Subject: PYROMID Stove- an Improved cooking device
Paul sent a FOUNDING letter on May 3, introducing himself, his PYROMID
stove, and a list of suggested criteria for stoves for developing
companies. I was so impressed that I typed it out and read to my wife,
made notes on it and ordered a stove. =
Paul, thank you for the quick delivery of the 12 inch Pyromid stove. It =
is
BEAUTIFUL, made out of mirror stainless, and after three tests is still
beautiful. This underscores your comment 3, "made from a durable
material". =
Results of preliminary testing:
Test 1: Cooking on charcoal (hotdogs). As recommended in the instructio=
ns
I lit the starter on the small grate, placed 9 Kingsford briquets (228 g)=
vertically on the larger grate, and had a "cookin'" fire in 10 minutes. =
I
put the grill on and cooked two hotdogs. Unfortunately the grate was too=
hot for such a small load, so there was some burning. I observed that th=
e
stove continued to be quite hot for 1 1/2 hours. I guess we need a large=
r
family or to have a barbecue for all the stovers on the internet. =
(This re-enforces my opinion that charcoal has many wastefullnesses - one=
,
that it continues to provide useful heat for hours after you are finished=
using it. The other is that 60% of the wood fuel value went elsewhere
during charcoal making.) =
Test 2: Bottom up lighting: I lit the starters on the lower grate, put o=
n
the upper grate, and covered it with 140 g of hickory chips. I had
"leaping" flames for 7-8 minutes, then charcoal only after 10 minutes. I=
put the grill on and cooked 2 hotdogs. Again, too hot, some burning but
hotdogs aren't expected to be gourmet. Should have been steaks. After
cooking I put the oven cover on and found that it was still 130 F after 1=
hour. =
Test 3: Top down cooking : Same as test 2, but I lit the starters and p=
ut
them on top of the chips on the second grate. Steadier flames, burned do=
wn
to charcoal in 10-15 minutes. Put on grill. Cooked hotdogs. Burned
hotdogs. Charcoal fire lasted about 1 hour. =
~~~~
General Observations: The Pyromid is an admirable portable stove for
charcoal cooking and barbecuing. My son-in-law (Asst. director of the MI=
T
Fusion Lab) is an avid barbecuer, cooking 4-7 dinners a week on charcoal
barbecue. I will take the Pyromid stove to our family reunion in New
Harbor, Maine, and get his expert opinion. (I also have a bag of "Jack
Daniel Briquettes", made from the (used) activated charcoal used to
de-headache Jack Daniels Whiskey and we'll see how he likes that.)
Barbecuing is only one mode of cooking, though possibly the oldest. Wate=
r
boiling (at 100C) is probably most common, deep frying (at about 190C) an=
d
baking (200C) are also important. So if we really want to help with
developing country cooking, we need to supply means to accomplish these a=
s
well. =
In developed countries I presume "barbecue mode" is less than 10% of tota=
l
energy used in cooking. Both boiling and deep frying require intense hea=
t
to reach temperature and good turndown to conserve fuel once the desired
temperature is reached. This is easily supplied with either gas or
electricity. Surprisingly, many cooks still prefer gas to electricity wh=
en
both are available. This is the reason that Ron and I have focused on
WOOD-GAS for cooking. =
~~~~
I would be interested in Paul's reactions to my primitive tests and
comments on the usefulness of the Pyromid for boiling, deep frying, bakin=
g
and barbecuing. =
~~~~
I have been amazed at the lack of response to Paul's letter. Paul said S=
RI
concluded that the top world problem was inefficient cooking and I would
agree. He outlined a possible plan for joint attack on the problem of
providing improved cooking for developing countries. I have seen no
response yet! Should I conclude that we are primarily interested in
sitting in our comfortable chairs and talking about this issue?
I will re-run his letter here, and look for some + or - response. =
Otherwise, maybe I'll "unsubscribe". =
Regardless, TOM REED