The Adventurer, Cook Kit & Hobo Stove (hard anodised)
SportingGun tests two pieces of kit designed to improve your day in the field
There is something primal and wonderful about cooking outdoors. To this end,
I have had my eye on one of Ghillie Kettle’s products for a while. It struck me as a good way to boil water and cook when out in the field, so I recently took the plunge and bought one.
The kettle is a simple, but effective way of boiling water with a small fire made of twigs and other flammable materials. The design is a small, metal firepit with a chimney-style water container that stands on top. The air vent in the baseplate helps draw air through the kettle and out of the chimney, efficiently heating the water in the cavity wall.
I have been impressed with the simplicity of the kettle and its functionality in the field. It will boil water in under 10 minutes and only needs a small amount of fuel — there will be plenty of twigs and small branches in most areas where it would be used.
I opted for the Adventurer model, the largest of the kettles, holding up to 1.4 litres of water. I also chose the hard-anodised coating, a dull grey, to help the kettle blend into outdoor environments, compared with the shiny aluminium or silver anodised. The coating also offers better protection for the rough and tumble life my gear has to endure.
As well as the kettle, the set I bought has a cook kit and hobo stove. The set includes a saucepan, frying pan (doubles as a lid for the saucepan), pot gripper, pot support (slots into the chimney), a base stand and hobo stove. These attachments make the Ghillie Kettle versatile for cooking and for making a much-needed brew. The pot support means you can use the heat generated when boiling the water as a method of cooking.
The kettle has become a part of the staple gear we take when going shooting. We have a trug of twigs gathered from the garden and we use these to boil the kettle and cook. As we move into summer and our wood-fuel
Price: £109.99 range cooker isn’t lit as much, the kettle and stove is a real asset for cooking outdoors, as well as being therapeutic and saving on now very costly utility bills. You will be amazed at how many meals you can cook. I even use my large Lodge cast-iron pan on the stove to cook venison burgers and other meals.
I couldn’t recommend the Ghillie Kettle highly enough, not only as a practical asset in the field, but also as another way to enjoy the great outdoors.
ghillie-kettle.co.uk
Reviewer: Tom Sykes