Backcountry Camping - Cooking 1/3Backcountry Camping - Cooking 1/3|
Because of the need to save bulk and weight, cooking on interior camping trips involves unique equipment, supplies and techniques. Conventional foods contain too much heavy water and often need refrigeration along with sophisticated preparations. And, sometimes campfires aren't an option due to extreme dampness, winds or official fire bans.
Welcome to the world of camp cooking! |
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SuppliesRecipes| Equipment |
White Gas Stoves: These stoves run on white gas or naptha ... a highly refined form of gasoline. Most of these stoves come with a hose and a valve fixture that attaches to separate refillable metal fuel bottles, precluding the need to pour fuel while on the trip. A manual pump ensures vapour pressure for the burner, while a fuel-air-mix control aids start-up. Photo: This is a style that uses a fuel tank permanently attached under the burner assembly. Once this tank runs out, it has to be refilled manually. An evolution of this stove is the multi-fuel stove. More frequently used in other countries, it will work with a broad range of fuels ... white gas, unleaded gas, kerosene or dry-cleaning fluid. However, each time it's used it has to be put through a priming-burn procedure. Also, it tends to be less precise and quite noisy. |
Liquified Gas Stoves: These stoves run on a blend of butane and propane that burns efficiently under a range of temperatures. They run off pressurized metal fuel cans manufactured with a standard threaded self-sealing valves. A flow-control gas valve is built into the stove's assembly. Photo: This stove has four extended pot supports which, when packed, fold in and collapse flat producing a very compact unit. Its screwed onto a 225g tank which serves doubles duty as the stove's base. Its a good idea to put these stoves on a solid flat base. Bare ground can be soft or uneven, risking upsets and scalds due to the tanks' small diameters. In the case of wind, a stable base and wind-deflector can be put together from appropriate rock slabs and/or camp supplies. |
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Gas Stove Wind Breaks A common means of reducing the effect of wind upon the efficiency of gas stoves is to erect a low stone wall upwind, to serve as a wind break. Placing one's stove on a stable flat rock within a campsite's large stone firepit (after confirming that the pit has no traces of combustion or residual heat) is an alternative way of sheltering it from the wind. However, certain precautions should be exercised in creating a wind break. Don't use flamable materials (such as wood or your lifejacket) to break the wind. Don't closely surround the stove with heat-reflective materials such as rock or metal. Gas stoves and their burners are designed to be operated under open and unconfined conditions. Sheltering one's stove with a confining rock or metal wind shield, in anticipation of increasing its efficiency, could reflect unanticipated amounts of heat back on the stove's nozzle, valve and fuel tank ... resulting in potentially dangerous conditions. |
Campfire Grill: Someone once designed a heavy wrought-iron campfire grill and each Algonquin interior campsite is usually equipped with one of them. Part of one is visible in the above photos. They're 16 inches square and come in two heights .. either 12 or 24 inches. They originated when firewood was considered an unlimited resource. Now, they serve best as a fireside seat or food preparation table. These days, most campfire cooks incorporate an old fridge or barbque grill into the stones across the back of the firepit. There's often a number of these smaller grills left behind at campsites because they become too dirty and bent to repack. If you're worried your site won't have one, snap one up at a yard sale and take it along ... 12 by 20 inches is usually adequate. When preparing your campfire and grill, there's a few points worth noting.
By rebuilding a large circular firepit in this fashion, you can reduce firewood consumption by up to 75%. |
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Pots, Pans and Utensils: This section is an open-ended list of other cooking equipment typically used by an interior camper. Submit additions to the list by emailing AlgonquinAdventures.com.
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