Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting anybody use old tin fry pan?

I was wondering is the old tin frying pans like acme or national season like a cast iron skillet? Iron is to heavy and I fry fish a lot when I camp. Is the stuff good or is it junk?

Coleman has fry pans in several sizes with folding handles. We use them car camping all the time and they work quite well. The 9" one weighs about 1 lb. Whether you consider it to be too heavy is up to you.

I own one those Coleman frying pans and have used it for several years. They are made of steel and they don't have a non-stick surface. Finally decided that it was too heavy and bought a lighter one made by MSR. Haven't used it yet. We'll see how it works next summer.



MSR Aluminum Frying Pan

KC

Some years back had a 9" pressed steel fry pan with a "kool" handle. Sawed all but about "2 1/2" inches off the handle and replaced it with 2 pinned copper loops. When camped out would whittle a wood handle to fit the loops. Worked very well. Somewhere along the way someone "liberated" it from me. Fit very well in an old Trapper Nelson pack frame and pack sack. Cooked many a meal over an open campfire. Still wish I had it.

Yeah Roundup, I know how you feel. Many things over the years have been five fingered from my possession.

I use a vintage, old, stamped steel fry pan cooking fish on a lake.

Not kitchen quality in 2014, but it works.

I don't like the way Al cooks. It doesn't spread the heat as well as steel or Ti. It's ok for heating soups & stuff, but not for frying.

I have one of those. I've used it last two seasons. It is great if you're counting ozs. I looked at one with a heavy bottom, not sure of the brand, that I know would distribute heat more evenly.
This MSR is very lightweight and that's about the best thing I can say. Cooking over a stove requires you move it around or else you'll have a hotspot where the flame hits which will quickly burn the crap out of anything. But that's true when using a stove with almost anything other than boiling water. I've made pancakes, fried eggs, ham etc. successfully with it.

My biggest complaint is the non-stick surface is somewhat chipped and wearing even though I've never used anything other than plastic utensils with it.

For what you get, I think it's a bit pricey. What you pay for is the light weight. If weight is less of a concern, I'd opt for something more substantial which is available considerably cheaper.

A stamped steel frying pan can be seasoned just like cast iron. It's done all the time with woks. Woks are very often used for deep frying, like eggrolls, and ought to do well frying fish. There are some aluminum frying pans coming out now with a ceramic non-stick lining and there's also the hard anodized aluminum pans. The hard anodized pans don't season, but they are still relatively easy to clean. My favorite is the GSI 10" hard anodized aluminum dutch oven, but it's a bit heavy for backpacking. Another possibility would be the Evernew non-stick titanium frying pans. A 20 cm. ECA443 pan would be about 8" across the top. Not cheap, but light weight and might actually allow some cooking instead of just heating stuff up.

The Coleman pans have some kind of slick black coating. While it's not Teflon, its pretty easy to clean. I just use one of those green scouring pads and so far everything has come off readily. It's only drawback is a little extra weight.

I have the Coleman myself, works nicely but the coating is coming off.

I really like the Paderno Lightweight Carbon Steel Skillet 9" from Ben's Backwoods.

http://www.bensbackwoods.com/carbon-steel-skillets/

Weighs 10.6 ounces and can be seasoned like cast iron.
Looks like they are out of stock right now though.

I have been using an inexpensive, small light-weight stainless steel fry pan with a copper bottom made by Texsport. Regardless of the cooking surface, it cooks nice and evenly. I've used it cooking over a small campfire and, earlier this year on a titanium tent stove. Works great.

Thanks gentlemen. I found a few of the carbon steel antique frying pans at a couple of antuique shops. I got one that is 8" across the top and one that is about 12" across the top. They are the cold handle type skillets and I have read how to season with flaxseed oil. I used lard for my cast iron, but flaxseed oiI is all the rage so I I'll give it a whirl.

In case someone else is looking for some good cookware I have found several other carbon steel pans online. Frontier frying pan looks exactly like what I have but its new. Lodge makes a carbon fry pan too buy they are more expensive. Thanks for your help and advice.