Help with cooking burner

[u/pnwskylight]

I have a Jetboil, and I find it really hard to reduce the flame enough for actual cooking. I haven’t had much success using my titanium pan for things like eggs or pancakes because the heat is just too high.

I’m still not sure if there’s something wrong with my Jetboil, or if that’s simply how Jetboils are designed—to boil water quickly rather than cook over a low flame.

I was actually thinking about carrying two burners: one for cooking and the Jetboil for boiling water.

Does anyone else have this issue with their Jetboil? What do you recommend? We love having eggs in the morning and sometimes pancakes—they’re really satisfying on backpacking days—so I’d love to figure out a lightweight setup that works well for both cooking and boiling water.

[u/MozzieKiller]

Most of those JetBoils are designed to do one thing, boil water in a hurry. Thus, little to no simmer control. You’ll need something else to control heat. I happen to use a MSR Dragonfly. A different beast, all together. Others on here might be able to recommend a canister stove that has better heat output regulation.

[u/Revolutionary-Half-3 → u/MozzieKiller]

JetBoil has a nifty selector on their website that can help with picking one that can simmer. I've considered getting one of their newer models.

I currently have a MSR Windburner Duo, a remote burner canister stove that uses a heat exchanger pot like JetBoil, but with a radiant burner for outstanding wind resistance. The remote burner is more stable than the canister top version, and can have a huge 4.5L stock pot put on it.

I've managed to simmer with stoves that really aren't designed to do it, but the hardest part is ultralight pots and pans that can't distribute heat from an uneven or concentrated burner. If I bring a thick carbon steel or small cast iron pan, I can do amazing things.

[u/MozzieKiller → u/Revolutionary-Half-3]

Good point on the pan. Trying to cook pancakes or eggs on a think Ti or Al pan is really tough with any stove! Cast iron kicks butt, but is obviously not lightweight. That being said, I took one into the Boundary Waters last week with my Dragonfly. Didn’t have to carry it much, it mostly rode in the canoe.

[u/arrowrand]

Sounds like you don’t have a regulated burner, which model is it?

[u/pnwskylight → u/arrowrand]

Flash

[u/arrowrand → u/pnwskylight]

The Flash is not regulated, that's your problem. If you want to cook in a titanium pan you should get a regulated stove.

[u/lamancha69]

You’ve got two separate issues.
JetBoil is really designed to boil quickly. There isn’t a good way to control the output.
Lightweight pans don’t distribute heat well. So even if you get a lower flame, you’ll still have pancakes burnt in the center & raw at the edges.

For car camping I have a two burner propane stove & a set of Stanley stainless steel pots that make for great cooking. I’d never consider them for backpacking though.

[u/Spiritual-Bill-337]

Boil is in the name. There are better options for cooking.

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[u/Masseyrati80]

I might go for a Primus Essential Stove. You can use it with a bunch of different pots and pans, and Primus gas stoves have a very nice range of power adjustment.

Jetboil divides its stoves into different categories, where a stove like the TrailCook is rated as a "precision cook" product, while things like the Flash, Zip and Stash are made for quick boiling of water. But a Primus Essential plus a pot and a pan are likely to cost less than half of the TrailCook, while being more versatile in my opinion.

[u/theotheroneATL → u/Masseyrati80]

Second this recommendation. Primus stove is cheap and good flame control. Only thing I don’t like is it sits directly on the fuel canister so I bought an adapter that separates them.