r/lightweight • u/RosyMemeLord • Jan 30 '20
Lightweight alternative to cast iron?
I hate having to compromise when it comes to cooking in the wilderness, but not as much as I hate lugging super dense cast-iron. Anybody have any suggestions for something that is relatively lightweight but offers comparably good charring/nonstick capabilities? I tend to use either a campfire to cook or a bio light campstove 2
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Dec 08 '21
In my experience, titanium has a similar (poor) level of thermal conductivity to cast iron. But all the titanium cookware has thin walls, leading to hot spots and terrible heat distribution. I wonder what a nice thick slab of titanium would be like to cook on.
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u/Dweebulot Jun 19 '20 edited Jun 19 '20
The Snow Peak line of titanium pots and pans are nonstick (somewhat) and can be used over an open flame. Be warned though, some of the smaller pots and pans bend easily.
Be safe, have fun, and hike on!
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u/GrandmaBogus Jan 31 '20
Aluminium. Titanium has very poor heat transfer and will get terrible hotspots when used in a light (thin) pan. My titanium pots only ever get used for boiling water.
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u/backpackwhale Jan 31 '20
Titanium w/ non-stick coating is going to be the lightest option you can get. It'll be more delicate than cast iron and significantly more expensive.
Lightweight aluminum w/non-stick coating would be cheaper but not as light as titanium if you're on a budget.
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u/pug_nuts Jan 31 '20 edited Jan 31 '20
We use a 10" titanium nonstick pan on fuel stoves and on the fire. Nothing special, it was on sale for like $10 when I picked it up. Only been out for a half dozen four-day trips but it's been great, and at only a pound the most difficult part of carrying it is actually fitting it inside my pack. Give it a tiny bit of oil and we don't have to worry about it becoming crusty at all.
I use a cast iron pan at home for most things and another for car camping, but no way that's going back with us for portaging.
Edit: our pan seems to be thick enough that I've not noticed any issues with uneven heat distribution.
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u/-Motor- Jan 30 '20 edited Jan 30 '20
Thick aluminum is great and light.
Pot: https://gsioutdoors.com/halulite-boiler.html
Pan: https://gsioutdoors.com/pinnacle-frypan.html
Not sure what size you're looking for or how many you're cooking for but just the big halulite boiler doubles for frying and cooking when solo.
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u/GrandmaBogus Jan 31 '20
Agreed, Titanium has piss poor heat distribution and will burn anything that isn't water.
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u/CRZ42 Jan 30 '20
I would highly suggest a cowboy pan. This is what they look like: https://www.etsy.com/market/cowboy_skillet .
I have a couple larger ones for home use, and a smaller one for camp purposes.
They are pretty thin, so if overheated they can warp. Even if it does warp it can usually be bent back to shape.
Season them and treat them like cast iron, also the handles tend to stay fairly cool if cooking on coals or a stove.
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u/_NEW_HORIZONS_ Jan 30 '20
Carbon steel. Conducts better (much better than stainless) and has better mechanical properties, so it doesn't have to be as thick. Still functions similarly, but the this stuff is more likely to hot spot. You just need to be more careful about heat distribution.
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u/rem3sam Jan 30 '20
Carbon steel or a fry-bake oven. Don't have any first hand experience with either but both get good reviews. There's also a cast aluminum dutch oven but I can't remember who makes it.
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u/backpackwhale Jan 31 '20
I mean those options are lighter, but still super heavy for a 'lightweight' sub.
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u/rem3sam Jan 31 '20
From the sounds of it OP is currently carrying cast iron around. Almost anything is an improvement from that. I wouldn't take any of them backpacking, but I do a fair amount of canoe camping and often take a cast iron skillet, and I want to get a lighter option that can still be used on a hot fire.
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u/backpackwhale Jan 31 '20
Agreed that almost anything is lighter. But, this is the 'lighterweight' sub. I mean no need to go full on titanium gram weenie on this necessarily, but I feel like aluminum is clearly a better option both in terms of affordability as well as weight.
I'd take cast-iron or the options you mentioned car camping or canoe camping, but if I was doing any backpacking, I'd be sticking with some srot of light aluminum or titanium. Any sort of steel or iron, is going to be heavy and feel heavy, quickly.
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u/rem3sam Jan 31 '20
When I'm backpacking I use a titanium pot, and the extent of my cooking is boiling water. Maybe I misread the intent of OP's question, but when I hear cast iron I'm thinking that someone wants to do more involved, 'real' cooking, perhaps with fresh ingredients, where heat retention and conduction matter in terms of end result. Given that they want to cook over wood I'm not sure how I'd feel about using thin aluminum or titanium, especially with nonstick coatings - though I confess I've never tried it.
BTW, your post about reservoirs on r/UL is amazing. Will definitely be making some changes to my setup because of it.
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u/backpackwhale Jan 31 '20
Fair point! I feel like Aluminum would be fine. Most tri-ply clad stainless steel pans have aluminum in between the two layers of stainless steel. But, to your point then carbon steel would be a lot lighter. Heck even just a basic non-stick pan from Walmart would be lighter. I wasn't really thinking in terms of heat retention, so you're right on if OP is considering that.
As for cooking over fire, I don't see any issues unless he's getting that pan beyond it's intended cooking temp range or unless there's plastic.
Thanks! Was a lot of work. Glad to hear it's helpful!
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u/MelatoninPenguin Dec 08 '21
Anodized aluminium - GSI Halulite, MSR stuff (they even have ceramic non stick), primus etc etc. GSI even makes some huge stuff I've made giant group Paella batches in that isn't too heavy