Thermos cooking

[Appin]

Has anyone done any experimenting with this? It strikes me as potentially useful if the current worries about power cuts etc materialise this winter.

The idea is to put hot liquid and ingredients into a thermos falsk and then just leave it. After a period of time ( usually hours) the food is cooked.

I know there is published work going back to WW2 on "hot box" cooking.

I am thinking of doing a few trials runs.I have experimented with rice. I know that there is a risk of bacillus cereus food poisoning if rice is incorrectly handled. I was pleased to find that even overnight the temperature of the food was still above 80 Celsius. I left it too long so the rice was not that pleasant. My next plan is to experiment with porridge. Again aiming for an overnight "cook". I've found a few recipes. The traditional Scot would say no milk just water and that strikes me as safer from a food safety point of view. However, could you add powdered milk the next morning? (I know wimpy sassenach porridge).

Any experiences or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks

appin

[GillyBee]

Have a google for "Thermal Cooking" recipes. There are also a couple of thermal cooking recipe books availabe for free on Kindle unlimited.
We have done this when camping for years using a thermos or a professional Shuttlechef thermal cooker which is a big saucepan which fits inside an insulated container. The Mr D Thermal Cooker is very similar and available in the UK. Temperature after 12 hours in this is still well above 60C - the safe eating temperature.
Rice - bring to boil and simmer a minute or so Transfer to thermos and leave for two to three times as long as usual - so a 10 minute rice will take about 20 mins during which team we prepped the curry on our single burner. Overnight rice would give you soup. Overnight porridgeby a banked fire is a traditional recipe so should work well in a thermos.
Pasta works with the same rules.
Soups and stews work. You can cook lumps of meat by putting them in a roasting bag in boiling water but you also need to boil the pan for 30 mins to make sure the heat has penetrated the meat properly. Bread and cakes are possible but take even longer on the pre heat which makes it litle benefit to my mind for energy. It is very like using a (very) slow cooker.

[jansman]

There’s all sorts out there.https://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/therm ... ried-foods

[British Red]

The traditional Scot would say no milk just water and that strikes me as safer from a food safety point of view. However, could you add powdered milk the next morning? (I know wimpy sassenach porridge).

Any experiences or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks

appin

We do water porridge but we add our home made dried fruit. Try dried apple and a shake of cinnamon. Tastes like apple pie.

Blackcurrants and crushed hazelnuts are great - add a table spoon of yoghurt at the last minute.

[Frnc]

It's a good idea. I noticed an old flask in the kitchen a while ago. Just dug it out and it looks OK. I'll give it a clean and try it out.

On the same subject I plan to buy some pot cosy material next month. It's two layers of aluminium with foam in between.
https://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/cook ... 2-119.html

[Frnc]

Was thinking about this today. I like pasta bake, I get 3 meals out of a £1 Sainsbury's jar, and it's really nice. But it's an hour in the oven including warming up. Electric oven, expensive.
I found an old stainless steel thermos flask. I'll clean it with vinegar. Then try the pasta in that with boiling water. Leave it say 15 minutes, drain, transfer to my ceramic dish, mix in the sauce. Then I was thinking, microwave for a minute or two, add the cheese and nuke for another 40 seconds. In fact I could nuke the sauce before adding it to the pasta.
Might not be as nice as the oven version, but should be ok?

[ForgeCorvus]

If your Thermos is tea stained use salt, a little water and a bottle brush to shift it.
I have a plastic bog brush (bought new for purpose) that I clean my flasks with.

[rik_uk3]

Google 'hay box cooking' this method has been used for many many decades.

[GillyBee]

If you want some ideas of how this all works try these links. They are just as valid for a food thermos flask or a home made haybox as they are for the commercial cookers
https://mrdscookware.com/recipes
https://www.wonderbagworld.com/recipes

And instructions to make a wonderbag style cooker
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Ma ... kerCooler/
And another interesting link here with different diy cookers and which also links into some of the solar experiments Jenny has been doing.
https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/He ... on_cooking

[rik_uk3]

While we still have some weeks of good weather left and if your a little bored, google pizza box solar oven, its a bit of fun and if you have young children they'll be well impressed by mom/dad cooking hot dogs or frying eggs in one