Feature: Cooker Comparison 42
DIARY OF A COOK-UP!
Sampling a range of non-LPG cooking options... Story by Mrs iMotorhome. Images by Mr iMotorhome. 42 Feature: Cooker Comparison 43
Italian mussels cooked to perfection on the Webasto X100 diesel cooker. Bread bought, though!
e’ve decided to Being LPG-free means you can entertain you with stop and cook without even Wsome cooking getting out of the vehicle. adventures and trial an Ecopot, an EcoHeat portable induction cooker and a Webasto X100 diesel cooker: not the usual things but all very interesting. A special note of thanks to Trakka for making them all available, especially the Webasto as it came wrapped in a beautiful Trakkadu AT campervan (Mr iM very excited about that). them in the comfort of my failure. Into the oven to finish Day One. kitchen. The aim? Osso Buco off! ear Diary, very excited and steamed rice. Seemed today. We got three simple enough – first mistake! Day Two. Dnew products to test for ear Diary, Not giving suitability and practicality while Don't try something new up! Must have done on the road. without a back up for dinner! Dsomething wrong. After following the directions Decided to try a banana Tried the Ecopot in conjunction and serving after four hours it bread recipe from the Ecopot with the EcoHeat induction was waaaaay underdone. Tired cookbook as friends were cooker this afternoon and used and hungry. Not happy Jan. Big coming for afternoon tea. Feature: Cooker Comparison 44
set up. It was time to check the damper. Wow, a degree of success (or were we just hungry?)! I guess I should never have expected a nice crusty loaf as this is a moist cooking method, but otherwise okay. Mr iM being complimentary, think he thought I was about to cry. Talk about not for the We toasted the bread in a pan and then kept it warm on the cooker. faint hearted, but I do think I’m getting a better idea of how this works. Second mistake! Don't putting it in the thermal cover. try something new when Not giving up. Never giving up! On to the diesel cooker! Forgot entertaining! Again, not cooked Trying again tomorrow. to mention that on day one we enough, so 30 minutes in the successfully burned toasted oven, cut of the hard top off, Day Three. sandwiches when trying them cover in fruit and cream and amper in the Ecopot on a silicone barbecue mat presto: Nice save! today but simmered directly on the cooktop, but Don my gas ring in the did well on scrambled eggs Rather over the Ecopot/ house before heading for the with spinach and feta in a EcoHeat combination now. coast. Picked up fish and normal pan. This time we tried Think the problem was not mussels for lunch and dinner steaming a snapper Asian getting food hot enough before and found somewhere to style, with shallots, ginger and
The Webasto’s flat, Ceran glass surface means it’s a part of your workbench when not actually cooking. 44 Feature: Cooker Comparison 45 The EcoHeat induction cooker is light and portable and can run on 12 or 240 volts. Banana bread was an undercooked disaster! Feature: Cooker Comparison 46
chili. Got the hang of the temp old HiAce Hitop campervan. didn't do mussels for dinner. settings after a bit of practice Should have been easy, but... Instead, headed bush today so yeah, a huge thumbs up! to find somewhere nice to Felt very clever by this stage. Day 4. cook, somewhere near the Italian style mussels planned ear Diary, fooled you! Wombeyan Caves. Used for dinner. Had done this recipe Just a slight change the diesel cooker today like a thousand times, even on a Dof plans. Came a normal stove top, with a spirit stove years ago in our home from the coast late so saucepan. Love the very
The Webasto makes plenty of heat, so steaming a big pot of mussels was no problem.
Adjustable heat allows accurate simmering, with a bit of practice. 46 Feature: Cooker Comparison 47
Cheap, portable butane gas barbecues work a treat and can be used anywhere.
even temperature given over time getting used to it. Would know, the ones that come in the surface. Very successful happily have one myself now. their own plastic carry cases Italian mussels done for lunch and use a small disposable in under 20 mins – and in a Day 5. gas cylinder. We hadn't used beautiful bush setting, too. ear Diary, for a slight them for a couple of years but Got my confidence back now change of pace we they fired up perfectly first go and very happy to use the Dbroke out our two thanks to piezo sparky things. Webasto diesel cooker. Like portable gas cookers that Think barbecuing, but with the any new or different technology we bought from Big W years convenience of the location of you just need to spend a bit of ago for about $20 each. You your choice. And speaking of
Gas cartridges last a surprising time and cost about Hint: Freeze gravy in plastic cup $5 for 4 at Bunnings. and add at the end. Feature: Cooker Comparison 48
location, we ducked down to a a motorhome: These cheap EcoHeat Induction Cooker park by the river in Berrima. and cheery gas rings can go in – $295 the boot of the car and be used nother good system The weather wasn’t too flash at any picnic venue or even on and I liked the way it so I cooked an early dinner the table inside your house. instantly – and I mean under the tailgate of the Trakka, A instantly – heated the pot. You which was very handy! Pork can cook very fast if you’re not and fennel sausages with home FINAL THOUGHTS careful (okay, burn), so best made gravy in one pan and to pay close attention. The boiled potatoes (for mash), with Ecopot 24/7 – $375 biggest drawback I found was steamed veg over the top in good system but quite that on the simmer setting it another pan. Used my frozen expensive and one you would cut in and out, bringing gravy block for saucing at the Aneed to do a fair bit or the contents to the boil briefly, last min. We attracted some trial-and-error cooking with to rather than just keeping them attention today as I guess we find out what works for you. bubbling away slowly. You can looked a little strange all set up If you were travelling the best adjust the temperature up and in the park: jacket and apron thing to do would be prepare down even when using a pre- on while Mr iM climbed all over your meals in the morning (or set like Simmer, but I found the the place with his camera. the night before), then cook- up after breakfast and store it adjustments too big to find that Funnily enough, this cooking away (safely) until dinner time. happy bubble, bubble, bubble. method is by far the cheapest Would I buy one? Probably not. Would I buy one? No, but we’ve tested and still worked a only because I can’t really see treat. And you don't even need where I’d use it.
