thermal cooker

[haven]

Thermal cooking is cooking in the style of a "Crock Pot" slow cooker, but without continuous energy input. This is a very energy-efficient way to cook, which is useful when energy (propane, diesel, charcoal, firewood) needs to be used sparingly.

Any Crock Pot recipe will work in a thermal cooker. Place the meat, vegetables, seasoning, and cooking liquid into the thermal cooker's inner pot. Bring to a boil on a conventional stovetop. Once the contents are boiling, the inner pot is placed inside a larger thermal container. With the lid sealed, cooking continues for many hours on its own. Typical cooking time is 4 to 6 hours.

At the end of the cooking time, the contents of the thermal cooker are still above 150*F. The food will stay hot for hours longer.

Thermal cooking equipment is popular in Japan. Here are two examples. These hold up to 4.5 quarts of stew. Smaller and larger models are available.

Zojirushi SNAE-B45
http://www.livingincomfort.com/zoststthcopo.html

Tiger Thermal Magic Cooker NFA-A450
http://www.shopd.com/tigthermagco.html

Chip Haven

 

[BlueFly]

I purchased a zojirushi model since making a similar post-

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=50703#post50703

It works amazingly well and I highly recommend it. If I come across a smaller version I'd consider purchasing a second one- the 4.5 liter version is actually quite large when cooking for two.

I need to experiment more using it for smaller portions- so far I've cooked using quantities large enough to fill the pot 2/3 full or more. It does in fact hold temps as claimed. I'm thinking it might be less efficient with a smaller thermal mass but I could be wrong.

Even if that was the case though, it wouldn't be a problem to pop it back on some heat and get it up to a boil for a few minutes longer.