Cycling UK Forum

nsew wrote:For myself and others a ‘Trangia’ IS the burner.

How do you explain tha Trangia gas adapter?

Single burner cooking.
Some single burner stoves can simmer a bit but a lot are a tad crude. Good results can be achieved by keeping it simple. I am assuming that the cook is using a single pot with a decent lid and that the available cutlery is a dessert spoon and a pocket knife and that the cooking is just for one or two people. I will assume that we are buying food from smallish shops in a developed country.

There are three basic components to the main course of a cooked meal; vegetables, carbohydrate starch (rice, spuds, pasta, couscous, quinoa) and protein from meat/fish/nuts.

Vegetables can be dried, fresh or tinned. If buying dried veg, check that it doesn’t need a long soaking or simmering time. If all you can find is dried veg with a long soaking time then some can be prepared by popping in to a bottle with water in the morning and leaving to slosh about in the pannier or rucksack all day.

With dried veg, start with cold water in the pan (the amount of water will vary according to which starch ingredient you are using), light the fire, bring to the boil, turn off the heat and leave it to sit. Once rehydration has occurred start with your carbs.

With fresh veg, chop it up small. With a quick cook starch like instant mash or couscous add the veg to the cold water, bring to the boil, simmer a couple of minutes and add the carbs and turn off the stove. With a longer cooking form of starch, add the fresh veg about half way through the cooking process, bring it back to the boil, turn off the heat and leave it to sit.

Tinned veg is already cooked, add it to the carbs at the end of the cooking process and bring it up to the desired temperature.

The starch might be plain rice or pasta or raw spuds (chopped up small) or something “quick cook” like a packet of pasta-in-sauce, noodles, savoury rice, instant mash, flavoured couscous or quinoa or tinned spuds. With a longer cooking time carb, add your starch ingredient to cold water, bring to the boil, turn off the heat and leave it to sit. Read the cooking times on the packets of stuff that you have bought; some kinds of rice might need 25 minutes soaking time while instant mash will be ready in a couple of minutes. Sachets of pre cooked flavoured rice are available which are intended for microwave use (Uncle Ben’s are a common brand); these can be just tipped into a pot with a little water, boiled and eaten. Some quick cook pasta-in-sauces instruct the user to use butter or milk; a handful of dried milk powder works well instead.

Add interest to the meal by using some cooked meat or fish or nuts. Small tins of cooked sandwich meat or fish can usually be found, or chop up a cooked sausage of the kind often sold as a snack. If using raw meat in our one pan system then pre cook it by chopping it up small, boiling, simmer for 15 minutes and put it to one side until we reach this stage. (Frying meat on a single burner is for the adventurous and probably best done with a small frying pan such as a trangia lid, which can be used as the lid for the main pan.) Once the starch seems to have been adequately rehydrated or cooked add the cooked protein, stir, relight, bring back to the boil, turn the heat off, leave it to rest until it is at a safe temperature and enjoy.

All this “boil then leave to sit” stuff uses a lot less fuel than simmering and is less likely to lead to the food burning. The system work well in summer, but in the colder months it might be advantageous to use a pot cosy; for more information about these see https://www.keithfoskett.com/ten-reason ... -make-one/ .

A simple breakfast can be made be mixing rolled oats (sometimes called “instant”) with dried milk powder and dried fruit and nuts, or cinnamon powder; soak with boiling water, stir, leave a couple of minutes and eat. A simple dessert can be had by boiling up a handful of dried fruit and adding some instant custard powder.

The sort of sachets that quick cook rice, couscous, mash and instant custard comes in are usually of a 2 portion size. For solo use reseal the second portion by folding over the opened end of the sachet several times and fastening it with a big paper clip, carried for the purpose.

If trying to buy food for the evening in a tiny shop with a limited stock in a remote place, don’t disregard the Pot Noodle. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but two of them make a meal. At the same time, I would be looking for some sort of bread or biscuit for the next day’s breakfast and lunch.

Anyway practice will bring improvement, and food you wouldn’t touch at home will become really attractive in a campsite.

andrew_s wrote:

nsew wrote:For myself and others a ‘Trangia’ IS the burner.

How do you explain tha Trangia gas adapter?

I don’t know. How do you explain the Trangia gas adaptor?

While we are on the topic of Trangias, has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to put a Trangia out? I use the simmer ring to extinguish the flame. This works but occasionally the flame is yellow and too large to get the ring on safely.

horizon wrote:While we are on the topic of Trangias, has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to put a Trangia out? I use the simmer ring to extinguish the flame. This works but occasionally the flame is yellow and too large to get the ring on safely.

Good question. The answer depends on the accompanying apparatus you’re using (what access you have). Obviously the goal is to eliminate air flow to the burner as efficiently and safely as possible. If it is running very hot even the simmer cap with its small hole can fail to extinguish the flame. At this point it’s a case of what you have at hand to close the small hole off and compress the cap. I look forward to reading the replies later (a large gauge shotgun has just gone off) was it a warning shot? Single shot for the lunch table, methinks.

