Frying with Titanium, cracking the code

I’ve experimented quite a bit with pans and seasoning at home. Some (slightly tangential) observations:

• Teflon is easier when new, but degrades with daily use. They become disposable.
• If you get seasoning AND cooking “right”, then it works great. I am persuaded that no set of instructions can reliably teach how. There is an element of skill (or luck).
• Low, even, temperatures help. As does sufficient lubrication.
• Egg yolks are sticky. Whites are much easier. Coddled is much easier to cook than “over” or scrambled.
• Learning to deglaze is important for cleanup (without Teflon). Water, heat, scrape LIGHTLY (try to preserve your seasoning). Works on almost any food except egg yolks.

For backpacking, it would be nice to be able to clean up easily after scrambling eggs. Best way I know is to mix and cook in the bag.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Jon is building.

About 20 yrs ago I bought a Teflon Ti pan by Snow Peak. Didn’t take long for the Teflon to start flaking off. Im with Jon on this. Al w Teflon is fool-proof.

Time to start rethinking cooking on the trail. Dump the titanium cookware and do the teflon coated stuff.

Watch how I cook eggs with teflon coated pan:

Looks nice, but a metal fork on Teflon?!

Dude obviously isn’t a scientist. :)

Dude is obviously a great cook.

OK, I’m sure he’s great. :)

He broke the code!!!!

Bill in RoswellBPL MEMBER
About 20 yrs ago I bought a Teflon Ti pan by Snow Peak. Didn’t take long for the Teflon to start flaking off. Im with Jon on this. Al w Teflon is fool-proof.

All the more reason to switch to aluminum …….pitch the titanium. :-)

A few drops of oil, wait until it caramelizes, flip it over. Use low heat on a thin pan.

My titanium is not deteriorating. I don’t need Teflon. It doesn’t hold up. Aluminum pans are a little thicker, because they have to be. I could get a thicker ti pan, but they’re heavier  and they cost a lot.

There are a few fry pans of hard adonized aluminum (Trangia offers one) so I wonder how that performs. I’ve given up on frying anything while backpacking, but on a canoe trip I’m happy to include such menu items. I still want light and functional cookware, however, even if I’m paddling . . . portages can be brutal without attention to overall weight of your kit.

Hard anodized kit…good deal:

The more you fry, the more you learn (that and searching the internet). The long answer, is that I need to write up what I have learned so far.

So far, I have come up with a way to distribute the heat evenly across the surface of a fry pan. First layer off the onion. The next layer seems to be material science and chemistry. For non-Teflon pans, it seems the biggest problems are associated with cooking items with high levels of protein (meat, eggs fish). It is even tricker, because a lot of things are not well understood. For example, the consensus seems to be that cooking an egg sunny side up is easy (cooking just the whites), while cooking a scrambled egg is hard. Both have about the same levels of protein. Cooking a whole fish, the skin can stick. Cook it a bit longer to form a crust and it will not stick. Ther are many layers to this onion. For items that are not high in protein, it seems like an aluminum plate would work fine. Then there is the intersection of frying and backpacking. Who is going to be cooking high protein meals on the trail? More to follow.  My 2 cents.

Low to medium heat and a vented lid.

use the onions to swab the edges of the pan .

Banks Fry-Bake Company is hard anodized cookware designed specifically for use in the rugged outdoors. This is not non-stick cookware and liberal use of oil, butter, grease or water must be used to limit sticking to the surface of the pan. This lightweight aluminum pan allows you to bake bread, cinnamon rolls, and pizza on a backpacking trip

Alpine Fry-Bake Pan is spun from .062” 60-61 “O” temper aluminum then given Uniform Anodic Coating of .002 inches of clear hardcoat. Pan measures 8″ in diameter x 1 1/2″ deep; weighs approximately 7 oz.

