Thermal cooking pots
 

We are always looking for ways to save propane.
If anyone has any insight into these, I would appreciate it.
http://www.galtak.com/thermos.html

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

Site looks fake to me...

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

People have been using thermos bottles for a long time and they don't cost 220 bux. Nothing new here, just another repackaged gewgaw.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

I have not tried this first hand but I understand it was done in the Second War and before. Heat a stew to boiling in a cast iron pot. Let it simmer perhaps 20 minutes. Have a box Tea-chest was the original idea - thin plywood box about 2 and a half feet square, full of hay or straw. Place pot in middle of box with straw/hay packed below to the sides. Cover with straw. I understand that left a few hours like this your stew cooks itself nicely.

I would suggest you place it outside when you experiment with this, just in case it all catches fire, but, from what I hear, this works fine.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

I can't imagine how it would catch fire. Bigger problem? Straw. Where do I get that -- not in my back yard... Maybe an old blanket, cardboard, wadded up newspaper, dried plants from the garden -- nearly anything might work as insulation.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

From another site:


Dr. Wu Tao-Wei's
Hawaiian-Eskimo One Pot Heavenly
Pig-Out Cooking Method.

Here's a way to feed four people for $2.50 or less. I devised this method of cooking
in order to save on fuel and to save on washing up the mess that wok cooking
often makes. While wondering how to keep the heat in the pot, I remembered that
the Hawaiians for their luau cooking would build a fire in a pit for several days until
the rocks were hot. Then they would bury in the pit a pig with all the trimmings for
a few more days until all was well cooked. Thus, the Hawaiian name.

With this method, one pot is all that is necessary. I use a covered one gallon stainless
steel pot with a lid. Into this pot I add enough brown rice which, when level, reaches
to the first digit of my finger. Add enough dry beans so that there are four parts of
rice for one part of beans. This way, the rice and beans combine to make perfect
protein because of their complimentary amino acid balance. All dry beans will re-
hydrate just fine except for the pinto and the small red beans. These should be
soaked over night first. Don't worry about getting gas with this four-to-one rice
and bean ratio.

If you are cooking for more people, add more rice and beans but whatever the amount
of rice and beans, add double the amount of water. So, I fill the pot up with water to
the second digit of my finger.

Then I start adding whatever vegetables that I want, making sure to put the hardest
ones in first like carrots, turnips, ginger root, beets, celery, potatoes, garlic, etc. Then
the softer ones like onions, daikon radishes, cabbage or bok choy. It is best to fill
the rest of the pot up to the top with cabbage or leafy vegetables or the beet tops and
then put on the lid. The water should not be salted or seasoned at all.

Put the pot on your hot plate or stove or hibachi or campfire at its highest heat. What
you want to do is bring it all to a boil until the steam comes out from under the lid.
Once this happens, everything in the pot is as hot as it is going to get. Make sure
that the steam is hissing out real good but don't take the lid off because you want
everything to stay hot. Don't worry about the high heat. Nothing will burn. You'll see.

Now, take the pot off of the fire and quickly wrap it in a towel or cloth of some kind and
quickly put the whole thing into one of the ice chest-type coolers. No ice! The ice
chest should be dry and not contain any ice.

After all, an ice chest is merely an insulated box. Whether it keeps heat out and cold in
or keeps cold out and heat in is all the same to the ice chest. So, by putting this
steaming pot into the insulated box, all of the heat is trapped just like the heat is trapped
in the rocks at a Hawaiian luau. The ice chest I use is called an Igloo Cooler. Thus,
the name Eskimo.

Now all of these vegetables (I suppose you could add meat, too, but I've never cared
to try it) will continue to cook just as if they were in an oven. The heat is trapped and
can't go anywhere so it stays in the box and keeps on cooking. The food will be ready
to eat in a half hour if you are in a hurry. Or if you want to wait, this meal will be ready t
o eat at any time of the day and will be steaming hot even eight or ten hours later. In fact,
it gets more delicious the longer you wait because all of the juices blend delightfully.

Women should make note of this method for pleasing their husbands since they can
cook the whole thing up in fifteen minutes in the morning while fixing breakfast. Pop it
into the Igloo and the husband can take it to work. When he opens th e box for lunch he
will have a steaming hot and delicious meal. And there is room in the Igloo for eating
utensils, a small bowl and condiments, too.

