slowster wrote: ↑21 Apr 2022, 11:45am
Cowsham wrote: ↑20 Apr 2022, 11:26am
I'm hoping to cook stuff in a pan ( I like a bit of fish or Bacon and onions etc ) -- heat up beans or caned stuff - boil water for tea.
Cowsham wrote: ↑21 Apr 2022, 10:09am
I could make a run myself to Feltons to get fuel on the Monday but don't want to be travelling too far after that as I think the 15 miles to camp will be enough for my brother. On the plus side he's a great cook and likes cooking, hence the need for a better stove.
A great cook would likely find many of the stove options being suggested very limiting. In particular they would probably be a poor choice for cooking fish (with the exception of poaching). I suspect you can buy very good fresh fish on the IoM at good prices. A few suggestions:
1. If you are going to be cycling fairly short distances, take a compact BBQ like the Weber 'Go Anywhere'. It's heavy, but if you are fitter than your brother, it should not handicap you too much. Strap it across the top of your rear rack and panniers with bungee cords. Buy charcoal on the island. Recipe suggestion - bruschette to start, then barbecue a whole wild large gutted sea bass.
2. If you want to pan fry fish fillets, most of the camping cookware and some stoves will be too small and generally unsuitable, e.g. burners that are too small and result in an excessively hot spot in the centre of the pan and cooler edges, which will be exacerbated by the poor conductivity of the thin metal used for camping pans. I would want an aluminium non-stick frypan of around 24cm (not less) with a reasonable thickness to give even cooking, and a stove with a reasonably wide burner/flame, i.e. not a MSR Pocket Rocket or similar. A basic such fry pan should weigh 600g-800g: either take one you already have, buy one now, or buy one on the island (research retailers). I would avoid very thick fillets, e.g. wild sea bass, since I think they are better with an oven to finish off cooking through after intial frying.
3. A Trangia 25 might be ideal, but the frypan is only 21cm, is very thin, and has a squared off side. Trangia make a 24cm frypan with curved side which is thicker, will fit the 25, and is only ~400g (
https://trangia.se/en/shop/frypan-725-24/), but I think you would struggle to find one in stock anywhere currently. A non-Trangia frypan could be used, but you would need to check it would sit OK on the windshield supports (needs to be just the right size to fit). Depending upon the sort of cooking someone does, I think it can make sense to have a combination of a Trangia non-stick pot plus either a Trangia hard anodised or Duossal pot to give flexibility.
Thanks I looked at those Weber bbq's and that might be an option - there's one caveat to that though -- sorry two caveats
1 I'll have to carry some medical equipment for him ( an extra 5kg ) and
2 the wee shop nearest camp may not keep coals although I could do a run to Ramsey for that on Monday.
Essentially I don't think there'll be much cycling after we setup camp apart from the nearby but fantastic race spectator vantage points accessed from the cycle paths.
My brother isn't a cook by trade just to be clear but is a dab hand at camp cooking as we do at the NW200 ( our local race ) a couple of weeks before.
He wants to experience the TT again while he is still able and this is the only way we can get over there these days cos of the very limited sailings from NI or SI so booking a car on seems impossible. ( not to mention the TT sailing prices! )
He's generally fit but not bike fit and also has motor nerve damage which limits him. He can still hold onto a cycle and wants to travel over with me on my annual pilgrimage.
I am here. Where are you?