Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Hard Kit is all other accoutrements that are not clothing, weapons or armour. This includes pots and tents, and flint & steel, and other things like that.

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Elleth
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Elleth »

Thank you kindly!

It's a handy little thing - but if you have one made, follow Greg's pattern. His has a lot of good lessons learned from mine.
... but keep the separate hanger instead of a fixed bale. He was totally wrong about that change. ; )
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Desert Loon
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Desert Loon »

I'm in a similar situation to Iodo: not yet having gotten cooking gear that would pass for preindustrial and most of the time having to do without an open fire. For small portable wood stoves, a really cheap alternative to a bushbox is actually a folding Sterno stove: I've built several little fires in mine and it's worked very well. I also made a wood gas stove from two interlocking cans. Somehow I can imagine Dwarves, Elves, even Dunedain (more probably Numenoreans) using small portable stoves: it's the kind of thing I'd expect from their craft, their Art. I wouldn't even put it past either race to make wood gas stoves.
As for cooking gear, I often reflect on Sam's "two small shallow pans, the smaller fitting into the larger" (Two Towers, "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit") and I wonder what kind of efficient portable cookware could have been devised by a peculiarly gastronomically-minded folk (though again, who's to say he didn't pick those pans up in Rivendell?). I find it interesting to compare the description with the British Army mess tins used in WWII:
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The ones Tolkien himself would have used I understand would look more like this:
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But I have to wonder if he was aware of the more recent developments in the gear used by the British Army. In any case, the resemblance is clear to me. Again, I wonder if such traveling cook gear was of Hobbit device; I imagine it might have been just as well designed by remnants of Westernesse working from ancient memories, models and maybe even relics.

I might have mentioned elsewhere my lovely mess kit made by Coleman about 30 years ago, which has four nesting cups and a pan. I don't think they make these any more. It has been my trusty companion on many adventures.
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The design seems Hobbit-like or Ranger-like enough to me, though not the stainless steel. However, with all the smithcraft of Numenor and Eregion during the Second Age, who knows what kind of materials would have been made then that would seem almost modern? The Barrow-blades come to mind.

Indeed, I have to wonder if even Aluminum and Titanium might not be too far off from the metallurgy achieved by Elves and Dwarves. (One day I mean to have a titanium waffle iron custom-made, to mimic Radagast's enchanted featherweight waffle iron that I dreamed about.)
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And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (Hopkins)
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Eofor
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Eofor »

For my part I try and treat my middle earth reenactment as I do my other stuff and stick as closely as possible to known materials and items.

If your budget, safety or practicality have you using a modern item then don't stress it, just own that and move on though if you can change it to something more accurate then you probably should.

It's a slippery slope allowing modern items in based on arguments like advanced Numenorean/Dwarvish technology and Elvish magic.

As to portable cookware, there are multiple finds of Roman frying pan with folding handles so that's certainly an option.
But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest.
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Desert Loon
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Desert Loon »

I understand. It could be too easy to lapse into LARP. I want to keep a perspective of what would be possible and plausible. It's an interesting mental exercise, drawing on all the lore and practice out there that's focused on accurately representing historical periods to try to apprehend a plausible mythic prehistory, especially with our principal sub-creator's uses of anachronism. I like the freedom afforded by this not being anchored in a specific time period: imagining what skilled workers could contrive without the Machine in charge. With all that, it's good to have group support to keep each other honest when it comes to materials.
Glory be to God for dappled things
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And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (Hopkins)
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Eofor
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Eofor »

Desert Loon wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 2:17 pm I understand.
Thankyou Hæðgegaf, I wasn't intending to be discouraging as I'm a firm advocate for getting out there in what you have and building it up along the way.
But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest.
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Iodo
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Iodo »

Desert Loon wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 12:56 am Indeed, I have to wonder if even Aluminum and Titanium might not be too far off from the metallurgy achieved by Elves and Dwarves. (One day I mean to have a titanium waffle iron custom-made, to mimic Radagast's enchanted featherweight waffle iron that I dreamed about.)
The way I see it is, mithrill is very similar in properties to titanium, and it is likely other specialized materials exist in middle earth for more mundane tasks that are less celebrated, however mithrill is to highly prized to waste on a cooking pot that could easily be lost, and the common person in middle earth, be it Hobbit, Dwarf or Ranger, is very unlikely to be able to get hold of anything more than a pot made from iron, tin or copper

For us, most cooking stuff is made from stainless, titanium or aluminum, so it very much comes down to the linen/cotton argument, those metals are wrong but the right ones are EXPENSIVE, so if the stainless, titanium or aluminum pot is a design that you could see fitting into middle earth, and you are unwilling/don't have the money for an authentic one, then once it's covered in soot from the fire no one who sees needs to know what metal it is made from
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Elleth
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Elleth »

I wasn't intending to be discouraging as I'm a firm advocate for getting out there in what you have and building it up along the way.
Likewise!

