Trying to decide whether to get a titanium or aluminum cookset or pot?
While titanium is very popular among the lightweight backpacking crowd, it may not be the best choice for everyone.
Titanium is great for weight savings but it isn't great to cook in. Soups are fine, but titanium is very "sticky", so cooking eggs, fish or other similar foods can be a problematic wash-up. So far, there isn't a non-stick coating for titanium. All titanium pots on the market will have this same problem.
If you used a lot of oil, you may be able to avoid some of the sticking, but not enough.
Aluminum isn't great to fry in either unless you have a simmering stove where you can turn the heat down low. But, you can get non-stick coatings on aluminum which makes it very easy. Titanium transfers heat slower than aluminum so you get a bit more even cooking while frying.
Aluminum transfers the heat so fast, you get a ring of very hot area where the flame from your stove is.
Since heat transfer is also affected by the thickness of the pot and most backpacking pots are on the thin side to lose weight, you will have issues with scorching unless you get a thicker frying pan.
So, when choosing your setup, make sure the frying pan you get is thick and the soup cup/or pot is thin. That way you can have a great frying experience and a fast-heating water pot.
Aluminum is a lot cheaper than titanium. Even though titanium prices have come down a bit, they are still about a third higher than aluminum.
So, unless you REALLY REALLY need to save those extra few ounces, it may not be worth the cost and hassle of titanium while cooking and cleaning up.


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