Pizza a DINNER meal that the granddaughters enjoyed making and eating……

Sep 27, 2023 at 8:27 am#3790017Reply
Ken LarsonBPL MEMBER
Banks Fry-Bake Company is hard anodized cookware designed specifically for use in the rugged outdoors. This is not non-stick cookware and liberal use of oil, butter, grease or water must be used to limit sticking to the surface of the pan. This lightweight aluminum pan allows you to bake bread, cinnamon rolls, and pizza on a backpacking trip

Ken you broke the code in a major way…..good on you!!

“Low to medium heat and a vented lid.”

this is my day to stalk Terran Terran : )

teflon on a pan at home is doable – you can maintain low to medium heat on a stove

on a campfire it’s more difficult to maintain low to medium heat.  And in a lightweight pan for backpacking.  You will soon tend to ruin your teflon

if you look on the internet they talk about seasoning cast iron pans.  Wipe oil very lightly.  Put in a hot oven.  Repeat several times.  Maybe that would work with titanium pan.

I have a seasoned carbon steel pan – not real good for eggs – they tend to stick.  More oil in the pan before the eggs helps.  It works good for stir frying – get pan hot, add oil, throw in food and quickly cook it.

7-Inch ECLIPSE Nonstick Aluminum Frying Pan, Fry Pan, Saute Omelette Pan, Commercial Grade – NSF Certified (1, A)

Get it on Amazon $20.00. It’s designed for omelets, no square corners. 7″ backpacking size…

Use Ken’s instructions that broke the code.

Ken,

Great looking pizza, I am going to have to try that.  My overall goal is to develop a broad, more univesal frying system.  I would set the bar higher at making an Omelet with an evenly cooked surface (high protein content, known for sticking).  If someone could do that routinely (titanium or not) that would be my goal.  That and being light weight enough for backpacking. My 2 cents.

Using a small fire or coals, you’ll have better control of the heat. If you use something like a caldera cone, you’ll get better heat distribution. It’s like roasting marshmallows, but different.

I didn’t know you could season stainless steel or titanium. Cast is more porous. I got tired of throwing away Teflon. Use a sharp flipper like a scrapper to loosen your food before flipping. Shake the pan as you cook. The width of the pans make it more difficult. A rounded pan is better for eggs.

Foil over the top and it won’t burn as easy. If you don’t vent it off, you can get too much condensation.

I rarely fry anything in the back country, I often use the same equipment if I’m camping in my small ultralight car.

Jon, Just a minor nit: It isn’t protein. As you said, egg whites are easy. Steaks and burgers are easy.

Something about egg yolks makes them “special”. Not sure what it is, but it isn’t as simple as protein.

Bread, being low in protein is not too bad to fry. Sugary items can stick as well. Here is a cinnamon roll that I just baked/fried this morning. I used parchment paper on the bottom: this photo is pre-flipped. Place another piece of parchment paper over the top, flip it onto a plate and slide it back into the pan to brown the other side (MSR skillet at 5.5 oz). FYI- I am pretty sure that you can use parchment paper to cook trout on an unseasoned titanium pan as a disposable non-stick surface. As I said, a lot of different techniques to compile.  My 2 cents.

I should include more references in my comments.  Here is one article about protein sticking and I have found at least 3 more with similar articles.

Yeah, I’ve read the same, but it’s wrong. Or, at least, incomplete. Do it enough and you’ll see. Egg yolks have less protein than a steak, but stick MUCH more. It’s not as simple as just “protein”.

EDIT: Your parchment paper idea sounds great, though. Worth a try.

I use a rounded pan for omelets. Plenty of oil or bacon grease, and a plate. Low heat and a cover. Using your turner as a scraper, scrape underneath, keeping it loose as it cooks. Tip your pan, roll it around, letting the egg on top run underneath your omelet. Rips can be repaired. When it starts to solidify, slide it onto the plate. Quickly turn the plate over so the omelette falls into the pan. Or use 2 pans, flipping one into the other. Add your toppings, fold, then finish cooking both sides.

Watch how the master cooks eggs, listen to what he says about the pan. See how well oiled the pan is…