Date:         Sat, 4 Jan 2014 12:15:06 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: mini review of Ecoque grill (van camping grill/bbq)
In-Reply-To:  <CA+So783-GNnHakvLs=HCM74rgf6_gbZnWbzFYGWg=Z7hKfBXTg@mail.gmail.com>
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Miguel and Alistair asked about burning wood in the Cob, so I tried it
today for the first time. I split up a 12 inch long piece of oak siding
that was very well dried. Split in into 4/4 for you woodworkers, one inch
to everyone else. Used the usual firestarters in the Cob that I use with
charcoal. I loaded the little basket with wood because I knew it would not
burn as hot. All I had to grill was a tilapia filet (I know, but this was
an experiment, you see) and made some tartar sauce and threw a couple of
pieces of bread in the toaster. In the time it took for the toast to make,
maybe a little bit more, the tilapia was ready. Good indeed.

Here's what I found out. Next time, use half the wood, and use the grill
cooking surface (they call it a roasting tray, it's a wire rack like a
regular barbecue) instead of the nonstick grill with round perforations,
which perforate only maybe 10% of the plate's surface. The flow of air was
too restricted to really burn well, and with the lid on it burned even
poorer. That's the customary way of using the Cob with charcoal.

Use the wire and then you are just grilling over a hot, highly controlled
wood fire. It burned for a long time, not as long as charcoal but more than
you would need for a meal. With the lid off you can't bake and the
temperature inside doesn't get as hot, but with the wire rack you have the
fire directly on the food. It looks and tastes smoked, and if you like
that, it is delicious. If you don't like a smoky flavor, stick with
charcoal.

Bottom line, if you give the wood plenty of air and can cook your food on
an open grill with no cover, and you're OK with a smoky taste, wood does
just fine. With the lid off and using the open rack, you would get a lot
less smoke.

Jim


On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 10:37 AM, george jannini <georgejoann@gmail.com>wrote:

>  I burn wood scraps in the BioLite for the most part.   With a contractor
> friend and plenty of free time to cut stuff up into the appropriate size
> pieces, we usually have plenty.  The stove, grill and about enough wood to
> last a weekend fits into a backpack.  If I think that we'll need to bring
> more I fill a Costco cat litter plastic container up.
>
>    And if I feel like burning money, three are always those bags of hickory
> chunks from Kroger.
>
> Geo/ATL
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 11:06 PM, JRodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > North of the Panhandle of Alaska in the Mountain ranges along Prince
> > William Sound - you find mostly spruce and Hemlock, maybe some fir..On
> > the north and north east side of the range(Chugach Mountains) that
> > changes to mostly Spruce and Birch - Birch being the only hardwood
> > around. Usually there are some beetle kill areas you can collect from.
> > If not - then it's bring our own - be it wood or briquets. Birch,
> > Spruce, Cottonwood - best fire order. There may be some larch - but
> > after the larch almost everything is really small.
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> > On 1/3/2014 5:46 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> >
> >> Pinyon, of whatever species, is excellent firewood, and great for
> >> cooking.  Pinyon is common through much of the West and is sold as
> firewood
> >> wherever it occurs, though not in the NW.  In fact, it has gained such a
> >> reputation as good firewood that it is marketed well east of its natural
> >> range for the purpose.  Beetle killed lodge pole pine is also very good
> >> firewood, a fact I learned on a trip to Glacier National Park a couple
> of
> >> years ago.  I was burning for my campfire fire killed wood in a section
> of
> >> the park where wood collecting was allowed.  I did a favor for a fellow
> >> camper, and in return he supplied me with beetle killed lodge pole that
> >> he'd brought from his property a few miles away.  In much of the West
> Coast
> >> area Douglas Fir is preferred over other conifers for firewood.  When my
> >> daughter heated her house with wood while living on a University of
> >> California Research Preserve she used mostly Doug Fir.  mcneely
> >>
> >> ---- Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Here in Central Oregon, even when it's not fire season when all open
> and
> >>> charcoal fires (anything that has hot coals) are banned, finding
> >>> hardwood to burn -- less smoky, more btus per stick, better-tasting
> food
> >>> -- is essentially impossible as the predominant trees in the forests
> >>> here are conifers. I have not camped in all the public lands in the
> >>> western U.S., but I believe that this is generally true throughout the
> >>> region.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> >>> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
> >>> Bend, Ore.
> >>>
> >>> On 01/03/2014 09:36 AM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> ---- Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> RE burning wood...The point is, wood actually is a
> >>>>> plentiful and useful fuel and it is a wonder that more stove systems
> >>>>> do not
> >>>>> use it.
> >>>>> Jim
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> Wood is not always a plentiful fuel.  There are restrictions on
> >>>> gathering wood on a good deal of public land.  If one relied on
> locally
> >>>> gathered wood in a large portion of Big Bend National Park, one would
> have
> >>>> to eat cold food.  The same is true in many other national parks.
>  Fire
> >>>> bans are common as well, but often allow liquid or gas fuel in
> appliances
> >>>> made for them.
> >>>>
> >>>> Despite the claims of manufacturers of wood burning appliances, wood
> is
> >>>> not pollution free fuel.
> >>>>
> >>>> Buying fuel from vendors is also problematic.  It often comes from
> >>>> distant locations, resulting in transport of insect and disease pests
> into
> >>>> new areas.  I once bought some bundled firewood at a California State
> Park,
> >>>> only to discover when I got to my camp with it that it had a tag on it
> >>>> showing that it originated in British Columbia.
> >>>>
> >>>> I do burn wood when in locations where it is available.  Generally I
> >>>> use a fire ring and burn it in the open, but I have used some
> container
> >>>> type stoves as well.  When wood is available and there are no
> environmental
> >>>> or agricultural reasons not to burn it, I do like to have a fire.
>  And I
> >>>> like occasionally to cook a steak over wood coals.
> >>>>
> >>>> McNeely
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >> --
> >> David McNeely
> >>
> >>
>