I am quite sure everyone loves to eat while they are overlanding, but what do you use to cook? For the longest time, we just used a Coleman 2 burner stove and during our adventures and that style seems to be what is most often used. When I heard about the Tembo Tusking Cooking Skottle, I could would not stop talking about it to my wife. Well, she ended up getting me one for Christmas last year. At first it just sat by our backdoor waiting for the warmer weather of spring to use for the camping season, until, one day, I decided he should probably test it out before we actually need it on a camping trip. Well folks, cooking outdoors has never been the same or with such easy cleanup!
The skottle is amazing! It is extremely versatile for meals both on and off the trail. It comes pre-seasoned so it is ready to use immediately, if you have all the parts. I purchased the skottle from Blue Ridge Overland Gear and quickly realized that you have to buy the skottle ($185), the 10,000 btu Coleman burner ($23.99 Amazon prime), propane, and if you want the carrying bag ($59.99) or a lid ($25.00) all separately. So all together it comes out right around $300. The skottle was designed by a South African farmer finding a secondary use for old harrow discs and used for cooking while out in the field. You simple attach the legs, screw on the 16.4 oz propane bottle or use an adapter for a larger one for at home purposes or long trips if you have room to store it, and fire it up with an extended lighter, and voilà you are ready to cook! It is similar to wok style cooking so the very center is the hottest with the outside being cooler, so you can easily adjust from cooking to keeping other items warm by moving them to the outside edge. It is 18” of cooking space and stands 28” tall with the legs installed, which, btw, is not such a great height for girls cooking in short shorts. It functions and cleans like cast iron. We clean it with rock salt and hot water and then season with bacon grease or coconut oil. The more it is used the better the non-stick surface gets. Cold sandwiches are okay, but if you are anything like me, you can’t eat the same thing everyday and this allows you to make a wide variety of food in little time. You can cook anything that is normally cooked in a pan, skillet, or on a grill: bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, steak, riblets, stir fry, hamburgers, fajitas, quesadillas, grilled cheese, pizza, pasta, and I was even told cookies(stillness to try this one), which if you know my wife, she is a cookie monster!
It stores up easily in its carrying bag, which is also made by Blue Ridge Overland Gear. It is top quality and has enough room to store, not only the skottle, but an extra bottle of propane. It saves a lot of space when traveling since its your heat source and cooking container. So you can leave those pots and pans at home. The only negatives we have found is the legs can be a pain to get the screw holes lined up and boiling water can be tricky.
We always have the old Coleman 2 burner stove for backup but unless we are cooking a lot of food, the skottle is our only means of cooking out on the trail. In my opinion, this is a must-have for overland travelers and one of my favorites amongst camping gear.
