The Sun Oven 06/18/24
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's summer here in middle America. The country is feeling it this
week in particular, so much so that the politicians are screaming for
an emergency declaration. I don't know who around here is so
unacquainted with summer that they need FEMA to have special powers to
help educate them in the ways of living with heat, but apparently
there are some.
For me, the sun and heat mean it's time to get the Sun Oven out[1].
The primary goal is to reduce heat generated in my house, so that the
A/C doesn't have to work quite as hard, and so we can all be a little
more comfortable. The secondary goal is to have fun.
It has been a couple years since I used the Sun Oven, for a variety of
reasons. To start out slow, I cooked some rice in it yesterday. I did
2 cups of jasmine rice and 2.5 cups of water. Started a little late,
after lunch, and cooked it in the sun for about an hour. I foolishly
didn't check it beyond a cursory glance out in the sun, and it wasn't
entirely done. No matter, I threw it on the gas stovetop for a couple
minutes and it cooked perfectly.
May as well mention here that I mostly use a black enameled steel pot
for cooking in the Sun Oven. It's water proof, cleans up easily, and
absorbs heat well. I should also mention that the outdoor temp
yesterday was about 95F, with very few clouds; today it's 88F with
considerably more clouds, but still partly cloudy.
Today I decided to try some veggies. A large potato, carrot, bell
pepper, celery stalk, two garlic cloves, and part of an onion, all
chopped up and placed in the pot with a cup of water and some spices.
I cooked them for an hour and a half. They were pretty much done, so I
brought them in to sit and finish up on their own.
The pot has a steamer basket thing, so while they were cooking I mixed
up a little loaf of bread (a cup of flour, a tsp of yeast, tsp of
sugar, half tsp of salt, and some warm water) and placed it on
parchment paper in the steamer basket to rise. When I went out to get
the veggies I emptied them into a bowl, and dropped the steamer basket
bread in the pot to bake.
My oven temps yesterday and today were both between 250F and 300F. Not
super hot. Those temps were just fine for the rice and veggies, but
they're pretty low compared to how I usually bake bread. Even so, the
little loaf turned out very nicely after 45min. Not browned, but fully
cooked with a nice texture and not dry.
While it certainly takes more planning an patience than cooking
indoors, the net effect on heat in the house is noticeable. And, it's
fun. So it's a win-win.
[1]
https://www.sunoven.com/
