Anyone else cook with a Big Daddy skillet?

eckilson · Jun 30, 2024

A friend has been bringing one on trips, and I am becoming a convert. Doesn't take up to much room, will cook a ton of food, and is easy to clean. Here was breakfast yesterday - a dozen eggs, home fries and bacon.

I'm not big on runny eggs, so I had him flip mine - tasted great.

This was from an easy overnight trip on a local river - pictures and trip report.

yknpdlr · Jun 30, 2024

For 30 years I hve been an instructor for a BSA high adventure trek leader guide training program in the Adirondacks. Our graduation ceremony breakfast for up to 30 students and staff gathering at the end of the training week features me cooking my bannock recipe in the giant pan, along with fresh fruit, baked beans, and corn meal mush wih maple syrup and honey. A "Voyageur theme" traditional breakfast.

memaquay · Jun 30, 2024

Our school club has been using them for over 50 years, no complaints!

Pseudonym · Jun 30, 2024

I love mine. It's the medium size. Recently did an eight tandem boat trip and wished for the large.

eckilson · Jul 2, 2024

This is the 20". It is nice to cook everything in one pan. You can set up different heat zones depending on where you position the pan on the fire. It would be nice to have the lid - on this trip the eggs would have set up faster. I didn't realize that Lisa DeHart did a video on it.

Pseudonym · Jul 2, 2024

Love me some Three Minutes with a Maine Guide! Her dishwashing system is genius. I've adopted it wholesale for group trips, except that I swapped Effersan tablets for her bottle of bleach and like that a little bit better.

I had forgotten that my 14" Big Daddy didn't come with a lid until you mentioned it. I ended up purchasing this pan lid separately and it has worked out nicely. Makes a big difference.

lowangle al · Jul 2, 2024

eckilson said:
This is the 20". It is nice to cook everything in one pan. You can set up different heat zones depending on where you position the pan on the fire. It would be nice to have the lid - on this trip the eggs would have set up faster. I didn't realize that Lisa DeHart did a video on it.

That's a heck of a pan.

eckilson · Jul 2, 2024

lowangle al said:
That's a heck of a pan.

The guy doing the cooking is a competition BBQ cook and judge. He know's how to cook over a fire. This was dinner the night before - campfire paella. Not in a Bid Daddy pan, but about the same size.

Life is good when you travel with him...

Boreal Birch · Jul 2, 2024

Nice big skillet for bigger groups or bigger appetites. If I didn’t have more steel skillets than I will ever use, I would buy one. I currently use a 48cm (18 7/8 inch) Muurikka Griddle Pan when with a group and and a 23cm (a smigion over 9 inches) Muurikka campfire skillet, when I’m alone. Both are of rolled steel, a bit thicker than the cold handle skillets, somewhat more robust, with a weight penalty if you are the one packing it.
Lisa DeHart’s pan looks like it’s got a lot more use than yknplr’s or maybe he scrubs the good non-stick patina off after every use. Mine all look like Lisa’s, nice slick black inside, even blacker outside. All travel in a plastic bag, inside a cloth sack to keep the black stuff off the other stuff. Same with the coffee/tea kettle.

jdeerfoot · Jul 2, 2024

It was known as the monster skillet with my group. The final breakfast made in the monster skillet included all remaining food - we had some unique meals.

eckilson · Jul 3, 2024

When I started I always cooked on a Coleman two-burner with a stand. Up off the ground just like cooking at home, and the pots and pans stay pristine - none of that black soot on everything. That's not the way my current crew does it - everything is on the fire. I am becoming a convert. Takes a little longer to get coffee in the morning, but there is something to be said for doing it the old fashioned way. I bought my stove and stand last weekend and never fired it up. It did make a nice table though. My coffee pot is starting to get black like a real camp coffee pot.

Gamma1214 · Jul 3, 2024

My coffee pot is starting to get black like a real camp coffee pot.

Side note (although you may already be aware): If the sooty blackness of well-used cookware bothers you, you can smear the outside of the pot with a generous layer of dish soap before setting it on the fire. Most, if not all, of the soot will wash right off when you return home

yknpdlr · Jul 5, 2024

Gamma1214 said:
Side note (although you may already be aware): If the sooty blackness of well-used cookware bothers you, you can smear the outside of the pot with a generous layer of dish soap before setting it on the fire. Most, if not all, of the soot will wash right off when you return home

That's an old BSA scoutmaster trick. it does work well, unless you severely overheat the pot/pan. Although there may be a heat transfer advantage to cooking with having a black cooking exterior.The disadvantage is the black soot will rub off on whatever you store the cookware in or on.

Anyone else cook with a Big Daddy skillet?

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