Cooking fish with UL Pot and UL Stove – Sadly no fires.

[Megan P]

Hey everyone!

I just read through a bunch of posts including the recent cooking fish UL style. I still need advice.

I'm doing the JMT in a couple days. All my stuff is packed and ready to go. Bringing an awesome little tenkara kit that I have worked pretty hard to refine. The one thing I don't really have is a way to cook it.

I'm bringing an MSR Micro Rocket which is quite possibly the worse stove the cook on and a snow peak 900 pot kit. We will also have a Titan kettle. So the worse combo for cooking anything, great for boiling water but not for cooking. I do have a MSR superfly stove that I would happily sub for the micro rocket but I just don't think it'll make much of a difference with those pots.

I'm bringing a homemade spice mixture and a squeeze bottle of olive oil. Also a good amount of tin foil. I'm trying to figure out a good way to cook the fish.

So far I'm thinking

1. Catch, clean, spice, wrap in foil, find a perfect Y sticks and tendiously hover it above the blasting flame till its cooked. (That sounds pretty awful)
2. Catch, clean, spice, use the TINY fry pan lid (that I was not planning on bringing as I subbed it for a flat lid) pour in olive oil, fold up tin foil into a big flat square, put tin foil over stove and flame (in attempt to disperse heat and flame) put small fry pan on tinfoil and cook trout in very small fry pan.

I'm definitely contemplating buying a last minute 5oz nonstick fry pan (http://www.evernewamerica.com/non-stick-series/) but I'm pretty sure that it won't make a difference with that stove.

Anyone have any tips, suggestions, gear substitutaions, additional gear suggestions? No fires allowed and id like to not carry a bunch more weigh. Happy to sub out the stove or add a fry pan.

We have PLENTY of food so not a necessity to eat it but what a better time to eat a trout, so I would love to make it happen. Also bought PackItGourmet Grits to add to the fresh fish so now I rrreeeeallly want to cook the fish.

Thanks for reading. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[James Marco]

There is one methode you didn't mention. I simply steak out a fish (cut him into chunks) and boil him over a bed of rice…maybe 2oz of dry rice. I add whatever seasonings to the fish/rice at the start and cook for about 3 minutes after the water boils with the lid on. Then shut off the heat and set the pot/lid down with my hat over it for about 10 minutes. The rice will absorb the water and any oils from the fish. Then I wash my hands and eat the fish with my hands, careful of any bones if the fish is less than 9 or 10 inches. I put any bones in a small piece of toilet paper. When I am done, I bury the TP packet about 6-8" deep, well away from camp. Nothing extra is needed and it tastes as good as any. I rarely keep more than one fish. And, the rice/fish makes a nice meal. (Try adding a 1/4 stick of pepperoni to 4oz of rice with two fish.) Grits, couscous, oatmeal, etc can be done pretty much the same way.

[todd]

"with my hat over it for about 10 minutes"

You should bury the hat with the TP!

[Richard Lyon]

Megan,

Small trout are very easy with a Jetboil system including fry pan using your second method, which is really simple sauteing. Any frying pan will work but the Jetboil Fry Pan has a heat exchanger that really speeds things up.

Have a great hike.

Richard

[James Marco]

"You should bury the hat with the TP!"
Ha…Nope, it is saturated with DEET after a few years of camping with it.

[Dale Wambaugh]

1. Don't worry about cooking the fish in one piece
2. Read up on poaching fish.
3. It really doesn't take much time or heat to cook fish.
4. Pack herbs

I like the rice idea and your foil idea is perfectly feasible if you keep things moving. An aluminum pie plate with a foil lid (or two pans) and some crumpled foil in the bottom could be rigged up as a poaching pan. You're really just steaming the fish. It begs for white wine.

Good luck with the bears after making that wonderful smell :) I would cook anywhere near camp!

[Ben H.]

When I cook trout in the Sierra's I just never leave the pan on the flame completely. My technique:

1) throw fish and seasoning in pan with a bunch of oil.
2) Turn on stove
3) lower pan onto flame and keep moving pan around to control heat.
4) flip fish a couple times to get both sides cooked
5) eat fresh fish!

If you are not using non-stick it means you just need more oil!

[David Gardner]

After cleaning and removing the head and tail, I cut the fish into pieces that will fit in the pot and poach the fish. Don't boil the water, just get it close. (170* F is ideal but who brings a cooking thermometer camping?) It only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Then I remove the fish and season with Mrs. Dash.

These days I use a 32 oz beer can pot, which is 8" tall. The cleaned and trimmed fish go in vertically and don't need to be cut into chunks.

[Dan Yeruski]

I roasted hot dogs with the Venom Super Stove so it should work for fish also. Just practice a little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxenLQXN-Wk

http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/super-stove.php

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