Will86 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Sometime ago I queried my searching for a mobile oven. Suggestions ranged from the Skillet that was unavailable to the almost "I'm wasting my time brigade" I found and bought a Tesco 'Tefal Adventure Stockpot'. Sunday dinner today in the new T5 on the driveway was a Tesco ready meal. Braised beef and mash with fresh purple sprouting from the garden. Using butane gas on the largest burner the temperature raised to the required170c very quickly, then adjusted to suit, checked by using a digital thermometer, in fact it was equal in all things except space to the mains electric oven indoors. To position the dinner I used a modified wire mesh cake stand which raised the food 20mm above the base of the Stockpot. An advantage here was that with a glass lid it was easy to judge the cooking. The result was highly successful and will be followed by further trials with different foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Nice one Will! I look forward to reading about your 'experiments'! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 The thing you will have to be careful about is overheating the pans, they are designed to be used with liquid and it's very easy to 'Over cook' them which leads to distortion and burn through of single skinned ones and delamination of sandwich bases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 God loves a trier Will! :-D But you need a heavy pot or casserole dish, and with you trivet it should work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Colin, Overheating, yes I'm well aware of the material gauge and the melting point of aluminium being around 600c, but by using a digital thermometer through the air hole and controlling the starting higher surge so avoiding a hot-spot at the base I think it will be suitable. I also doubt there is any lamination on the base as it appears to be a straight forward spun item. I also find the gas can be reduced to its minimum very quickly. Having not seen or handled any form of Skillet that others talk of I can only progress as I find. At the moment its "fit for purpose" to coin a modern phrase, and forms what I was after "An oven" which is controllable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Will..as has been said "a few" times before, if using a thin bottomed pan, probably best to use it with a simmer ring eg: http://www.amazon.co.uk/simmer-ring/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=simmer%20ring&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asimmer%20ring ..so as to just to avoid "hot spots" occurring on the base of the pan. (..by taking the temp', you're only really getting a rough idea of the temp within the pan...and not the temp' of where the jets are actually heating the "skin" of the pan...) As I've posted previously on your threads on this topic: .We have "hob roasted" stuff using a., simmer ring-steel pan-wire trivet...so we do know from first hand experience... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 A good point to consider. Although this sounds a workable theory it does mean using additional gas to overcome the diffused heat spread. Aluminium comes in many mixes according to its final use. (As you may know having an aviation interest) These pans or pots have a high conductivity rating, much higher than cast alloys as they have to be spun to their finished shape, almost a pure spec is my guess with a little copper or silicon added as it has to be firm after forming and able to take a high polish. Most of my working days have been associated with aluminium and its alloys ... I have therefore decided to continue with the method I have chosen. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 pepe63, Having second thought on the simmer ring I've decided to follow your suggestion and at least try one. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Will85 - 2014-03-10 9:42 AM Colin, Overheating, yes I'm well aware of the material gauge and the melting point of aluminium being around 600c, but by using a digital thermometer through the air hole and controlling the starting higher surge so avoiding a hot-spot at the base I think it will be suitable. I also doubt there is any lamination on the base as it appears to be a straight forward spun item. I also find the gas can be reduced to its minimum very quickly. Having not seen or handled any form of Skillet that others talk of I can only progress as I find. At the moment its "fit for purpose" to coin a modern phrase, and forms what I was after "An oven" which is controllable. From your photo it wasn't clear to me if they where ali or stainless. I'm sure the following won't apply to you but they sure stick in my mind. I still vividly remember my mother producing a catastrophic failure of an ali saucepan, I was walking into a darkened kitchen when there was a bright flash and a bang, talk about being stopped dead in your tracks, it was one of those times when you need a few seconds to decide if your still alive and well! She had left a empty pan on the electric ring which was still switched