Have We Found The Best Camping Stove? Testing the Cadac

Recipes using our Cadac

Crabcakes, a chowder and a simple stirfry

Crabcakes

A quick mix and something a bit special. Serve with salad or even with the vegetable stirfry that follows below.

• 100g bulgur wheat (or couscous)
• 150g crab meat (fresh brown meat is best, but you can even use tinned)
• two tablespoons of mayonnaise
• finely chopped shallot, onion or spring onions
• parsley, chervil, coriander…whatever you like or have
• green or red chilli chopped
• zest of a small lemon
• an egg
• olive oil
• salt and pepper, plus sumac if you have any (though entirely optional)

1. Boil the bulgur with twice its volume of water and simmer for three to four minutes. Strain and leave to cool.
2. Put all the other ingredients in a bowl. Squeeze any water out of the cool bulgur and add the grains to the bowl.
3. Form into burger shapes –as big or as small as you like and fry on the Cadac’s smooth frying surface in hot oil till golden and crispy on the outside.
4. Serve with a squeeze of lemon over the top and maybe a yoghurty dipping sauce or garlic mayonnaise.

Seafood chowder

Gorgeous and creamy and fishy and smoky all at once. Delicious with crusty bread and a green salad on the side.

The only problem is keeping raw fish cool before you cook. Have a look at our article on buying a camping fridge, or even better, camp next to a fishing boat.

• butter or oil
• a medium onion sliced or diced
• a couple of rashers of bacon, pancetta or even a bit of chorizo (chopped chunkily, and optional)
• about 350g raw fish – we used smoked haddock, salmon and some cleaned mussels (in shells or not)
• a medium potato in chunks (use a leftover cooked one, or leave it out if needs be)
• double cream (or we like Oatly ‘cream’ as a non-dairy alternative)
• milk (or an unsweetened non-dairy alternative)
• a tablespoon of flour
• herbs – parsley, chives, chervil, dill are all nice, but whatever you have)
• Pepper to season. Try pimenton too – smoked paprika adds a bit of depth, especially if you haven’t used smoked fish. And a squeeze of lemon can lift the dish.

1. Using either the Cadac’s deep pan/wok or your own pan on the Cadac’s pot-stand, heat the butter or oil and add the bacon and onion. Cook until they’re starting to brown/crisp.
2. Add your potato (if using), fish and milk. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. You want the fish to be just-cooked rather than disappearing
3. Add the flour to thicken the sauce a bit – slake it with a little milk or water to stop it going lumpy. Stir and then add the cream.
4. Mix in your chopped herbs and season with black pepper. You probably won’t need salt if you’re using smoked fish. 

Vegetable stirfry

Anything can go in a stirfry…well, almost anything. Here’s what we had hanging around:

• spring onion
• kale (pak choi’s nicer!)
• tenderstem broccoli
• mushrooms
• beansprouts
• garlic
• chilli

Then we mixed the following in a jamjar

• two tablespoons of soy sauce and two of vinegar
• a tablespoon of  sweet chilli sauce
• a pinch of pepper

1. Put a little oil in the Cadac wok or a big frying pan. Get it nice and hot.
2. Add the chunkier vegetables that will take more cooking and cook till they’re losing a bit of their crispness.
3. Add the garlic and chilli. Ginger would be good too.
4. Add the rest of the veg and keep it moving. When everything’s cooked (but not mushy), shake your jar and pour the dressing over – not all at once, you might want to save some for adding while you eat. Serve after a few seconds of warming through.
5. If you have some ready-cooked noodles, you could add these to the stirfry before adding the dressing. Just stir well and heat through.

You can even bake bread on the Safari Chef

And have you thought about cooking on electric when you’re at a campsite with hook-up?

Have a look at our suggestions for fast camp cooking using induction hobs, Instant Pot and more.

Cooking with wood for fuel has to be the cheapest way to make a camping meal.

Here’s our guide to woodburning campstoves.