In a previous post we reviewed the Kelly Kettle–an off-grid cooking device that lets you boil water very quickly in almost any kind of weather using just small twigs and other tinder. Today we’ll be taking a look at two accessories–the Pot Support and Cook Set.
The Kelly Kettle by itself is great if you just want to boil water, but what if you need to do some actual cooking? By using the Pot Support, you can hold a pot or pan on top of your kettle as it is heating and cook a small meal.
The pot support consists of two small pieces of stainless steel that weigh just over two ounces. They slide together and fit into the chimney of the kettle, and will hold a pan up to about 6 1/2″ (maybe larger if you balance carefully).
The cook set includes a pot and lid/frypan, a cooking grate, and a gripper. Everything fits together into the base of the Kelly Kettle and adds less than a pound to the overall weight.
A few weekends ago we had a backpacking trip planned that got rained out, so we had some leftover Chili In A Bag (That link goes to a meals-in-jars post but you can place the contents in a Mylar bag as well) The chili needs to simmer for a bit over the heat after you add the boiling water, so this was a perfect test.
The dried chili mixture in the cook pot. We got the fire going in the base of the Kelly Kettle, and had boiling water in about 8 minutes.
We added the water to the chili mixture until it was a little bit soupy. It takes a few minutes for the beans to rehydrate, so it will thicken up as it cooks. A thorough stir with a camping spork …
…and the pot goes on top of the kettle to simmer. You need to remember to refill the kettle before you put it back over the fire – you should never use it empty or allow it to boil dry.
When using the pot support, you have to keep a closer eye on your fire. The Kelly Kettle acts like a rocket stove, and with just a few small twigs you can easily have flames coming out the top of the chimney. You don’t want that if you’re trying to simmer, so you want to keep the flame low, but not so low the you risk it going out. Also, you don’t want the flame so hot that the water continues to boil and bubbles out of the pour spout.
Like many pieces of camping cookware, the cooking pot does not have a handle attached, so you’ll need to use the detachable gripper to move it once it gets hot.
The pot has a lid that can double as a small frypan.
With the lid on you’re able to retain the heat and cook in bad weather.
Finally, the cook set comes with a small grate that can sit on the fire base. You could grill something directly on it,
…or use the cook pot on top of it. This would be good if you need to cook something for a long period of time and don’t want to worry about your water boiling over.
So, the Kelly Kettle Cook Set & Pot Support adds quite a bit of functionality, and since it packs inside the kettle it literally takes up no additional space. Because of the weight of the kettle and the cooking pots, it’s probably not something you’d take on a solo backpacking trip, and it’s also not something that’s going to cook every meal for your family of five. But for a two or three person camping trip, or as an off-grid backup device, it’s just right.
