Eddie Hughes shows off a different way of cooking while on the road.
During my travels I met a lovely lady who a lot of you will also know — Janet Kelly, a solo traveller in her Mercedes Sprinter.
I was sitting outside my Transit at the Rocky Creek “freebie” on the road to Mareeba (Q) with an out-of-date 9kg gas bottle on my knees, drawing on it with a texta, planning on where I was going to attack it with an angle grinder to make a cooker (like the hundreds already in use).
Janet approached me and asked what I was doing. I told her, to which she muttered something about “men” and told me to “wait here and don’t go away!”.
She returned a minute later with a colander still smouldering. She told me that she had just made a fruit cake and a loaf of bread (which she also brought over) in her camp oven which sits in the colander on a couple of tent pegs pushed through holes in the colander. Whoa!!! I thought – how brilliant!
I took her idea on-board and added another dimension by using the system to spit roast a piece of meat, poultry etc by pushing 4 skewers through the chook etc in a square shape. The meat sits on top of the colander, with the skewers resting on the edge of it.
Cover with alfoil to keep the heat in and turn the meat every 10 minutes or so (takes about an hour for a 1kg roast or about 3-4 cans). You can add spuds, pumpkin, etc wrapped in Alfoil to the coals about 15-20 minutes before the roast is done (keep the spuds, etc, smallish).
And guess what? It bloody works!!! You can be set up for around $20, it’s compact and light-weight. Huge bonus — there is almost no washing up! Simply wipe skewers with a paper towel and the colander, when cold, just slides into a plastic bag ready for next time – voila!
I have showed off Janet’s system wherever I’ve gone and reckon I’ve been responsible for a huge surge in colander sales — may even save the world economy eh Janet?
Go out to Big W, K Mart, hardware stores, Target etc etc and buy yourself a stainless steel colander (like the one you wash salads in). It needs to be around 30cm accross the top. also buy some stainless skewers (4 is good for spit roasting — make sure that they are long enough — around 40cm).
You will also need a metal tray for sitting the colander on (stops burning the grass), some firelighters and some heat beads (the type that you use in a Weber). You’ll also need some tent pegs for resting your camp oven on.
You simply place 3-4 firelighters in the base of the colander, add about 6-8 heat beads (depending on what you’re cooking etc), set it alight and wait until the heat beads turn grey – then you’re ready to cook!
It’s that easy!
The cooker is called the “Kelly Kampa Kooka” and when you pass on the KKK to others (which you certainly will do), make sure that you also pass on the proper name.
By the way, Janet’s fruit cake done in the KKK is bloody bewdifull!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, Eddie. The KKK is a great invention. Janet has been using it for years! She’s a smart ‘cookie’ and knows how to cook just about anything. Enjoy your KKK! I bet you’re glad you met Janet!
If I ever get on the road – this certainly sounds like something I’m going to try :>}
G’day Margaret & Laurel,
Sorry for the delay in responding!
Yes Margaret, am very glad to have met up with Janet – she sure is a smart cookie and nice as well.
Layrel, you don’t have to be on the road to use the KKK – do it at home!
Where does the camp oven fit in to all of this. I couldn’t see one in the photos, and I thought most camp ovens would be too big to fit into a colander.The colander looks like it has a trivet sitting in it? Is this the case?
G’day Colleen,
Get yourself a small camp oven _ I think it’s 2.5 litres, about 8 inches accross with a concave lid. You can get it at BCF etc. A couple of tent pegs wiggled through the holes in the side of the collander at the height that suits you is where the camp oven sits inside the collander.
Bon appetite!
Eddie you have just changed my mind, I did intend to get an old gas bottle to use, but after reading about the KKK, am totally convinced that is the way to go. I had been using an old wok to sit my camp oven in, but the KKK sounds a much better idea Cant wait to get away camping now, thanks heaps.