Pete,

Define cooking... if it involves boiling water, then it's hard to beat a 2 quart pot with bail and lid. I've been using the same inexpensive aluminum pot for about 25 years - I feel like something is missing if it's not in my pack. If you never ever have to melt snow for water you can get by fine with a smaller pot, but I'd suggest not going smaller than about 1.25 liter.

I just checked REI and Campmor and the closest thing to what I have is this, but the one I have is lighter and has a tighly fitting domed lid rather than the flat lid seen here.

I've also done fine over the years with just an issue SS US canteen cup of current vintage, although it doesn't have quite enough capacity for me. With a pot and the canteen cup, you can boil/simmer/eat/drink - covers most bases.

I've been flirting with a couple of MSR stainless steel kettles (one for wife and one for me) the last couple of years and I kind of like them (got factory blems cheap). Just went on their site and apparently these are out-of-production - styled like this but larger capacity - 1.5 liter IIRC - or perhaps it's 1.8 liter (?) same height and larger diameter - anyway, they have +/- over a plain aluminum pot so I'm not won over completely.

So... what do you need to be able to "cook" with your kit?

Tom