Hi,
In the past couple of months, when camping, I have been annoyed at the time and the amount of wood I need to burn to boil water. In the end, it was far easier to just go and boil water on our gas cooktop.
The last straw was in Dandos, where there are fire pits with a steel plate for cooking. The plate is way too high above the fire and after burning heaps of wood (too hot to get near the fire at times, and the plate got barely hot enough to sear the sausages. In the end, I used the fire as a charcoal factory and moved hot coals into a separate area and cooked the sausages by putting a frypan directly on top of the coals.
Then I remembered meeting a permanent nomad traveling around Australia in a small campervan who had made a simple chip burner from an old paint can. It was really quick to boil water in a billy and used barely a handful of twigs to do the job.
Then, rummaging around the green shed, I saw a BBQ charcoal starter that looked like an ideal starting point for building a robust chip burner. So, I invested $9.95 to give it a try.
First step was to cut a small opening to feed in the twigs. Then make a small trivet from some old expanded steel I had lying around. The last step was to clean up an old billy we had lying around.
Then out to the back yard for a first test. One sheet of newspaper crumpled up in the bottom (where the fire starters normally go), a handful of twigs where the charcoal goes, trivet on top, billy on trivet, light the paper.
Wow, in less than 5 minutes (I didn't actually time it), it boiled 4 cups of water and still enough coals to make a piece of toast. I was hooked. Found an old biscuit tin lid to use as a base to avoid leaving a mess when we are camping. The lot went into a couple of small hessian bags to be taken on our next camping trip.
But, I started thinking, is it possible to use this for cooking as well?
Found a really nice small cast iron BBQ plate at Aussie Disposals for $19.95. Bugger the expense, I was already committed for $9.95 anyway, so I bought it. This was getting to be serious money, almost $30.
But the BBQ plate can be used on a normal fire and fits well on our Companion 2-burner portable stove.
The billy was too small and required a trivet, so I scrounged an old kettle from our neighbours that fitted over the top of the chip burner. So these also went into the van for our next trip.
Last weekend, we had a chance to try it all out. Absolutely fantastic!
One small glitch, the kettle choked off the airflow, so I added the trivet again to let the air out. I will need to drill some holes around the top now I am home.
Here are three photos showing it boiling water, cooking breakfast:egg, cheese, bacon, and mushroom muffins, and dinner: sausages, onions, and fried potatoes.
So far, the BBQ plate has been really easy to clean: wait for it to cool down, then wipe the top with a piece of newspaper, then give the bottom a scrub to remove the soot, then use the paper to start the burner next time.
We store the burner, trivet, and base in a small hessian bag, the billy and kettle are put in shopping bags and then in another hessian bag, and the BBQ plate in a shopping bag and in a small cloth bag.
Next steps are to add a cast iron frying pan and lid to bake damper and then on to the ultimate challenge: a small roast dinner. Stay tuned.
cheers
Mike
In the past couple of months, when camping, I have been annoyed at the time and the amount of wood I need to burn to boil water. In the end, it was far easier to just go and boil water on our gas cooktop.
The last straw was in Dandos, where there are fire pits with a steel plate for cooking. The plate is way too high above the fire and after burning heaps of wood (too hot to get near the fire at times, and the plate got barely hot enough to sear the sausages. In the end, I used the fire as a charcoal factory and moved hot coals into a separate area and cooked the sausages by putting a frypan directly on top of the coals.
Then I remembered meeting a permanent nomad traveling around Australia in a small campervan who had made a simple chip burner from an old paint can. It was really quick to boil water in a billy and used barely a handful of twigs to do the job.
Then, rummaging around the green shed, I saw a BBQ charcoal starter that looked like an ideal starting point for building a robust chip burner. So, I invested $9.95 to give it a try.
First step was to cut a small opening to feed in the twigs. Then make a small trivet from some old expanded steel I had lying around. The last step was to clean up an old billy we had lying around.
Then out to the back yard for a first test. One sheet of newspaper crumpled up in the bottom (where the fire starters normally go), a handful of twigs where the charcoal goes, trivet on top, billy on trivet, light the paper.
Wow, in less than 5 minutes (I didn't actually time it), it boiled 4 cups of water and still enough coals to make a piece of toast. I was hooked. Found an old biscuit tin lid to use as a base to avoid leaving a mess when we are camping. The lot went into a couple of small hessian bags to be taken on our next camping trip.
But, I started thinking, is it possible to use this for cooking as well?
Found a really nice small cast iron BBQ plate at Aussie Disposals for $19.95. Bugger the expense, I was already committed for $9.95 anyway, so I bought it. This was getting to be serious money, almost $30.
But the BBQ plate can be used on a normal fire and fits well on our Companion 2-burner portable stove.
The billy was too small and required a trivet, so I scrounged an old kettle from our neighbours that fitted over the top of the chip burner. So these also went into the van for our next trip.
Last weekend, we had a chance to try it all out. Absolutely fantastic!
One small glitch, the kettle choked off the airflow, so I added the trivet again to let the air out. I will need to drill some holes around the top now I am home.
Here are three photos showing it boiling water, cooking breakfast:egg, cheese, bacon, and mushroom muffins, and dinner: sausages, onions, and fried potatoes.
So far, the BBQ plate has been really easy to clean: wait for it to cool down, then wipe the top with a piece of newspaper, then give the bottom a scrub to remove the soot, then use the paper to start the burner next time.
We store the burner, trivet, and base in a small hessian bag, the billy and kettle are put in shopping bags and then in another hessian bag, and the BBQ plate in a shopping bag and in a small cloth bag.
Next steps are to add a cast iron frying pan and lid to bake damper and then on to the ultimate challenge: a small roast dinner. Stay tuned.
cheers
Mike
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