My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
(4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.

What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?

thanks
Gerald

GS wrote:
> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.
>
> What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?
>
> thanks
> Gerald

Sterno. Comes in little cans. You light the wick and put the can under the
fondue pot and voila! Also not as volitile as denatured alcohol... you
definitely don't want to accidentally spill any of that stuff and then light
a match.

Jill

On Sun 01 Jan 2006 04:01:51p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it GS?

>
>
> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.
>
> What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?
>
> thanks
> Gerald
>

There is also a product marketed as "fondue fuel" which produces virtually
no soot. It's still probably an alcohol base, but perhaps processed
differently. I have seen it at supermarkets, gourmet shops, Bed Bath &
Beyond type stores, etc.

If your burner has the wire mesh just inside the opening, you must use a
liquid fuel like that above. If not, you may be able to use the gel or
paste type fuels. They also produce little if any soot. Make sure you
know your burner before you buy.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

GS wrote:
>
>
> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.
>
> What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?
>
> thanks
> Gerald


Sterno isn't bad. If you want to insure an easy cleanup, try the old
camping trick--wipe the outside bottom of the pot with liquid dish soap
and let it air dry. The soot wipes off remarkably easily.

gloria p

In article > ,
GS > wrote:

> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.
>
> What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?
>
> thanks
> Gerald

Grain alcohol, aka Everclear or Clear Springs.
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

I have had to look carefully at the ingredients when I buy alcohol.

If it is only methanol/ethanol than I don't get soot. Anything
else (and they do sometimes add other stuff) is stinky and sooty.


On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 23:01:51 GMT, GS > wrote:
>
>
> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.

"GS" > wrote:
> My friends and I made a very good fondue on New Years Eve using
> my new Le Creuset fondue pot. I had gotten the Denatured Alcohol
> (4% methanol) from the local Ace Hardware Store. Everything worked
> out well except there was quite a bit of black soot that collected
> on the fondue pot. Fortunately it came off the pot easily but
> was pretty nasty when it fell onto other surfaces.
>
> What fuel burns cleanest to avoid the soot buildup?

I've got four alcohol burning devices, and though I do get some soot
buildup, it isn't much of a problem. I've never had the problem of it
falling off onto other surfaces. I've got a Turkish coffee burner, an egg
steamer, and two fondue pots. One of the fondue pots is even a Le Creuset
model, but perhaps not the same one as you have. The other is an ancient
Stockli unit.

At first I used Sterno fondue and chafing dish fuel, but it was far too
expensive. I was under the assumption that Sterno liquid is essentially
denatured alcohol. So that is what I've been using for the last five years
or so. Does it matter that I got my denatured alcohol from a True Value
instead of an Ace hardware store? ;-)

The containers of denatured alcohol clearly say suitable for fondue burners,
chafing dishes, or marine stoves.

You probably wouldn't get much different results using grain alcohol such as
Everclear. Except it costs far more than denatured alcohol and normally has
some water in it (it's 190 proof, not 200 proof). Grain alcohol is ethanol.
Denatured alcohol is ethanol with a small amount of methanol added to make
it poisonous and unfit for human consumption. It is also not taxed. If it
wasn't deliberately poisoned, people would be buying it to avoid the alcohol
tax. Also, by being poisoned, it can be sold anywhere, not just in places
with liquor licenses.

Somehow I think you'd get even more soot with Ultra Pure (pure paraffin lamp
oil). I use that also, but in small oil lamps without chimneys. I would
think it would cause a smoky sooty mess in a fondue burner. My brother once
put regular lamp oil in my Stockli fondue burner, and it took forever to get
all traces of the lamp oil out. It uses an adjustable wick type burner vs.
the more normal one on the Le Creuset fondue pots.

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )

"Steve Wertz" > wrote:
>>Somehow I think you'd get even more soot with Ultra Pure (pure paraffin
>>lamp
>>oil). I use that also, but in small oil lamps without chimneys. I would
>>think it would cause a smoky sooty mess in a fondue burner.
>
> No soot. Otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it.

Have you actually tried this? Because I just tried a simulation using one of
my lamps I have filled with it. I pulled the wick up much higher than normal
to get a larger flame. But still a flame that is much smaller than a fondue
burner. It smoked like crazy. If I had a pot on top of it, it would get
coated with soot in no time. I can't begin to imagine how smoky it would be
with a flame as large as on a normal fondue burner.

I've noticed with these lamps (more like "oil candles") that if the flame is
slightly too big, they even smoke when disturbed by a breeze. Most makers of
oil candles recommend the wick be just above its holder to keep the flame
size (and soot) down. The flame normally shouldn't be larger than a candle
flame, which is pretty darn small, not enough to heat a fondue pot.

--
( #wff_ng_7# at #verizon# period #net# )