Boiler and a cup

[Big Sky Trapper]

I traded for this copper/tin boiler a few weeks ago and have been using it almost every weekend...So far pretty good, but being cuatiously slow...

For those of you that have this one, My concern with it is how much direct "Fire or coals "can it handle with out melting the tin down in side.

Obviously it cant take a complete saturation in the fire...My concern is never using one like this, How hot can it get and still reasonably cook becuase the tin cup had a small leak in the bottom where the solder didnt quite seal and it was easilly fixed with just a hot soldering iron...A solder iron seems no where near as hot as the camp fire....

 

Have you ever boiled eggs in a paper sack? It can be done and the principle here is the same as in any cooking. You never put a pot over heat with no contents in the pot.

As long as there is liquid in the pot you will not melt the solder or the tin coating.

General rules are:

1. keep the flames below the liquid level

2. keep the fire low and cook on coals or a very low flame

3. keep stiring and use a wooden spoon. Metal spoons will scrape away the tin lining.

 

[Desert Ratxx]

If it's the same as the one my buddy has you won't have any worries. What Ghost said covers it in a nutshell. My buddy once actually cooked bacon in a similar one (if not the same thing). Didn't come out real crisp but it was cooked and he didn't waste time shoveling it down.

 

[brubincam]

me being a big dummy---how do you boil eggs in a paper sack??? :v

 

[Rod Lassey]

I've got one of those HBC kettles as well. Had it for a number of years now, and it's still going strong. I think they're made in India, but they are made right, with the proper dovetail cramped seams. I've nestled mine right down into the coals/fire any number of times, and as is already pointed out, as long as it's full of liquids, no worries.

Rod

 

[Big Sky Trapper]

thanks folks. I knew someone on here was using them. I was worried about the tinning comming off but seems all should be ok.

Thanks again

 

[rice1817]

me being a big dummy---how do you boil eggs in a paper sack??? :v

Not sure about that one, but I have boiled water in a Dixie Cup. Water in the cup transfers heat faster than the fire can get the paper to ignition temperature. I bet it is the same principal.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yep. That's it. Set the eggs in a paper bag and pour in water then set on a flat rock over the coals before it soaks out the glue seams. The weight of the water will then keep the seams tucked in anyway and, eventually, the top of the bag burns away, the water fills up with ashes and the eggs will cook. But you gotta remember back in the '50 when Ghost was a Boy Scout bags were made tougher. ;-)

Half an orange rind works better.

And you can also roll Bisquick batter on a stick or around a weiner on a stick and char the outside while the inside stays raw and you pretend your is delicious while watching others kack on their results.

I can't remember the purpose, but there was a whole routine and ritual for a utensel and cookwareless meal.

Have also prepared whole meals in aluminum foil on a hot fire - when a piece by itself would disintegrate. The food/fluid is a great heatsink.

 

[Harold1950]

I found the pot and cup combo in Jas Townsend & Son, Inc. it says to use the pot over coals and not over open flames.....hope this helps........Harold

 

[ameling]

Those HBC copper pots are great for what they are, and far more accurate in the construction details and design than those "corn boilers" so many people carry. But they also fit a little later time period than most people think. They started to be made in the early 1800's, but are mostly an 1830's through 1860's copper pot. Use for time periods before 1800 can be fairly questionable. But they are still better than those "corn boilers" and those Civil War era "muckets".

All the proper care concerns have been already listed. Use over coals or low flames, and keep enough liquid in them.

I traded for two a number of years ago, and I use them for early 1800's events. But most of the time I now use a simple brass or copper trade kettle. They are those current "pail" type ones so many vendors are selling, but modified to a more correct size and with dog-ear bale lugs. The brass ones are tin lined, but my favorite is a small un-lined copper one that I put an iron strap rim around the top to replace that rolled wire rim. (And that iron rim can push the time period for it well back into the 1600's! But still in use up to the late 1700's.)

Just my humble thoughts to share, and best used in conjunction with your own research.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
- and dreaming of a "brown" Christmas - to melt all this ICE off of the roads/yard!

 

[Crossfire]

Hey, that's my pot. I have the same pot. I'm the guy that Desert Rat mentioned. I did fry bacon in it over very hot, burn the hair of the back of your hand, coals. For the record, it did come out crispy and the onions that cooked in their with it carmelized nicely thank you. :thumbsup: Yummy breakfast there. I have cooked small amounts of stew in their as well as boiling away hot chocolate last time we were out - whoops. Never had any problem with the joints. Only problem I have ever had is getting the lid off sometimes. It is very tight.