on something like a whisperlite.
Rei used to sell them... I can't seem to find any on their website. It's a heat dispersion plate that you put in between the pot and the stove... it saves the huge pain in the ass of burning your food and having to scrub the burned bits off.
I use coated stuff for car camping, since we tend to cook up stuff like sausages and eggs which are a pain the ass to clean off steel pots. I use the standard msr mess kit for my backcountry cooking.
And... I've read numerous findings that broken teflon coatings release a boatload carcinogens. I can be very easy on coated pots while car camping, but it's much harder to be nice to them in the backcountry.
Edited for grammar
(This post was edited by kobaz on Aug 12, 2010, 1:40 PM)
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johnwesely
Aug 12, 2010, 2:44 PM
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The only thing I use teflon for is eggs. I have no idea why those pots have become so popular. First of all, you can't make sauces in them. Second, the are made out of super cheap aluminum 95% of the time, and when they are made out of a nice clad stainless, it doesn't make economic sense because teflon coated pans are essentially disposable.
I use a really cheap thin aluminum cook set I got at Wal Mart for less than five dollars. It sucks for actual cooking but boils water in a minute or so.
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roy_hinkley_jr
Aug 12, 2010, 4:23 PM
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angry wrote: Those plain ass MSR steel pots? You will never do better.
Got rid of all my stainless steel backpacking pots years ago and would never go back--way too heavy. Tried titanium but not worth the money. Cheap aluminum pots, whether coated or not, also suck. But high-end aluminum pots rule.
The GSI Pinnacle pots are by far the best (http://www.gsioutdoors.com/technology/detail/pinnacle/). MSR aluminum is pretty lame by comparison. Jetboil and other integrated stoves need to upgrade their pots.
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ryanb
Aug 12, 2010, 5:03 PM
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angry wrote: Many years ago, I decided to never buy camp cookwear with any coating on it. Sure it "might" be easier to clean but it's such a pain in the ass. The reality of camp cooking is filling your dirty dishes with sand and rubbing till clean, hacking tortilla's apart with a butter knife, leatherman, or nut-tool. My last trip we used a coated fancy cookset brought by a friend. It reinforced all of my ideas. Those plain ass MSR steel pots? You will never do better. End.
Fully agreed. I'm using 20 something year old msr steal pots given me by my stepmom and still going strong.
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gunkiemike
Aug 12, 2010, 8:54 PM
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kobaz wrote: I use a scorch plate for most of my rocketengine camp stove cooking. I've never been able to cook something like rice or pasta without it burning on something like a whisperlite. Rei used to sell them... I can't seem to find any on their website. It's a heat dispersion plate that you put in between the pot and the stove... it saves the huge pain in the ass of burning your food and having to scrub the burned bits off.
What did that scorchpad look like? We use a ceramic fiber-impregnated wire gauze (like window screen, but steel) in the lab. We have tons of them. Can't put a direct flame on a beaker.
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rock_fencer
Aug 12, 2010, 9:24 PM
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why do you use open flames as opposed to a hot plate or a steam bath?
Edit: @ Gunkiemike: in lab that is not to cook with.
(This post was edited by rock_fencer on Aug 12, 2010, 9:30 PM)
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climbingaggie03
Aug 12, 2010, 9:47 PM
Post #10 of 18
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j_ung wrote: I don't think it matters that much, personally. IMO, the real difference makers are the stove and the cook.
I agree completely, For those of you who have trouble with the whisperlite burning stuff, look up the depressurization trick. Basically after you prime your stove, you turn it off, blow it out, let all of the pressure out of your fuel bottle, and then put 1 pump into the bottle and re-light your stove.
You get way more flame control and it makes it much easier to simmer things. I lived for 2 months on the road cooking exclusively on whisperlites and I don't think we ever had a burned meal.
Personally I use a simmerlite for pretty much all my cooking and use MSR's blacklight stuff for the front country and some non coated titanium pots in the back country. The titanium doesn't disperse heat as well so I have to pay more attention to it, but it works, is nice and light, and I got it for half off.
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gunkiemike
Aug 12, 2010, 9:58 PM
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rock_fencer wrote: why do you use open flames as opposed to a hot plate or a steam bath? Edit: @ Gunkiemike: in lab that is not to cook with.
Steam tables are a built in device that we simply do not have. We do use electric hot plates when they are suitable, but a bunsen burner is much faster when all you need to do is boil 300mL of water to get the experiment started. And of course the students rather enjoy playing with open flames.
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cornstateclimber
Aug 12, 2010, 10:53 PM
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i have the msr pocketrocket for years and use a gsi dualist pot when im out backpacking and not making anything to extravagant. ive never had a problem with either. the pocket rocket has excellent flame control, and with cooking anything, you have to tend to it, so ive never burned anything either, and i make plenty of one pot meals that take up to 20 mi. to cook sometimes. but if im going gourmet, i like my windpro canister stove. i can do anything with it that i can do at home, just about.
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rock_fencer
Aug 13, 2010, 5:51 PM
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i would think that would drastically reduce the heat output of the stove. Fine for car camping, but not for fuel consumption. Then again who cooks gourmet when fuel's at a premium.
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gunkiemike
Aug 13, 2010, 8:59 PM
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Would you want to try this (below)?
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kobaz
Aug 13, 2010, 10:14 PM
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gunkiemike wrote: Would you want to try this (below)? [image]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LHSIYugI94U/TFi73r9tXOI/AAAAAAAAAK0/9m4iaUMix_8/wiregause%20640x480.png[/image]
That looks interesting... is that the beaker shielding for the bunsen burners?
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gunkiemike
Aug 14, 2010, 12:39 AM
Post #17 of 18
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kobaz wrote: That looks interesting... is that the beaker shielding for the bunsen burners?
Yup.
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kobaz
Aug 15, 2010, 6:38 PM
Post #18 of 18
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gunkiemike wrote: kobaz wrote: That looks interesting... is that the beaker shielding for the bunsen burners? Yup.
Your question about me wanting to try one of those... were you offering to mail me one?
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