That said, these days there's some very nice period-appropriate pieces on the market at comparable prices to all but the cheapest modern mess kits. Heck - on amazon right now I see you can get a pair of copper cups delivered for under fifteen dollars. Drill out some holes for a bail, maybe if you're particular add some hammer marks so they look beaten rather than spun to shape, and you're in reach of even the most strict reading of Crickhollow's copper cans. (Obviously keep them clean and don't cook acids in them unless you tin them)

...then once you hit around the ~$40-50 mark, you start getting into new made ~18th c. copper and the simplest ironwork, and a small pieced iron cauldron from Matuls or Taberna is still half the cost of even a decent budget sword.

Things are so much easier than they were back in the '80s, when the closest you could find in lots of places was a cast iron Dutch oven and you had to just pretend. :mrgreen:
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Iodo
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Iodo »

Elleth wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 12:40 pm Heck - on amazon right now I see you can get a pair of copper cups delivered for under fifteen dollars. Drill out some holes for a bail, maybe if you're particular add some hammer marks so they look beaten rather than spun to shape, and you're in reach of even the most strict reading of Crickhollow's copper cans. (Obviously keep them clean and don't cook acids in them unless you tin them)
or you can get something called a "moscow mule mug" that already has hammer marks so it looks beaten, and if you are careful you can find one that is stainless steel and only the outside is copper plated so it looks just like a tin lined copper mug, I have no idea how well these would hold up to using over a fire (maybe I'll try it?), but because of the stainless you wouldn't have to worry about acid etc...

mine seen here:

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Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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Peter Remling
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Peter Remling »

Regarding the Stainless Interior Moscow Mule mug: They should work fine as a small pot however the handles are generally soldiered not welded so there is a good chance the handle will come off when using. Be very careful it doesn't come off while you are moving a hot beverage or food, you could get scalded. You might want to bring one off those old pot lifters like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325297665786?h ... Sw~WJir42U They are small and weigh very little.
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Greg
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Greg »

Elleth wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:48 am... but keep the separate hanger instead of a fixed bale. He was totally wrong about that change. ; )
"They doesn't like us, preciousss? They likes to lose things, yes!"
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Elleth
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Elleth »

lol. Touche. :mrgreen:
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Elleth
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Elleth »

Woo! New toy day!

I splurged a bit to try out a small 1 liter cauldron from Taberna Vagantis - https://www.tabernavagantis.com/

Here it is, along with the larger Taberna cauldon I've been using for events and my little Ranger's pot -
merf-cauldrons-taberna-royal-oak.jpg
merf-cauldrons-taberna-royal-oak.jpg (227.59 KiB) Viewed 4540 times
It's a bit chunky if you're used to the little ones, but I do love this size just for having a decent amount of hot water on hand. I still need to clean it up and season it properly, but so far I'm quite happy for the money. It's not Royal Oak Armoury level of artistry - but it's very serviceable and didn't have a three year wait list. :mrgreen:
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Desert Loon
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Desert Loon »

Oh but those are lovely cauldrons!

Thanks a lot guys (meant earnestly and ironically at once): after reading recommendations for copperware I've bought some pieces: a vintage tin-lined saucepan from ebay and a new Mule mug. The Mule mug is unlined, so although it's the only piece I've used so far, I haven't cooked in it, just heated water. I hoped it would do so quickly with minimum fuel and it did. I used it to make instant mashed potatoes for my lunch at the Utah Renaissance Faire in between some short musical performances, but I neglected to take any pictures. Hopefully it won't be too long before I remedy that.

Again, thanks - for real. It's been fun learning how to use copper cookware.
Glory be to God for dappled things
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And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. (Hopkins)
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Iodo
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Re: Cooking pots..... Whats yours?

Post by Iodo »

Desert Loon wrote: Sun Sep 04, 2022 2:21 am Oh but those are lovely cauldrons!
I agree :P
Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf-women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf-men.
Aragorn: It's the beards.
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