When Ian asked me to do another article for the camping issue on a particular stove, I thought it wasn’t a particularly hot topic. But I’ve been slowly warming up to it (sorry, this is as good as it gets at 5:30 in the morning!). Actually, I didn't realize how psyched I was gonna get or how much more depleted my account would become (Ian, can I do tent stakes or paper napkins next year?)

The suggestion was to profile a stove (cooking system?) called the Pyromid® (pronounced Pi´-ro-mid as in pyromaniac) from Pyromid, Inc., Box 6466, Bend, OR 97708, 800-824-4288. Interestingly enough, they have a whole line of other stoves and accessories including smaller models like this one. But getting a smaller one is like eating dietetic candy - why bother?

To acquire one of these stoves, I was to contact Rick Thomas, owner of Redline Compact Camping & Travel Gear, Box 1113, Lakeville, MN, 55044, 877-282-1234, www.redlinegear.com.

 
Pyromidâ® stove packed

The first two things that struck me when it arrived were its compact size and its weight. As you can see in the picture, it is very compact. What you can’t see is its weight; this puppy weighs two pounds more than my solo tent! The skeptical bit just got set but let’s try to remain open-minded, Phil, and continue.

The next thing I did was to unpack the stove. There sure are a lot of pieces here. Is this gonna be like trying to get the air mattress back in the original bag it came in?

Pyromid® stove unpacked

Not to worry; everything easily folds up and stores nicely. Ok, so it seems to be Phil-, er, I mean, foolproof. Even that origami aluminum foil liner you see in the lower left of the photo worked out ok. Let’s continue.

Well I gotta set this up.

Pyromid® stove set up

Hello. Look at this 13" tower of power. You’re gonna attract some attention if you whip this thing out at the campsite. You’ll be setting some expectations when you start playing around with this. Can’t be cooking no plain burgers here.

And maybe I’ve just stumbled on the first truth: if you’re happy with the fastest, cheapest, plainest, quickest meal most of the time, there’s probably no point in even considering one of these.

What am I gonna cook on this? Hmm, there’s some nice pictures in the brochure. That steak looks good. I bet if I had some kind of cookbook that highlights the capability of this unit I could really do it justice. One quick call to Pyromid and it’s on its way. Cool. And the oven component, too. I could really do some damage now.

Let’s step back for a moment. New things can be cool but what is this thing gonna buy me over my current setup. In fact, why don’t we do some comparison of this stove and my current setup, unfair though that may be – an apples and oranges kind of consideration.

My current setup 

I use one of those lightweight, foldable burners that need a separate fuel supply (you can see the fuel bottle in the picture). I’m not crazy about that but the other stove I tried, and returned, had basically two flame levels: is-this-thing-on? and call-the-fire-department. And that doesn’t suit my kind of cooking (see sidebar on some meals I do, Cooking) One of the things I like about it is that it fits into my recently departed Svea 123 stove (a moment of silence, please) setup that’s served me well since the late ‘70s. The lightweight and nesting feature of that outfit makes it particularly suitable for motorcyclists.

Here’s what I measured:

As you can see in the table, I’ve almost doubled the weight of my setup but reduced the packed volume by one half. That’s a tradeoff I can live with. And that doesn’t even address how awkward it can be sometimes to get my current cookware to fit just where I want it to – that fry pan handle has always been difficult. But what about the key issue: how does it perform?

I dutifully informed (really begged) my family that for the next two weeks I would be taking care of our suppers. And we get to barbecue!

Now you would think that if you just got relieved of some duties, you’d be planning how much longer you could sleep in the morning or how long does it really take for the Jacuzzi to cool off to an unbearable temperature. Imagine my surprise when the reaction to my announcement was greeted with extreme skepticism and grimaces that would stop a charging GS. Apparently they have not forgotten about my potential insight into what makes a suitable filler for making meat loaf. (I’m sure I can find that recipe for Peanut Butter Meatloaf around here somewhere).

On with the show. This stove uses nine charcoal briquettes. They can be placed in two different locations and in two different configurations to give three different heat ranges. Since I was going to start off trying to demolish a shell steak, I went for the highest heat. This meant that the charcoal had to be placed on the top tray and standing up on end. This configuration and the overall stove design are how it develops its high heat efficiently (only nine pieces of charcoal).

Included in the stove kit are these charcoal starters that are little strips of something (that’s a technical term) that are ½" by ½" by 6". By placing that under the charcoal, you can put a match to it and walk away. I was surprised that the coals were totally white and ready in 12 minutes.

Putting the steak on, I did my usual 2 minutes searing per side and then came back in twenty minutes after flipping it once again. That was my first mistake. I underestimated the capability of this unit. I wanted to believe but come on, nine pieces of charcoal? But the 5/8’ thick steak was cooked slightly more than I would have liked. At first blush, I was impressed.

Figuring tat I might as well push the envelope, I then threw on my chicken things (see Cooking sidebar). As we were eating, the chicken was cooking. And cooked it did but it did take a long time. Of course this had nothing to do with the stove. Here I’m really testing the limits of the medium, the charcoal. Recall that I had already cooked the steak for 20 minutes after the charcoal was already totally white. Impressive nonetheless.

There was one minor disappointment with the steak; it really didn’t sear the surfaces of the steak. But I reasoned that since it was 38° out on the deck, this could have inhibited the unit’s ability to perform. So I tried it the next night in the basement (when SWMBO wasn’t home) and turned the smoke alarms off. Same results. So you can’t sear steaks, at least I can’t. But then again, neither can my gas stove, exactly.

Since the stove is crafted out of stainless steel, you can picture how easy cleanup is. And the foil liner that’s provided can easily be reused but it does get greasy. You may want to use one per setup. By that I mean that as long as you leave the stove setup, for example if you’re staying in one place for a few meals, you can keep reusing it. You can pack it up & reuse it but you will be packing it up in a greasy state so you might want to consider having a plastic bag just for that purpose. Alternately you can bring your own aluminum foil but in addition to this one being form fit, it’s a lot thicker than regular foil.

Unfortunately, the oven part for this stove hasn’t arrived by deadline time (they were temporarily out of stock) so you’ll need to catch an update on the web site.

Before we summarize, you should know that in addition to the 12" size tested here, they have three other sizes. And in addition to the oven, there are many accessories including a griddle, a table, a chicken/turkey roaster, kits, etc. It’d be best to check the manufacturer’s web site for a comprehensive price list.

Summary

I’ve been circling around an opinion here but I think it’s time to come in for a landing.

The preconception that I had when I approached this test was that this unit could replace my current setup. And since I really only cook suppers, it can. But that’s the way I work. Would I fire up the charcoals to boil water in the morning? Probably not although I’m sure it could although it would take awhile.

Is this unit a quality-of-life enhancement? Definitely! Because the testing was incomplete, that may not be readily apparent from what was said so far but consider some of the recipes included in their 90-page cookbook: Quesadillas, Stuffed Baked Potatoes, Dinosaur Bones, Tasty Spareribs, Skewered Souvlaki, Wood-Fired Pizza, Focassia Bread and Peanut Butter Cookies. Most of the recipes just listed use the smoker oven attachment. So until that attachment arrives and we put the testing results on the web site, we’ll just have to consider this to be continued…