By: Blonde Two
I have had my Alpkit BruKit for some time now and it is great, one push of a button and I can brew up enough water for three cups of tea almost as quickly as I can at home. It can also fit two bags of ‘microwave’ meals in at a time (hint – you can heat up most packet microwave dinners in boiling water).
This however does not constitute in my mind ‘proper’ camp cooking. I have to confess to so far being a bit precious about the BruKit, being reluctant to cook anything in it that might stick to the bottom. However with a night in a bothy came a flat work surface and a sink so I decided to make a decent culinary attempt at feeding Mary Ann when she arrived (with wine!)
I wanted to cook pasta so (rather cleverly I thought) I chopped fresh tomatoes, olives, garlic and seasoning into a bag and packed it with dried pasta and a pot of cream cheese (my secret pasta sauce ingredient). As one of my aims was to avoid sticking stuff to my BruKit, I struck on the idea of cooking the sauce first and then ‘washing’ this off by boiling the pasta.
This method relied on the presence of an alternative receptacle in which to put the sauce while the pasta cooked (‘alternative receptacle’ is not on either the DofE or Ten Tors kit list), but I needed one in which to serve up a second portion of pasta so that was fine (plus, let’s remember, I had arrived in a great big truck!)
The BruKit’s simmering ability was better than expected and the tomato mixture cooked down well, if rather too runny. I had to get rid of some juice (which if I had thought about it would have made a great cup of soup) before I added the cream cheese but that too melted well without sticking. The pasta was an absolute doddle to cook and did so quickly without any scary boiling over. (One thing that you have to remember with the BruKit is to turn it down before water bubbles over and drops onto your hand as you fumble with the knob).
I have to say I was very pleased with the resulting dinner and it was complimented by Mary Ann’s bottle of red ( a splash of which was mixed into the pasta). I shall be repeating the experiment soon. The cream cheese options are endless, chorizo, tuna, mushrooms, rosemary, garlic… or, if you are very hungry, all five!
Kit Note: The original sized BruKit is no longer available, but you will be able to buy both its pink coated big sister (BruKit Wolf) and little brother (BruKit Jackal) very soon. We Blondes would like to try out a big bad Wolf for DofE – we reckon it would do half a team’s catering quite adequately. At £45 and £39 respectively these still represent great value compared to other jet boilers.
And there I was imagining you cloistered in Zero Gully on Ben Nevis, plugging your somewhat cumbersome BruKit into the rockface (they’ve got Internet access these days, as well) and sitting down to drink a glass of 4.5 AV light ale.
Stroke of marketing genius by the manufacturer, calling the two models Wolf and Jackal. Such comforting names.
Males me think of Ray Mears who has purportedly walked many miles into the jungle alone. He lights a fire, and next you see him cooking from a cast iron cooking pot designed for cannibals to cook a whole human in. He has also built a shelter using a 7lb. felling axe.
Well boys! You are both right of course. The BruKit is bulkier than some camp stoves although the gas packs inside quite neatly with all the other bits. These jet boilers are really quick and don’t require matches (always wise to carry some just in case) I think Alpkit have done a sensible thing with the slightly smaller and slightly bigger options.
I think I’ll stick to my tiny gas burner that packs to 4″x4″x4″ and fits inside the smallest billy I could buy. I had a modern lightweight folding cookset that I have discarded – it kept on tipping my beautifully cooked dinner onto the ground. Veggie food is brill – shove it all in one pot with a spot of oil and water, minimum cooking time – just don’t invite the neighbours. (They wouldn’t come.) Ray Mears, eat your heart out – but be aware, I’m too skinny.
As you know and have sampled the delights of my jetboil in the past they are ace pieces of kit, The Alpkit being a fab more reasonable option than the JB long may you enjoy xxx