Frying with Titanium, cracking the code

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I think that I may have Cracked the Code on how to pan fry in the backcountry using a thin-walled titanium pan. Even heat distribution, no hot spots. To verify this, I would like to know the following:

What foods are hard pan fry while backpacking?
If you could, what foods would you like to be able to pan fry?

Thanks – Jon

[Bill Budney]

Nice!

Eggs (and eggs)

[Jerry Adams]

Fish?

You could do a flame spreader un derneath, for example a can lid

[Matthew / BPL]

How about pancakes?

[Ken Thompson]

Bacon

[Bruce Tolley]

All the above, plus sometimes on the first night on the trail, a small steak.

 

[Piney]

Fish, Pita pocket with cheese and pepperoni.

[Matthew / BPL]

Oh dang a cheese and cured meat pita pocket sounds great. I want that too.

[Ken Larson]

This is a DINNER meal that the granddaughters enjoyed making and eating……

Pizza (NOLS)

CRUST

1 tsp. dry yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
½ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar and salt. Add flour and make a stiff dough. To rise, place dough in plastic bag and place inside the jacket you’re wearing. Oil a fry pan, and spread dough with oiled fingers to form a crust.

Quick Crust (flakier, great when you have limited time)

½ cup baking mix (4 cups flour, 2 ½ Tbs. baking powder, ¼ cup powdered milk, 2 tsp. salt)
½ cup flour
1 Tbs. butter
Sauce (make your own from a powder mix or, if you’re car camping, make from scratch or use your favorite from the store)
Toppings (some ideas: jack, cheddar, or mozzarella cheese crumbled or thinly sliced; ham, sausage, or bacon bits; fish; wild onions)
Directions

For a yeast crust, dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar and salt, then add flour and mix to make a stiff dough. If you have time, let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place for 10-30 minutes.
For a quick crust, mix butter into flour and baking mix with your fingers, then add water and mix to form your dough
Oil a fry pan, then spread dough in the pan with oiled fingers to form a crust
Bake for 3-5 minutes on a stove at low heat, then flip your crust.
Pour the sauce over the crust
Add your toppings!
Cover and bake again until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 3-5 minutes. In the last minute or two of baking, add a tablespoon of water to the pan. This will create steam to help melt the cheese. Because stove temperatures vary, be sure to check your pizza often to keep it from burning! (see baking tips here).
You can also use a twiggy fire, to cook the crust from both the top and the bottom, instead of flipping your crust. *Be sure to move the pan in the “round the clock” rotation in quarter turns to bake all parts of the pizza.

Variation:   You can make your crust into a calzone, too! Just spread the dough in your pan and cover half of it with your toppings. Then, fold the other half of the dough over the top and pinch the edges together to seal in the toppings. Cook for about 3-5 minutes on one side, then flip and cook the other side until golden brown, or use a twiggy fire and bake for about 5-10 minutes.

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

First test.  Temperature across the pan is pretty even.  Titanium is still difficult to deal with, while the temperature is even, pancake batter tends to stick.  The Ti plate was well seasoned, but sticking was still an issue.  Ti might be fine for trout though. Things worked much better with the MSR Quick Skillet: a 7″ 5.5 oz coated aluminum pan.  Teflon coating is the way to go.

Overall, the long term process of seasoning a titanium plate and the upkeep is a real hassle and probably not worth the weight difference.  The 9″ plate was 5.5 oz (no handle) and the 7″ MSR QIck Skillet with a handle is 5.7 oz.  My 2 cents.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Frying Rainbow Trout on a thin Titanium Plate (Seasoned) can be done but takes work.

An Omelet in a thin walled Aluminum Coated pan: easy.  Frying everything in a coated pan has been easy.

[DAN-Y]

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/titanium-fry-pan-do-they-really-suck/page/2/

[DAN-Y]

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Yep, seen the videos.  I have followed multiple directions to season the plate.  It may work well for egg whites, but I found that it wasn’t great for scrambled eggs or pancakes.  Additionally, the overhead and care for the surface seems excessive.  At the end of the day, teflon is far, far superior non-stick surface.  Additionally, the MSR Quick Skillet weighs less than the 9″ Ti plate plus pot grabber.