Regarding condiments, this sort of cooking does best with a splash of cold-pressed oil
such as olive, soy, safflower or peanut and a dash of soy sauce. Leave out the oil if you
are dieting. Don't buy any Kikkoman or any other of the synthetically prepared junk food,
MSG-filled soy sauces. Only use natural soy sauce for the best flavor.

And at home, this method will save the ladies many hours a day over the stove. Using
only brown rice and beans as the basis, there is an infinite number of flavors that can
be cooked up depending on the combinations of vegetables that you use. And thus,
the name, "Wu Tao-Wei's Hawaiian-Eskimo One Pot Heavenly Pig-Out Cooking Method."
All you have to do is leave the pig out and go ahead and Pig Out! Bon appetite!

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

Thanks all.
Saul, the thermos was my first thought, but how to get the cooked rice out of the bottom.
Sluggo, we have a winner. I have an extra cooler and a pot, and a towel. Yay!

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

You could try a pet shop they often sell it for bedding for rabbits and hamsters and things like that. Expensive way to buy it but you only need one batch.

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Straw? LoL. goto a home depot, lowe's or any landscaping place. Straw is commonly used to prevent erosion while sod takes. It's also common for larger animal bedding. Straw is extremely easy to find. You shouldn't have to spend any more than $5 for a square bale of it. If you look hard enough you can find it for free.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

I've got one that is similar. It works great -- especially in summer -- for making soups, stews or anything that needs to be heated for a while. I expect it will work well with a rocket stove.

++ less energy needed to do the cooking.
+ less heat swirling around in the kitchen.
- the cost.

My recommendation is if you want to spend the money, go for it (you might check google for other brands). Otherwise, you can ad hoc something with blankets (or maybe some mylared bubble wrap insulation) that would be about as efficient.

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I was reading an archeology mag and found a story of a 4300 year old waterless cooker found in the kitchen area of an excavation. The tech has been around a long time.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

Thirty minutes seems a little short for cooking brown rice. Even if I keep it simmering on the stove, 45 minutes is more like it. After 30 minutes, brown rice is still pretty chewy and hasn't absorbed all the water. But I'm going to try the method for tonight's dinner.

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

I've used this method before, and it worked pretty well. I've let it sit for a few hours though, so I don't know how well 30 minutes will work.

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OK, here's my report. I just opened up the cooler and checked the pot at 2 1/2 hours. There's a little too much liquid left for my taste, but the rice and veggies are done. If I do this again in the future, I'm going to soak the beans overnight because they're a little less cooked than I'd like. If I've pre-soaked the beans, I think I'd reduce the water a bit to the amount required by the rice. The veggies give up moisture as they cook too.

I cooked brown rice, kidney beans, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, red bell pepper, and sliced smoked sausage. This time around, I'm going to simmer the pot on the stove on low heat for another 30 minutes to solve the problem with the beans. But it's going to be a really tasty meal. For a low-energy world, this cooking technique holds great promise. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.

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I was taught to do this when I was kid, at Boy Scouts - we just called it a "hay box". Boil up your ingredients, place the pot (with lid on!) into a wodden, lidded box, pack hay around it and then go for a hike. When we returned to the camp it would be cooked just nicely.
The thermos aspect means no hay required, which has to be good, as I have no hay!

Re: Thermal cooking pots
 

I found a high quality stainless steel pot at WalMart that is just the right height to fit in my cooler.

I generally use:

Rice (white or brown)
Canned beans (any kind)
carrots
onion
garlic
celery

Sometimes I'll throw some diced up chicken that might be leftover from the night before. I've never tried it raw. If the pot was properly insulated it should work, though.

I also throw a little bit of sea salt in there. You don't need much. You'd be surprised at how much flavor is retained when it is cooked this way.

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I personally think I just need to refine the technique a bit. After all, the ingredients that went into the dish were all first-class. The results should be good. After an additional 1/2 hour of simmering, my properly cooked rice had become mushy :), but the beans were better.

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No, you don't use hay. You save the styrofoam peanuts you get in the mail and use those.