Bundu cooking means you have to manage without your set of fancy Amway pans and plug-in bread maker. We shopped around for great stuff that you can use.
CADAC NO 10 FLAT-BOTTOMED POTJIE
Get a Dutchy
Yes, three-legged potjies look cool, but they’re a mission to pack in the 4×4 and not very versatile.
Many off -roaders prefer to use only these flat-bottomed pots (also called bake pots or Dutch ovens) because it is a pot, pan and oven in one. You can fry stuff up, cook a stew, bake bread, roast silverside, boil veggies or eggs, or what have you. We’ve even heard of people flipping the lid to make a skottel!
The Cadac pot is great since the lid has a raised lip that helps keep the coals in place. Cadac have given this pot a wax coating so you don’t need to coat it with oil after use.
Price? R225
Contact? Cadac 0860 223 227; www.cadac.co.za
Drive Out says: To save space in the bakkie, you can store your round Cadac cooker top and rolled-up electrical lead in the pot – it fits nicely.
COGHLAN’S CAST-IRON CAMP COOKER
Square jaffles?
Camp Cooker? No man, it’s a jaffle iron! Either way, it serves up great sarmie-shaped toasted ham-and-cheese sarmies whether you’re in Steytlerville or Sossusvlei.
This one has a longer handle than usual (around 60 cm) and is made of solid cast iron, so you can pop it directly onto the coals or use it on a gas cooker.
Price? R135
Contact? Eiger Equipment 021 555 0363; www.eigerequipment.co.za
Drive Out says: A jaffle pan is versatile. It makes great breakfast sarmies. Pop a raw egg, fried bacon and some cheese between two slices of bread…
BLACK IRON PAN
Heavy metal
This is the original black iron pan . (Yes, we know, this one is really made of steel…) Don’t buy one for sautéing fresh asparagus wands over your expensive imported gas hob in your home kitchen.
But for camp cooking it’s the bomb as the whole pan is made of heavy-duty mild steel. It has a certain kind of rugged authenticity to it and it will take anything you can throw at it.
Price? R285 – R495
Contact? Greensport 021 915 5220; www.cymot.com
Drive Out says: A black iron pan should always be “cooked in” before you start using it. The easiest way is to brown some vegetable oil in it. After repeating this a few times a permanent sealing layer forms.
SAFARI BREAD OVEN
Yes sir, you can bake a bread
Baking delicious fresh bread in the Safari bread oven is easy. All you need are lekker hot coals and a ball of well-kneaded dough.
The chances of burning the bread are much smaller than in a cast-iron oven because it has a small bread pan inside that keeps it out of contact with the direct heat of the coals. And it is versatile – it can be used for chicken, fish, veggies and even as a smoker. It also has a hinged lid that can be lifted with tongs to check progress.
The downside is that it is made of mild steel that rusts at the slightest provocation, and it doesn’t have handles to make it easy to move when smoking hot.
Price? R290
Contact? Outdoor Warehouse 0800 003 051; www.outdoorwarehouse.co.za
Drive Out says: A Dutch oven or iron pot works very well for baking bread if you don’t have space for an oven. The trick is to regulate the heat with coals on top and underneath so that you don’t burn the bread.
PIET FLUIT KETTLE
Whistle-blower
Camping connoisseurs prefer this stainless steel Piet Fluit kettle above cheap aluminium kettles. A South African invention that also whistles when the water boils, it has an unusual, conical design with a wide base and narrow neck that is apparently the most efficient for heating water.
It’s a beast with a capacity of 4.5 litres. But you can place it directly in the coals, or chuck it into the back of a bakkie and it will still last you a lifetime.
If you balk at the price of this one, buy the cheap aluminium ones sold in some coops.
Price? R980
Contact? Safari Centre 021 595 3910; www.safaricentre.co.za
Drive Out says: Good, local stuff like this tend to be more expensive than products imported from China, but the quality is exceptional and you support a local business.
HOT-RODS SUMP
Rev up your fry-up
The name might suggest this deep-walled rectangular pan is for holding your souped-up Skyline’s engine oil, but it’s actually for frying up eggs, bacon, boerewors and mushrooms over the coals. Or anything else you want to.
