12 Things You Need To Know About
Cooking In Your Sun Oven
Cooking In Your Sun Oven
1. There is a little prep work to do before you cook with a new Sun Oven
- Remove the sun oven from the box and packing material.
- Carefully remove the blue protective film that covers the reflectors.
- Heat a pan of soapy water inside the sun oven. Using the soapy water wash the inside of the oven well. Be sure to pay special attention to the glass and the seal next to the glass.
2. You need to preheat your Sun Oven.
- To preheat the sun oven, find a location where there is unobstructed sun access.
- Open the reflectors and position your oven so that the shadows fall evenly on either side of the oven, and the glass door has the full sun’s rays. (You may need to adjust the oven as you are cooking.)
- The glass should be held securely against the rubber seal using the small silver fasteners. The screw that holds the reflectors in place should be turned so that if wind comes up the reflectors will stay in place.
- Preheating is necessary when you do bread, cakes and other foods that rise, but it is not necessary for most casseroles.
3. You need bright sun light to cook in the Sun Oven. If you can see your shadow then you can cook in the sun oven. Because of wild fires the past week has been very hazy at my house consequently I have not been able to get my sun oven up to the 350 degrees I need to use it like a regular oven. I can however get it hot enough to use it as a slow cooker.
4. Every time you open the door of your sun oven you lose about 25
degrees of heat. So be prepared with all
your supplies before you open the door.
Put your food in quickly and shut the glass tightly.
5. The inside of the sun oven is HOT!!! It is deceiving at first you don’t think
it is going to be hot. It is be sure to
use hot pads.
6. If you spill something in your sun oven, let it cool down and then
squirt it out with the hose. You can use
glass cleaner to clean the glass and the reflectors. NEVER clean the hot glass with cold water it can crack the glass.
7. GET THE FOOD IN EARLY, AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT OVERCOOKING.
8. The best time to cook in your sun oven is when the sun is at its
highest. This is a little deceptive
because it is warmest outside in the late afternoon so it seems like late
afternoon would be the best time. It
isn’t. Late morning to early afternoon
is the best time to cook in the Sun Oven.
9. Do not add extra water when cooking in the sun oven. Water
is dense and takes longer to heat than individual ingredients. Many recipes
call for little or no water (as with crock pot recipes), relying instead on the
natural moisture content of the ingredients. It is not an omission in the
recipe.
10. There is a difference between cooking in your sun oven in the summer and in the winter. As
the earth tilts toward and away from the sun (as the seasons change) you use
your sun oven a little differently. In
the winter 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. During
winter months use the extendable leg to aim the sun oven at the sun. The
sun oven it well insulated and the outside temperature plays little role in how
hot the oven gets. The sun oven will
work well in the winter IF it is a sunny day. In
the summer: 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. In
the summer months do NOT use the extendable leg.
 |
| Use the extendable leg only in the winter. |
11. Pay attention to your cookware. It makes a big difference. Use
dark or dull pans with a lid. Cook with a
lid. Most
food, with the exception of cookies and open-faced cheese sandwiches, are
cooked in containers with the lids on. The dark, porcelain-coated round and
oval roasters are the best for most of the cooking and baking in the solar
cooker. (The 9-inch round roaster makes a beautiful round loaf of bread). Be
sure to use hot pads when removing the pots from the oven; the food will be
hot!
 |
| Dark cookware works best. |
Stacking
pans
Pans
may be stacked to cook more than one item at a time. When stacked everything cooks evenly
(remember the sun oven works like a convection oven)
Pots
may also be stacked allowing you to cook two different dishes at a time (think
a starch and a protein)
12. If you can see
your shadow it is a good day to cook in a sun oven. If you cannot see your shadow don’t cook in
your sun oven.
- GOOD: Clear and sunny. Oven will preheat to 275° - 300°F (130° - 145° Celsius.)
- FAIR: Hazy or partly cloudy. Oven will preheat to 200° - 225°F (95° - 105° Celsius.)
- BAD: On a completely cloudy day one cannot cook with the sun. If the clouds move in and completely block the sun while cooking, simply finish the cooking in a non-solar way.
You
might want to check out my Ultimate
FREE Sun Oven PDF.
