大象传媒

Food preparation, desert style

I have told of the arrangements for toilets but only mentioned the arrangements for feeding us in passing. As this was the next most important subject, I'd like to bring you up to date on these weird and wonderful and sometimes very dangerous contraptions used in it's preperations. The first which we came upon in Iraq, was what was known as a Hydra Burner. This was a properly made stove. It resembled the old Primus Stove, but was lain on it's side with the flame directed along a trench cut in the ground. This trench, about eighteen inches wide and as long as the number of dixies we needed for the number to be fed. In our case it was about three feet long. Metal plates were placed over them, sometimes these would get red hot, on which the cook would place dixies containing our prepared food.
They frightened me when they started up, as they resembled,,what's more and sounded more like a modern jet engine. I had good reason to fear these things as the rumour had gone round that one had exploded and the cook was severely burned.
Another one was really more Heath-Robinson. This consisted of the usual trench, at one end of which were placed two cans, one containing water and the other diesel oil. In the bottom of each there was a small hole plugged with a piece of wood, pointing towards the trench. This plug had a small channel cut along it's length The plug led to a small, downward sloping channel made out of a piece of tin-plate, cut from an empty petrol tin. This channel nearly reached the bottom of the trench
There was quite an art in lighting this thing, as it depended on the mixture of water and oil to produce the heat under the aforementioned plates. First one had to light the diesel oil. The plug, in the bottom of the diesel can was gently eased out and a small quantity of diesel was allowed to run into the trench.
Now, unlike paraffin, diesel will not readily ignite, it had to be encouraged, this was the trick, but as soon as there was a good flame, the plug on the water can was also eased out, allowing a dribble of water to run down and mix with the burning diesel. Immediately there would be a flash and a cloud of steam and the flames began to gush along the trench. (just as would the fat burning in a frying pan if you attempted to put it out by throwing water at it.)
Now the plugs had to be adjusted. Not too much of either water or diesel and you would have a cooking stove which would last till either the water or the oil ran out. But it took a brave man to set one of these off.
Later on our Cook Tich Cotton had a German mobile cooker donated to him. This was a fantastic machine. It consisted of a central boiler, like our old Crimean War Sawyer Boiler, but it was on wheels! and had a separate boiler either side into which Tich would put any tinned food he had. Of course the labels would come off so you had to tale pot luck. On one occasion I got a tin of butter!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.