Cooking Tips

Time for cooking depends on the temperature of the food as it is placed in the oven, as well as the brightness of the day.

Allow plenty of time. Foods hold well in the solar oven without scorching or drying out.

Focus oven and check food about once an hour when you're just getting started. Later, you'll relax and tend the cooking only once every two or three hours.

Most recipes calling for a higher temperature will do fine if you give them more time.

High altitude adjustment: The temperature of boiling water is reduced as the altitude increases. For instance the boiling temperature of water is only 203F degrees at 6000 ft. and this slows the cooking. Vegetables and dried beans may be difficult to cook at high altitudes because of this effect. You may try cooking your food in darkened canning jars with regular canning lids and rings tightened. The rubber seal allows excess pressure to be released but a low increase in pressure is retained and speeds cooking. We only recommend standard canning jars and lids as they are designed for pressure.

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.

If food partially cooks and then rests in incubation temperatures, pathogens may grow in 2 or 3 hours. Partially cooked food should be removed from the cooker as soon as
feasible.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HOW FOOD COOKS IN A SOLAR OVEN

Easy to Cook: (If started early, will be done on a fair day.) Rice, whole grains, rolled grain flakes, cereals, most egg dishes, chops, ribs, fish and most poultry, puddings, crackers, cookies, brownies, fruits, green vegetables, shredded vegetables.

Medium to Cook: (If started early, ready by noon on a good day or by evening on a fair day.) Cornbread, gingerbread, medium-sized roasts, quick breads, yeast rolls and buns, soufflés, root vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, some beans such as lentils, black-eyed peas, black beans.

Difficult to Cook: (If started early, ready for late lunch or dinner on a good day.) Whole turkey, large roasts, stews and soup and bean pots (unless brought to a boil before placing in solar oven), most yeast breads and cakes, pre-soaked pinto beans, field peas, garbanzo beans, small navy beans, soybeans, kidney beans, red beans, yellow peas, dried peas, split green or brown peas.