Cooking with titanium

“I have a new titanium pot that I like as far as design and ergonomics. I am hearing different things about cooking with titanium and want to get the benefit of experience.

I am told that titanium is fine for boiling water but not for cooking. I am told that cooking with a titanium pot, the food scorches, or the pot gets screwed up.

I do not contemplate complex cooking with the pot, but would like the food to simmer for just a few moment. I cannot believe that simmering food would result in scorching.

Anybody have ideas about this or experience I can draw from?”

“Hey Geo...I was in a camping supply store this weekend...I thought of you as I wondered by the cook pots! :-)”

“That's the way you think of me - the cook? You probably want to be served breakfast in bed too?”

“Geo-you should really come to TC2.”

“hay thats how I think of treebeard!


j/k hun”

“I have heard the same thing - I use an MSR stainless steel pot that has the same problem. In any event, simmering is difficult for me because I use an MSR Whisperlite. My personal solution is an insulated, over-sized (2 cu) coffee cup that was probably designed for long-haul truck drivers. I put in my freeze dried food or noodles, etc. and pour in boiling water. I screw the lid on and it's ready in a couple of minutes. Works great in the winter, too. Happy trails.”

“I will be at the Army-Navy game. I've gone every year for the past eight years. I go with a group of vets. We rag on each other. After the game, losers congratulate the winners, we go home friends, and start the next day to rag for next year. It's a tradition.

TC3 needs to be a different weekend.”

“BTW, Knorr cup-a-soup rocks. I'll never go back to Lipton.”

“I should say that I have a Pocket Rocket, and the simmer goes real low on those cuties.”

“I cook all the time with my MSR Ti pot. My meals are usually dehydrated chili and pasta with sauce. I simmer for 10-14 minutes and the only time I burned food was when I forgot to stir every minute or so.”

“to create some really great meals...put the dried food into a heavy duty plastic baggie and then just add 1 cup of boiling water, eat directly out of the bag and then just zip it closed and pack it out, or burn it in the camp fire or bury it...whatever.

I will never mess a pan again. Don't need titanium to boil water...ultra light aluminum pot...dented....$.99 at REI garage sale. aluminum foil for a lid. Come to TC2 and learn how to be a real backpacker”

“Not exactly scientific proof here but just from my observations cooking with Ti or any pot that has a really thin sheet of metal has a learning curve. Scorching can easily occur because the heat source is concentrated on a small area. Just turn the stove down or shuffle it over the flame to prevent heat from being so focused on one spot. I really love my MSR Blacklight. Its as light as a Ti set but made of Al with Teflon and a bottom that suppose to distribute the heat more evenly.”

“Breakfast in bed??? Hmmmm....that is a thought!”

“and muff(ins)while in bed or the sleeping bag.”

“SUPRISE....that YOU would bring that up!”

“My only problem with my Ti pot is that it is so light it wants to slide off of the stove. With care, I can simmer without problem.


I picked up a MSR Whisperlite tip on my last trip-it is easier to get a simmering flame if you don't pump it up fully. Start it, boil your water, don't pump it up again, let the pressure drop and its easier to simmer.”

“Thanks.”

“Thanks for the tips. I see that the flame does concentrate with the Pocket Rocket. So when the water comes to a boil, I'll have to remember to cut the heat down before adding the food, then letting it simmer and remembering to stir.

Stirring is a key consideration I would imagine, with just about any pot.

Thanks for the advice on the 99-cent pot stikkie, but I already have the titanium pot, lighter than my other pot and I don't need to carry a pot grip! It's also a little larger, so I can boil water for coffee and oatmeal in one fell swoop in the morning.”

“I use my buck tool pliers.

CG you like hot buns in the morning too? I forgot to add that I also like hot, gooey sticky buns too.”