KompetentKrew
Well-known member
I think Mr D used to make a smaller one, but I think his or the 2.8L Shuttle Chef will be too big for me.
Thermal cooker
- Thread starter oldhunter
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RichardS
N/A
Is this thread actually working?
Richard
Richard
Neeves
Well-known member
There are now a number of alternatives to the Shuttle Chef and Mr D's thermal cooker. There are a couple of Japanese brands, Tiger being one. Stanley the American maker of insulated vessels have a medium sized hot pot, it is simply a double walled stainless vessel, no internal pots, and Thermos have a range of small insulated vessels (again double walled and stainless) from which you can eat hot soup of stews in single serving sizes. The Stanley pot and the smaller Thermos, all wide mouthed, have arrived in Australia only over the last few months.
The Shuttle Chef, Mr D's and the Tiger pot are 'slow cookers;, double walled stainless and I believe the space between the walls is 'semi' evacuated, They all use an internal saucepan (which you buy with the double walled vessel - it comes as a kit). We have a large and 2 small Shuttle Chefs - marvellous. The smaller units are really used where you have cooked up, at home or on the boat, and want to keep a serving or a couple of servings hot for lunch or when on watch - not really 'slow cookers' but simply devices to keep cooked food hot. Aldi have sold 'something' - but it used polystyrene as the insulator - and it was not efficient.
Dewar's original device, now known in industry as a 'Dewar Flask' (liquid nitrogen etc) relied on the double wall being evacuated - as a vacuum does not transfer heat (and a polished surface (hence, in the past, the silvered glass) reflects heat.
Jonathan
The Shuttle Chef, Mr D's and the Tiger pot are 'slow cookers;, double walled stainless and I believe the space between the walls is 'semi' evacuated, They all use an internal saucepan (which you buy with the double walled vessel - it comes as a kit). We have a large and 2 small Shuttle Chefs - marvellous. The smaller units are really used where you have cooked up, at home or on the boat, and want to keep a serving or a couple of servings hot for lunch or when on watch - not really 'slow cookers' but simply devices to keep cooked food hot. Aldi have sold 'something' - but it used polystyrene as the insulator - and it was not efficient.
Dewar's original device, now known in industry as a 'Dewar Flask' (liquid nitrogen etc) relied on the double wall being evacuated - as a vacuum does not transfer heat (and a polished surface (hence, in the past, the silvered glass) reflects heat.
Jonathan
V1701
Well-known member
Yes & it's now been resurrected twice! FWIW pressure cookers are brilliant for stews, curries, etc. very little stean in the cabin, very little gas used, less expensive & tastier cuts of meat tender as, use mine loads especially in the winter...
KompetentKrew
Well-known member
I'd like a thermal cooker, have done a bit of amateur internet research, and had the impression that the Tiger isn't as good as the Shuttle Chef, which seems to be the gold standard.
I don't understand how a double walled stainless vessel alone would work - I understood the internal pot was so that you could heat it on the stove, and that the double walled insulated stainless would not work for actually cooking the food.
(PS: thanks for your reply to my PM about anchors, Jonathan - will respond by email later.)
Neeves
Well-known member
KK - you are most welcome, knowledge and experiences (such as it is) is not much use, or limited use, unless shared!
I don't know about the Tiger, I've only seen them. But the shuttle chef 'exterior' is like a giant thermos flask - and that is the principle on which it works. Double walled vessel and I think it is slightly evacuated. The original glass vacuum flask was evacuated - but by heat. You made the double walled vessel, left a little teat open - heated the vessel (the air inside expands) you then sealed the teat it was part of the vessel and made of glass and then you allowed it to cool - and you had a semi vacuum, crude and simple. The 'semi' vacuum provides the insulation. I cannot believe the interiors of the stainless vacuum vessel are polished, it would surely cost too much. I'm not about to chop ours up to find out either - they are, as remarked, too expensive.
These units are big and part of their effectiveness is that they simply have large thermal mass - all that soup cools slowly anyway. So .... the double walled vessel retains the heat and like a slow cooker the contents cook in that retained heat - you don't need 100 degrees to cook, lower the temperature it takes a bit longer - but it still cooks. After about 6-8 hours, I don't recall precisely, its still hot enough to eat and cooked. If it has cooled too far - it does not take long on the stove to pep it up a bit - and you can steam some veg at the same time (in the interior 'cooking' saucepan). Ours came with steamers that fitted into the top of the saucepan you use to cook (not sure if they still come with the steamers). The cooking pan is good quality heavy duty stainless, not thin steel.
We have just bought 2 of the small wide necked Thermos -= they are about mug sized and come with a little folding spoon. Here they are sold in pairs. We tried one with hot, boiling. water and it was sufficiently hot in the morning to be too hot to drink immediately - subjective - but we decided they were useful.
The best place to buy the Shuttle Chef, based on our experience, was in Hong Kong in the big department,ent stores.
We have the big Shuttle Chef and 2 small ones. The big one is used for family meals when we can have 11 round the table and the big one makes soup for us all. One of the small ones is on the boat and the other at home - which we use, though the soup last for more than one meal. The Stanley wide mouthed vessel, again I've only seen it, is smaller still but you need to use a separate saucepan and tip the contents into the 'Stanley' - preheat the Stanley with hot water first.
Really useful, it frees up space at the galley and you also have a cooked meal - if you plan as you can cook meat and veg all in one pot, leave and eat later. At sea we stick the shuttle chef in the sink.
Jonathan
KompetentKrew
Well-known member
I had the impression that the Tiger insulation wasn't as good - it's just plastic insulation. I think I read a test which compared them by measuring the heat after some hours.
The problem with the Shuttle Chefs is that, in the UK, they're so expensive. Thermos don't sell them here, so you have to order from overseas which means fat shipping fees, VAT and import duty.
The problem with the Shuttle Chefs is that, in the UK, they're so expensive. Thermos don't sell them here, so you have to order from overseas which means fat shipping fees, VAT and import duty.
Neeves
Well-known member
Bizarre marketing strategy.
There is obviously a market, why for example are they so popular in HK and Japan - but Thermos don't consider they would sell in the UK. Are the HK locals known for driving off in their caravans, mobile homes etc or going for 2 week cruise in their yacht?
Ours is not to reason why....
eBay?
Jonathan
There is obviously a market, why for example are they so popular in HK and Japan - but Thermos don't consider they would sell in the UK. Are the HK locals known for driving off in their caravans, mobile homes etc or going for 2 week cruise in their yacht?
Ours is not to reason why....
eBay?
Jonathan
