Tuesday 25 January 2011

A small heads up. Backcountry Boiler.

I've been following this chap, who I have to say could be one of the most dedicated MYOG guys out there.  I have to say, I've no links, commercial or otherwise to Devin or his boiler, I just think this is a story and product that deserves a lot of attention.

If you trawl through his site, go and read the threads from backpackinglight.com Devin has given a lot of thought, dedication and sheer hard work to get his very clever yet simple product into production. 

If (hopefully) he does start making a few more of these after the initial production run I'll putting an order in.  I've made (like most backpacking tinkerers) a couple of wood burning stoves, they work but they're fiddly and prone to not working too well in windy conditions. 

Hat's off to you Devin!

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Optimus Terra Solo Pot

Would you believe me if I told you that I had been abducted by the American Government and held in some sort of suspended animation for months and therefore was totally unable to blog?  If you do believe me you're the sort of reader I'm after!  If you don't please just, I don't know, just read on.

This offering is slightly unusual in that it's an indoor video of me cooking using a very small frying pan.  I saw this pot on the webtogs site* I've been after a light frying pan for a couple of years and this at only £20 intrigued me.  As explained in the video sometimes the lightweight approach can lead to slight jealousy when walking with non lightweight friends.  I may have less on my back but they have a fry up for breakfast.  Hmmm, who's the winner there?  So sometimes a little luxury would be nice.  It's not often that you can get both the lightweight and the luxury together.  In this instance I can add a frying pan to my lightweight kit for just a further 40g, it weighs more than that, you need to see the video for further explanation.

The pot itself which doesn't get much of a look in, in the video is a nice piece of kit.  Very sturdy, great heatproof handles so you can dispense with melting various bits of clothing taking the pot of the stove and just the right size for boiling water for dehydrated meals.  With the addition of a silicone band around the rim to protect your lips its also a nice mug to drink from.

The price at £20 is great compared to similar titanium pots, allthough slightly heavier, it's just as sturdy as my Ti pot with the advantage of being easier to cook with, try frying anything with Ti, it's not a great idea.  Lets see how I got on cooking fried eggs...

I apologise for the poor editing.  I seemed to be doomed never to be able to get even simple video editing software to work, there are 10 seconds of silence at the beginning, it's not for artistic effect I can assure you.





As promised the bannock bread recipe

2 cup plain flour
1 cup milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
Good pitch of salt.

This is the very basic recipe.  Just google "bannock bread bushcraft" for countless tasty variations.  This can be mixed up taken in a ziplock bag and just add water when needed.  Very little water at a time as you're making a stiff dough not a cake mix.  The wet mix is seriously sticky.  Practice at home first, my boys love this and they're very picky!

* Disclaimer - Webtogs have supplied the pot for this review.  All views and comments are mine alone.  If I didn't like it I would say as much.  I have full editorial control. FULL CONTROL I TELL YOU.