Who cares, besides it’s Sunday and I’m at church (this one). So with my system I’m able to flip this part off and place the mug on top. It packs away nicely too. Top bit of kit that performs brilliantly as a woodburner. Live blogging the Trangia and Solo Stove Lite.

Packs like this. Going off topic, mi dispiace.

nsew wrote:

andrew_s wrote:

nsew wrote:For myself and others a ‘Trangia’ IS the burner.

How do you explain tha Trangia gas adapter?

I don’t know. How do you explain the Trangia gas adaptor?

I explain it by using it in preference to the spirit burner, being more controllable, cleaner and simpler to use. While still retaining the advantages of what I think of as the inherent Trangiaosity of the thing: the most stable, best wind-shielded lightweight stove out there, neatly packaging its pan set in to the windshield and base for transport.

Pete.

horizon wrote:While we are on the topic of Trangias, has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to put a Trangia out? I use the simmer ring to extinguish the flame. This works but occasionally the flame is yellow and too large to get the ring on safely.

As long as you're quick it shouldn't be an issue. Remember that cool trick when you were a kid of passing your hand through a flame? Looking scary and being dangerous not the same.

If you're really worried just pop on another brew and let it burn itself out!

Pete.

horizon wrote:While we are on the topic of Trangias, has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to put a Trangia out? I use the simmer ring to extinguish the flame. This works but occasionally the flame is yellow and too large to get the ring on safely.

I've cut the base off a tin can so that's a little deeper than the simmer ring.
So I just drop the bit of can over the burner and it goes out.
Because the tin is bigger than the burner, I don't have to be 100% accurate when I drop it and it's easy to nudge it over burner if I miss aim.
My simmer ring has lost it's closing plate after the rivet rusted through so it doesn't matter if it's on or not.

Easy .........

horizon wrote:While we are on the topic of Trangias, has anyone got any suggestions for the best way to put a Trangia out? I use the simmer ring to extinguish the flame. This works but occasionally the flame is yellow and too large to get the ring on safely.

Normally I drop the closed simmer ring over the flame, I have missed on the odd occasion and then just prod it into place with a fork.

However if the simmer ring is in use then what I find works well is to lift off the pan that was being heated with the grabs, remove the windshield and then just place the pan base on top of the burner. After a few seconds it should be off. It does seem the more recent Trangias do have a slight twist lock that locks the shield and base togther, so this manouvre is not so easy as with those without this "feature". I find even when the simmer ring is not used and there is a large flame I can still put out the flame by putting the pan or kettle straight on top of the burner, just ensure it is sitting squarely on top so there are no gaps.

If the simmering ring is barely open when only a very low flame is needed then the flame is so small it can be readily blown out.

Thanks all for the replies - at least I know I wasn't missing anything too obvious. Hand in yellow flame is a good reminder and having a metal knife or fork handy to nudge it on is good too. I did try using the pan handle to place it neatly on but the claw doesn't grab anywhere. Once the simmer ring is actually on, it works really well.

pjclinch wrote:

nsew wrote:

andrew_s wrote:How do you explain tha Trangia gas adapter?

I don’t know. How do you explain the Trangia gas adaptor?

I explain it by using it in preference to the spirit burner, being more controllable, cleaner and simpler to use. While still retaining the advantages of what I think of as the inherent Trangiaosity of the thing: the most stable, best wind-shielded lightweight stove out there, neatly packaging its pan set in to the windshield and base for transport.

Pete.

I had my first Bluet stove when I was 17 so I've lived with camping gaz for nearly fifty years. But not Trangias. I thought the other day that on my next short trip I would just take the gaz - quick, clean and simple. But then I thought about the cooking set, the wind shield, the kettle ... So it was the Trangia again.

So it might be a Trangia gas adaptor although I'll give the meths a bit longer yet. Using the two (small gaz plus meths Trangia) seems to me to offer a number of advantages, especially if there are two of you travelling.

Tinnishill wrote:Single burner cooking.
Snip

That's some great info, thanks for taking the time and effort to pst the detail.
I was in agreement until this..... then you lost me!

Tinnishill wrote:Single burner cooking.
The sort of sachets that quick cook rice, couscous, mash and instant custard comes in are usually of a 2 portion size. For solo use reseal the second portion by folding over the opened end of the sachet several times and fastening it with a big paper clip, carried for the purpose.

by HobbesOnTour » 23 Jun 2019, 1:56pm

I was in agreement until this..... then you lost me! :D

Tinnishill wrote:
Single burner cooking.
The sort of sachets that quick cook rice, couscous, mash and instant custard comes in are usually of a 2 portion size. For solo use reseal the second portion by folding over the opened end of the sachet several times and fastening it with a big paper clip, carried for the purpose.

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Does this help ?