Wander-er's Kitchen

[akblack10]

Looking for recommendations from all the "On the Road 5 Star Chefs" as to what you consider your must have kitchen items…..?

I have what I call the "Wander-er's Kitchen."

http://www.apocketfullofwanderlust.com/2014/02/a-wander-ers-kitchen.html

 

[Blue]

I dont do a lot of cooking on the road, for camp cooking I use the biolite stove and cutting board/eating tray/thermal charging grill.

I keep it, some REI camp cookware, a splitable fork/knife/spoon multi tool I got from walmart, metal cookie box of chipped wood, a bunch of seasonings and sauces I keep in small air tight travel bottles (soy sauce, bbq, etc) a set of tongs, some one hand bolt cutters (use this to break apart dry branches etc for the stove) and a large razor sharp (very expensive and German) chef knife (in folded duct taped cardboard for a sheath) also keep a small bbq grill I use for cooking side dishes/canned stuff by the camp fire, and all of this fits in a small back pack I keep hanging from the wall in my van.

I really like this set up as I can cook almost anything on that biolite, (I've even done huge tri-tip on it, took about two hours and had to constantly be shifting it around on the grill while feeding the stove with wood chips but it worked and was totally delich, fed about 8 people with most getting seconds.)

I do have some complaints about the biolite though... you have to strip the bark of anything you intend to burn or you get huge problems with pitch, and the wood must be completely dry or you will smoke yourself silly. Cleaning of pots and pans and the grill can take a while (lots of soot/pitch to clean off) but over all... totally love this set up.

In the future I want to get one of those campfire stainless steel water heaters (I have a propane water heater, but meh why waste expensive propane)

I LOVE this knife set up... but for 800+ bucks... no thanks, I can get by with pocket and survival knives of various sizes I keep around as long as I got my big german... maybe get it used... plus I prefer the oak base that unfolds to become a cutting board...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JTWRDS/?tag=awesomestufftobuy-20

I also plan to get all the 12 volt stuff... the lunch box cooker, that tiny microwave, etc. lotta people here seem to love those for meatloaf etc.

and I love K-cups for coffee... I know, expensive but I feel two things you shouldent cut corners on, medical care and coffee. I'll likely be getting one of these soon... http://www.kitchenandcompany.com/sm...K-Cup Brewer&gclid=CKe3w7Ku2rwCFZFrfgodaFgAKg

But If I feel I MUST have a coffee machine... prolly get this... (I like how it can do K-cups or tea/coffee, the Kurig ones use that tiny wanna be K-cup and it always tastes weak.)

http://www.amazon.com/MCU-Single-Mu...1_4_m?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1392887222&sr=1-4

 

[akblack10]

Blue, thanks for the tips. I wondered how well the Biolite worked? You seem to love it!
-AK

 

[Blue]

yeah its awesome, you put the wood in there, hit the fan, and the small amount of wood creates a little flame tornado, the biggest problem is needing to keep feeding and feeding it every few minutes or clicking the setting from low to high to burn up the older coals, and the USB on the back has charged my cell from dead to about half full from two hours of that tri-tip (so its really a very small trickle charge you get from the thermal generator besides what it uses to run the fan, it works but not great or anything... I want to eventually hook it up to a USB water pump if there is such a thing and move that through the campfire water heater... )

the grill works well, but the area just next to where your sticking the wood in gets 70% of the heat, so unless your cooking burgers or dogs, larger items (like whole chickens etc) need to be kept moving around, and often covered with foil.

it takes effort but thats the trade off for using no propane, and finding fuel anywhere (cardboard, some paper like non-inked garbage, and broken wood plats work just fine) and yeah... you break it out in front of other campers and jaws drop so it has a pimp factor too ;-)