Testing out 2 kinds of Japanese/Chinese pot

I recently went camping for the first time in Japan.
I took the opportunity to test out this Japanese/Chinese pot whilst out in the mountains.
It worked pretty well, but not as fast as I'd hoped.

So, I decided to look for a better kind of pot, closer to home.

I found this different kind of pot about one station from where I live. It was the same price as my original pot. At first glance it looks pretty similar.
Same price, same composition.
Although this was clearly much more pot and therefore better value, assuming it worked as well.
I decided to compare the 2 kinds of pot to each other to see which one worked best.

It was a pot-off!

First, I needed to set up a controlled (hah!) environment, in which to perform my experiments.

I decided to use my balcony (rather like my less succesful home barbecue testing experiment - the flames shot up around 3 feet and almost set my apartment complex on fire - oops).

I also used a wind sheild I adapted from an aluminium cooking shield I purchased for 100yen from Daiso (the 100yen shop).

For heat, I used my sweet awesome tiny little camping gas heater. Attached to this was a huge mother of a gas cannister (hey, it was the only one they had at the camping site).

Right, I was ready for the testing!

I needed to be able to use the same amounts of materials as I tested out each pot. To do this, I used my awesome sweet Wales mug!
This meant that I used exactlly-ish the same amount of water with each pot.
(Well, what did you think I meant by pot test?)

Next, the contenders!!!

In the lllllllllleft corner: the newcomer, the larger and more complete pot as it comes with a matching lid! The new big boy!
In the rrrrrright corner, the contending champion. The small but deep pot with sawn off handle. This baby is street smart, ladies and gentlemen! Also tonight we have a special combination tag team partnership! Yes, tonight our champion is joined by a small plastic plate! This plate shall serve as a lid, enabling the heat to be trapped. I give you, the champ!

First up was the contender:
I poured one 'Welsh mug' full of water into the pan and placed the pan on the flame.

I took a photo of the start of the heating process (I used the time stamps from these photos to give me the estimated boiling times of the different pans of water).

When I thought the water was boiling, I took off the lid to check:

It appeared to be boiling, so I turned off the heat and then used the water to make myself a lovely mug of hot tomato soup!

The time taken for the water to boil was estimated to be around
2minutes and 50seconds.

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Next up was the contender:
You can see that the small plastic plate is slightly too big for the pan.
I mistook this 100yen Daiso pan for another 100yen Daiso pan near my home. The other pan I used to select this plastic plate fitted almost perfectly.
When I got home, I realised the pan I already had was different from the one I used to slect the cheap plastic plate. Bugger.
Nebver mind. I bought the plate now so I decided ot carry on with my experiment.
The winner of the experiment will be crowned the new camping water heating champion and will be taken with me on camping trips in the future. There was a lot at stake for these little pots.

You can also see the little 'customization job' I performed on my 100yen Daiso pan.
Using a 100yen Daiso hacksaw, I sawed off half the handle (thus saving space in my bag and ensuring that I burned my fingers each time I picked up the hot pot). Sweet!

Not long later, the water began to boil.
Here's the photo I took of the approximate time it began to boil:

The time taken for the water to boil was estimated to be around
3minutes and 20seconds.
(sigh)

Still, I used the hot water to make myself a lovely mug of pumpkin soup!
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"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!!!!


The new, undisputed champion of the cheap camping equipment - water heating category...

...the big cheap Daiso 100 pan and matching lid - also 100yen!!!!!"


I tried to keep the flame at a constant and similar size for both the pans. I cannot guarantee the total accuracy of the results but I reckon they are more or less indicative of the better pan for heating water.
The big pan heats faster as it has a larger surface area for the water to spread out and so the heat from the gas burner can 'get to' the water faster and rely less on convection currents being set up in the deeper water of the smaller pan. Also, the surface area is larger on the larger pan (what a suprise) and this means that I can turn up the flame and not worry about it shooting up the sides of the small pan.
The big pan is considerably wider than the small one. The smaller one is deeper.
Using water from the tap and a measuring jug, I found the volumes of the two pans were only about 150ml different! The larger one holded just over 950ml and the smaller one an admirable 800ml.
The smaller one seems a lot smaller but it is quite a lot deeper, or taller.
I have to take into account the overall size of the pan, as it has to fit in my backpack, with all the other crap (tent, sleeping bag, supplies, clothes, etc).


Even considering this, I think I shall take the new, big pan with me, next time I visit those cold and lonely mountains.

I'm thinking of going to the forest near the foot of Mt.Fuji (the one where everyone goes to kill themselves). It's supposed to be haunted.

Should be fun.