[DAN-Y]

un 10, 2019 at 8:51 pm#3597079Reply
DAN-Y/FANCEE FEESTBPL MEMBER
Mole J. I used Canola oil as my high heat oil. I washed the new ti bowl with soap and water, rinsed and then scrubbed it with a few shakes of salt to remove anything tiny on the surface, and then rinsed well and then dried it.

I placed 1/4 cup canola oil in it, swirled it around to thoroughly coat the inside and then dumped the excess back into a small glass container. On the stove top I ignited one of the burners so it had a small flame. I held the bowl by it’s handles over the flame until the oil began to smoke, swirled the oil around a little and then shut the burner off and then placed the bowl onto the burner to let it totally cool down on it’s own till it got down to room temperature.

I did the above heating procedure 6 times and it was ready.

I used canola oil to fry/scramble the eggs. I also fried a slice of cheese without it sticking.

 

 

[DAN-Y]

[DAN-Y]

Jun 15, 2019 at 9:13 pm#3598013Reply
DAN-Y/FANCEE FEESTBPL MEMBER
Next I’ll try a Fancee Feest burner designed for isopropyl alcohol for dry baking and see how well it works with this bowl/pan. The Fancee Feest has a short integrated pot support, should work ok with alcohol. The bowl/pan is now dual purpose, cooking and water heating.

Edited to say I will try an omelet next in the house and then outside with the Fancee Feest.

This new found Keith titanium bowl/pan does not suck, it rocks :-)

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Yep, read those threads.  It just didn’t seem to work well for me and the titanium plate that I was using.   Some people may have luck, I don’t see it used commonly though. Not a lot of great videos out there anyway.   Mole J, do you still use this technique? Again, Teflon coated pans are orders of magnitude easier to use (IMO).  My 2 cents.

[DAN-Y]

Health Risks of Teflon Coating
Teflon is generally safe, but heating it to above 300 degrees Celsius or 570 degrees Fahrenheit poses a danger to your health.‌

 

At these temperatures, the stable Teflon begins to break down and releases polymer fumes. You may not immediately inhale the fumes because they may escape through the windows. But, continued exposure to these fumes can increase your health risks.‌

Initially, you may experience temporary symptoms that look like you have flu and experience a condition called polymer fume fever

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Well, the trick to frying in the backcountry is to eliminate the hot spots.  Once you do that, you can easily control the temperature to well below 570 F.  My 2 cents.

Titanium plate on a Kovea Spider

 

Over a 300 F temperature difference

Same plate with a prototype Frying Plate

 

About a 35 F temperature difference.  I haven’t scored (anodized) the plate yet.

[DAN-Y]

Teflon coating is easily scratched. Food sticks to scratches. Once scratched it starts to flake. Once it starts to flake throw it away and buy titanium.

[MJ H]

I think the teflon at home will get me before any backpacking teflon. My house has walls to contain vapors and I do way more of my frying there.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

You can chose to fry with whatever you want.  The innovation here is a fairly even heat profile eliminating hot spots.  Using titanium to verify a solution works great for the thermal response, if it works with Ti, aluminum is a piece of cake.  My 2 cents.

[Mole J]

Jon

I did the seasoning a few times, but maybe I wasn’t doing it sufficiently, or hotspots etc, as I found I couldn’t keep the seasoning “active” for long,  and eggs ended up sticking badly again after one or 2 uses.

I went back to my Trangia Non Stick frypans ( teflon I guess?)  Which I will stay with until I break the coating  –  which I’ve yet to do  due to using plastic or wooden implements when using.

I have found that, the Ti frypan works ok with dense meat – like a steak or 8oz butcher’s burger . I get good results  with a simple Esbit setup and sometimes take this for a treat on short trips – easy summer evenings on the hill or beach.

[DAN-Y]

Sep 24, 2023 at 11:03 am#3789790Reply
Jon Fong / Flat Cat GearBPL MEMBER
First test.  Temperature across the pan is pretty even.  Titanium is still difficult to deal with, while the temperature is even, pancake batter tends to stick.  The Ti plate was well seasoned, but sticking was still an issue.  Ti might be fine for trout though. Things worked much better with the MSRR Quick Skillet: a 7″ 5.5 oz coated aluminum pan.  Teflon coating is the way to go.

I see…..cracking the code was accomplished in the first test, second post. Don’t mess with titanium….get an aluminum pan coated with Teflon.

Any aluminum pan coated with Teflon ;)

.

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