Gents, I've posted this on BCUK and BritishBlades can any of you help? "....just picked this up from a Chinese Army surplus store. Starting from the left is a cooking pot . Below that is a lid with a plastic handle. Then there is an item which looks like a steamer! (I'll get back to this) Below that is a small dish about 2-3cm tall with holes around the rim. Then there is the stove. you can see the holes around the middle and the base also has perforations of varying sizes (bigger towards the outside) There is door through which you can see the holes in the base. On the door is a little hook/hinge on which the cup (below the stove) can be suspended. This then moves in and out with the door. Has anyone ever seen this before? As I'm having some issues working out how it fits together. Starting from the bottom. I think it can be used as a wood stove and the cup is for a small meths burner. If it's not a wood stove can be easily modded. Cooking! When I first saw it I figured that the billy sat on top of the stove and the steamer would sit on top of that and then the lid on the steamer. This would sort of work but the billy sits right in the stove, possibly okay with meths defiantly not for wood. The steamer also slides almost to the bottom of the billy, fine for steaming not for cooking and steaming together. The little dish will fit ontop of anything stove, billy or steamer. I thought it is either a dish for eating off or a very mini hotplate for frying. If I want the billy to be raised to the top of the stove I have to put the steamer in the stove first, the base of which fits exactly where the holes in the side of the stove are. The billy the slides about 3cm into the 'steamer'. What is the 'steamer', and what is the dish for? Could the steamer be some sort of woodgas stove? It does have some small holes around the rim? Any ideas?" Follow up........ To answer you questions.....I can't get anymore for about a year, it was bought in Beijing, cost $4.60. So far we have come up with the chinese eat alot of rice! Therefore the steamer/strainer goes in the pot whilst cooking...Makes sense but it feels better and like it is designed that the steamer goes into the stove and then the pot goes into (about 3cm) the steamer. Otherwise the pot sits too low in the stove. If the 'steamer' goes in first the base sits exactly level with the top of the holes around the middle of the stove. But it will get black and dirty the inside of the pot when stored. If the pot goes in first the holes are still free, as the base of the pot starts to taper at about the mid point of the holes. I haven't been able to try it out yet as still in the hotel room, comming back tomorrow. Thanks for any ideas.
Thanks inadvance for any ideas. I'm going off on holiday until end (ish) of Feb. Might get the odd chance to look online but def not to post. Might be one or two pics of it in use when I get back!!
I think this makes sense if you consider Chinese food and cooking culture. Much of Chinese cooking is steamed, particularly staples such as rice and bread and traditional winter dishes like preserved sausage, duck and pork. These meats are from an age before refrigeration and packaging. Many vegetables are also steamed, as are may egg dishes and a whole host of other stuff. You could probably cook rice without a steamer, but some Chinese dishes just cannot be done without proper steaming apparatus. Assuming that military planners don't expect their troops to stir-fry under fire and that their diet isn't limited to noodles, a steamer would seem to be a bit of required kit. The idea would be to put water in the bottom, then there is an air gap and then a steamer grating upon which the food sits. As the cooker doesn't really permit easy cleaning inside, hexi blocks, wood and charcoal are out, and so are some liquid fuels. In fact petrol or alcohol would be positively dangerous in that dish. I can only surmise that it must be some form of readily available alcohol gel tablet. Military surplus here is almost exclusively foreign kit for the airsoft boys to dress up in, and I have seen very little PLA surplus except for tourist stuff. Both those types attract premium pricing here. The best I can do is ask some of my brothers' airsoft friends if they have seen it. If however I bump into a set in a camping shop, I'll enquire as to the cost in quantity for a GB on britishblades.com Chances are low, though.
Paintball with 6mm plastic bullets instead of paintballs. Officially limited to 4 Joules maximum kinetic energy, hence airsoft. It's a bit of a cross between paintball and re-enactment, really.
Are there no pictures in the book. I would think that it would show how to use it as i doubt most chinese are able to read but surely they can follow a picture in a book. Then again i could be so full of bovine excerement as to have brown eyes. lance
It reminds me of a vietnamese coffee maker. They let water drip down through the grounds into a cup or container below.... mmmm coffee http://www.howtobrewcoffee.com/images/vietnamese/set.jpg
I wonder if the was designed to go on top a heat source. The small pan may be a smoker pan fro wood chips & the steamer mabe be a smoker pan???