Bangers, mash and steamed veggies, all cooked on our portable butane barbecues. 48 Feature: Cooker Comparison 49
Webasto X100 Diesel Cooker Like an electric cooker it takes Portable Gas Barbecues – standard on 2013 model some time to heat up and cool heap, simple and Trakka Trakkadus down and boiling a large kettle of reliable, these make a was a bit scared and/or water from scratch can take 10- Cgreat backup. And as sceptical of this at first, but 15 minutes in cold weather. So they’re portable you can cook Iquickly came to love it. No if I had one I’d keep a thermos outside the vehicle or on a picnic gas bottles to turn on or off, no of hot water in the vehicle (boiled table in a park or even on the lighter to find and the smooth after cooking) to use through the sand or rocks at the beach. Ceran glass surface was a snack day and even first thing in the Not sure how long the butane to keep clean. morning. In a caravan park I’d gas canisters last but you get a use an electric jug. decent run from them and they As I said earlier, like any new only cost about $5 for a 4 pack Overall I loved its simplicity and technology it does take a bit at Bunnings. That will last you neatness. Anything that removes of getting used to and it has ages! Hard to beat, really, and potential danger from a vehicle its own idiosyncrasies. I’m told they could be just the thing for a while simplifying things has to be you need to follow the startup quick cup of tea in the morning good. And if I were buying it I’d and shutdown process (just if you have a Webasto diesel buy the whole cooker/hot water/ the touch of a button) and let cooker! it complete the full cycle even heater package so we could free if you change your mind. This camp in any weather and never burns off any fuel in the system even have to step outside to turn and avoids it restarting next time on the gas. Oh I forgot. That’s without any smoke or diesel what Mr iM’s for! smells.
Winter on the Highlands: Just the weather for bangers and mash. Bon appetit! Feature: Cooker Comparison 50
What's an Ecopot? What's an Ecoheat What's a Webasto X100 An Ecopot is a thermal cooking induction Cooker? Diesel Cooker? system that relies on the partial The EcoHeat Induction Cooker The Webasto X100 Diesel pre-cooking of food and stored is a portable cooker that works Cooker is heated by the heat to slow cook meals, either on 12 or 240-volt power. Unlike controlled burning of very small as you travel or when in camp a portable electric cooking ring, amounts of diesel fuel from or at home. It’s like a crockpot which take time to heat and a vehicle’s fuel tank. Using a slow cooker but without the cool and relies on radiated heat sealed, electronically-controlled electricity. to heat the cooking pot and its furnace the Webasto cooker contents, induction cooking is is part of a total cooking/hot Essentially, Ecopot is a heavily instantaneous and generates water/heating solution that insulated outer container with no radiated heat (apart from the when used together does a hinged lid and tight-fitting pot getting hot). away with the need for LPG internal pots that work together cylinders, plumbing, specific to trap the heat of food you’ve Induction cookers have a annual inspections and the started cooking (and the pots smooth surface with a dense inherent dangers of using gas – its cooking in) to finish the job coil of copper wire in their base. especially in a confined space. over a period of hours. The An alternating electric current main inner pot is seven litres is passed through the coil to More Info: http://www. capacity and the smaller one produce an oscillating magnetic webasto.com.au/products- is three litres, allowing you to field. This field then ‘induces’ and-markets/recreational- cook two things at once, if a very low voltage electric vehicles/ena/html/8703.html desired. current in the cooking pot that produces resistive heating We tested the range-topping (caused by the passage of Ecopot 24/7, which comes with electricity through the metal). 12/240 V power connectivity The amount of heat is precisely that does let you use it like controllable in proportion a plug-in slow cooker where to the amount of electricity power is available, or for fast used and because there is no reheating. radiated heat or flame (and a ferrous metal pot is required to More Info: ecopot.com.au complete the cooking ‘circuit’) nothing that touches it can catch fire.
More Info: ecopot.com.au 50 Feature: Cooker Comparison 51 Adding partially-thawed frozen homemade gravy and letting the sausages simmer in it ads flavour and a real home-cooked touch.