(Still requires seasoning)
The other night when I was out, I picked up a camp oven that I've had my eye on for a while. I'm not too sure how I will get to use it since it seems to be best used over an open fire which doesn't really feature in my life lol. But I figure it will be useful no matter what I do with it whether it's on top of the cooktop of my woodburner or in my electric oven as a casserole dish and make up a part of my emergency supplies too!
Not having had ANY idea what to do with it when I bought it, I mentioned to my mum I had bought one and she asked if I knew what to do. Ummm, no...
Anyway, when she and my step-dad travelled around the Australian outback 7-8yrs ago for a couple of years, they used one quite extensively while camping in sites set up for open fires. So she explained how to build up the fire to one side in a pit, then transfer some embers over beside it, put the pot on and pile up embers on the lid. When those embers had died down (and meanwhile keeping the original fire burning) you transfer more embers into another patch and build up the previous embers again to keep things going.
Then googling tonight turned up this document with some New Zealand recipes using very basic ingredients and a "how to use your cooker".
Not even sure we're allowed to have open-fires outside here without a permit, so need to find out some info so we can trial this thing!
Failing all of that, I will see how it fares if I ever get around to making a solar oven... Looking forward to hooking up with Em and Johanna for a cook up!
(Runs off to retrieve cooker from car to take a photo and finds it REALLY warm from being in the car all day so reckons it might do well!)
11 comments:
Nikki. We have a camp oven (a little different looking-but same concept). We used it pre-children when we used to do a lot of wild-camping. I've used it in our solar oven and when we were experimenting, I found that the pot of water that we'd tried to boil the day before on the solar oven, which was left out in the garden with the water still in it, heated the water up to a fairly hot temperature (without the solar oven) lol. Didn't want to tell Nige this as he was 'so' impressed with the solar oven idea. Must experiment further with that !
Nice pot !
Lynda X
LOL Lynda! I guess it's like the solar showers that heat up really hot just because it's in a black bag, but don't think it would reach boiling point like that which is where I suppose the reflectors come in.
Once seasoned use on your wood stove as well, my grandma used hers all the time even on as and electric stoves.
The heat transfers well and evenly over the metal taking less time and energy to cook. NOTE lots less time.
We use one camping and on the stove and generally the cooking time is halved.
You can roast in them, bake cakes, casseroles, soups really it's endless. It takes some adjusting but they are great to use.
Oh yeah just a side note we never wash ours if you wash them and don't dry them they rust very quickly. To clean them when they are hot wipe them out with towelling (dry). If you must use plain water scrub and then place over heat to dry and reoil inside and out.
Bron, thanks for the tips!
solar ovens are fun!! i've made this one:
http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_solarheatbuild-1.shtml
and while i'd never cook meat in it, I have done cookies, and things like veggie packets would likely do very well. take forever, but tasty!
Mother Earth News magazine has a big article about cooking over an open fire in the December issue. Just got it in the mail yesterday!
You can use cast iron, once seasoned, in your oven and on your stovetop for regular cooking. There are many websites that will tell you how to properly season and maintain your "Dutch oven".
However, they are not ideal for solar cooking because they take longer to heat up due to the thickness of the metal. Thin black metal works best. After lots of experimenting over the years, I'm happiest with my black enamelware (not enamel-coated cast iron).
Thanks Jaime!
Nancy, have just hunted that article out - it was a good read, thanks!
Chile, great, thanks for the tip about the camp oven not being as good as an enamel dish. Will keep an eye out for a thinner one.
Hiya - according to the info pack we got from Solar Cookers International, food cooks at 82 degrees C, so that's as hot as you would *need* to get it.
If you want to pasteurise food you only need to get it to 71 degrees.
Although some foods do benefit from boiling temperatures for texture, of course!!
Yeah, thin pots heat a lot faster, ... I suspect on a hot day with high sun here you could get away with thicker pots though, maybe? I'd be keen to hear how it goes Nikki.
... And if you start early in the day ...
Thanks Johanna. I was all keen to set the pot up on it's own outside with a thermometer in it but it was a cloudy day lol. It did get up to 33c in the short time it was out there though.
Post a Comment