on, it seemed to have melted and blown the ring, there was a 2" dia hole in the pan! Gf on the otherhand managed to wreck a stainless/ali sandwich base on a saucepan by overheating, fortunately it wasn't as spectacular as my mothers efforts. We use L59 for spun then polished parts, not a favorite job of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Interesting - I have just ordered a simmer ring - so a useful experiment. What concerns me about the whole thing though is not burning a pan, but the fact that you said you made a successful dinner from a Tesco ready meal? How can this be? Surely a contradiction in terms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Will85 - 2014-03-10 9:35 PM pepe63, Having second thought on the simmer ring I've decided to follow your suggestion and at least try one. Thank you. Mornin' Will... For the couple of quid they cost, they're worth a try.... ;-) I know when we first "had a bit of a play" at doing this, we tried an old s/steel pan we had..and although it worked(sort of), the base did develop hot spots and distort after a while... We've only really used this method in anger a couple of times(using a large steel Coleman camping saucepan, to "roast" a chicken & veg)...but if I'm honest, that was as much for the fun/"experiment" side of it, as much as it was for any "need"... :-D When all said and down, it is probably easy to just to structure the "menu" around "standard", pans, pressure cooker, griddle plate etc....and not to buy "Not so ready meals" that need an oven or microwave to heat them up... :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 pepe63 - 2014-03-11 8:34 AM Will85 - 2014-03-10 9:35 PM pepe63, Having second thought on the simmer ring I've decided to follow your suggestion and at least try one. Thank you. Mornin' Will... For the couple of quid they cost, they're worth a try.... ;-) I know when we first "had a bit of a play" at doing this, we tried an old s/steel pan we had..and although it worked(sort of), the base did develop hot spots and distort after a while... We've only really used this method in anger a couple of times(using a large steel Coleman camping saucepan, to "roast" a chicken & veg)...but if I'm honest, that was as much for the fun/"experiment" side of it, as much as it was for any "need"... :-D When all said and done, it is probably easy to just to structure the "menu" around "standard", pans, pressure cooker, griddle plate etc....and not to buy "Not so ready meals" that need an oven or microwave to heat them up... :-D Oops! :$ ...I don't know what I've done here..? Sorry all! :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 laimeduck - 2014-03-10 10:48 PM Interesting - I have just ordered a simmer ring - so a useful experiment. What concerns me about the whole thing though is not burning a pan, but the fact that you said you made a successful dinner from a Tesco ready meal? How can this be? Surely a contradiction in terms! Try and keep up..Will has already explained this earlier"..if so concerned with others choices, read all the threads on subject Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 A more suitable mobile oven would be Copper of course as this has a higher coefficient of conductivity but Aluminium comes second for practical purposes. An idea of different ratings of conductivity are ... Copper 400 Gold 312 Aluminium 200 Iron 68 Steel 51 stainless steel 17 Combining an add-on of stainless to copper may have an advantage but whenever any additional element is added efficiency is lost. The surrounding air also has a part to play, a cold day a greater loss of energy and so on ...... At this moment all is fine, a copper pan is the next project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 That's all very impressive Will, I'm sure... ;-) ...but if all you're doing is reheating "Braised Beef & Mash" type ready meals, to be honest, you may as well just buy a tins of the stuff and stick in a pan... and boil some water to make up some Smash!? .... :-S (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Purple Sprouting........Yum Yum B-)..............shame to ruin them with a ready meal though :-S............ Hopefully I'll have four bushes ready for picking when I get home :D...............providing the UK weather didn't do em in 8-)............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 JudgeMental - 2014-03-11 9:35 AM laimeduck - 2014-03-10 10:48 PM Interesting - I have just ordered a simmer ring - so a useful experiment. What concerns me about the whole thing though is not burning a pan, but the fact that you said you made a successful dinner from a Tesco ready meal? How can this be? Surely a contradiction in terms! Try and keep up..Will has already explained this earlier"..if so concerned with others choices, read all the threads on subject Thank you for being so tolerant old boy! I didn't know there were other threads, so my light-hearted comment remains & was hopefully received by Will in the vein that was intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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