Stainless steel looks better than mild steel and cast iron, and apart from being easy to keep clean, the surface doesn’t have any pores to harbour bacteria. Besides, it fits perfectly into an ammo box.
You can use it directly over the coals, but it needs to be supported by a grid, bricks or a tripod.
Price? R269
Contact? Camptrails 021 448 6012; www.liveafrica.co.za
Drive Out says: A good bit of kitchenware to have if you’re catering for all the families in the convoy…
KANGO ENAMEL POTS
Chip off the old block
These Kango pots come in four sizes – 3.5 litre, 5.7 litre, 8.5 litre and the gargantuan 12.5 litre – and could be used for making soup, rice, veggies, or even just heating a large volume of water for washing up.
Unlike cast iron, enamel can’t handle high temperatures, so it shouldn’t be used directly on coals like a potjie. But on a grid or gas cooker it’s fine.
The outside coating also doesn’t show soot or stain like aluminium does, so it’s a good choice for a camp kitchen.
Price? From R155 – R370
Contact? Greensport 021 915 5220; www.cymot.com
Drive Out says: Enamel does scra
tch, so use plastic or wooden utensils with these pots. Also, try not to drop them…
LK’S CHICKEN ROASTER
Drunken duck? No, plastered chicken
This baby works just like the well-known Beer Bird. Only better, because it has its own roasting dome so you can use it over open coals where the Beer Bird only works in an oven or kettle braai.
You park the chicken upright with legs wide open astride a kind of rocket-shaped perforated chicken impaler that fits over a can of beer. The beer infuses and tenderises the meat while it cooks.
The base doubles as a dish for cooking veggies with the bird.
Another score over the Beer Bird is that you don’t need to use a can. It has a reservoir inside into which you can pour fruit juice, wine, milk stout, mampoer…
The only problem is, it’s bulky.
Price? R379
Contact? Greensport 021 915 5220; www.cymot.com
Drive Out says: You can place any deep lid, like that of a casserole dish, over meat on a grid to create an oven-like effect.
COGHLAN’S CAMP STOVE TOASTER
Gotta have toast…
While you will never enjoy exactly the same quality of toast when camping, this Coghlan’s one that you put on a gas cooker top does a pretty good job.
The design is simple: when folded it’s about the size of a dinner plate. The round metal base is designed to spread the burner’s heat evenly.
It doesn’t pop up automatically so you need to watch it carefully.
Price? R35
Contact? Camp and Climb 021 510 8112; www.campandclimb.co.za
Drive Out says: If you spread butter on both sides of a slice of bread and fry it in a hot skillet, it makes very nice toast. Don’t forget the marmelade.
VOLCANO SKOTTLE
What a dish
This skottel won’t scratch, won’t dent and – importantly – won’t warp, even if you put it directly onto the coals.
But you will warp if you drop it on your foot. It’s pressed from 6-mm aluminium (four times the thickness of regular pans) and given a special treatment that alters the structure of the metal to make it tough as nails. No, actually, much tougher than nails.
It’s a big boy, measuring 46 cm across, but the handles fold into the pan for easy packing.
Price? R399
Contact? Volcano Cookware 011 914 5060; www.volcanocookware.co.za
Drive Out says: Volcano products are all manufactured here in South Africa, so you’re supporting local industry when you buy one.
LK’S MIELIE BRAAI GRID
Not a corny joke
Mielies aren’t easy to braai. In foil in the coals, they burn, and they are too thick to put into the same grid with the chops. And on top of the grill they roll around like drunken students.
Enter the LK’s mielie grid. This piece of space-age technology holds between four and six mielies (depending on the size).
Price? R70
Contact? LK’s Braais and Accessories 021 905 0640; www.lks.co.za
Drive Out says: It’s chromed, so it will last longer than a plain mild steel grid. But still clean it after each use to get many years of service.
KEEP IT CLEAN
“Packing the kitchen sink” jokes aside, you obviously do need to have a decent wash-up station in your campsite. We swear by these two items:
Safari Fold-up basin: These 10-litre basins are made from flexible PVC (the same strong stuff used on tent groundsheets), so you can roll them up for easy packing. R115 at Safari Centre.
Brass scourer: Affectionately known as Goldilocks, these are tough enough to use on a really dirty potjie, but also rinse clean easily when you’re done. R10 at Pick ’n Pay.
