Hi - I'm new to the forum, but noticed there is a lot of talk about cooking here. So, I thought I would put a feeler out and see if anyone has ever cooked with a solar oven? I've been thinking of building one -- all the ones I have come across seem too small (I'd like to bake 4 loaves of bread at a time). It'd be cool to turn a solar oven into a fancy woodworking project. Thoughts?
I would think that your area of the country would have many solar cooking enthusiasts and lots of suppliers and information. I'm not a solar engineer, but I think that much load would require a large collector and a tracking device to gain the maximum amount of heat. Maybe one of the old satellite TV dishes lined with reflective aluminum would do the trick.
I'm quite a solar oven enthusiast myself. I recently invested in one and have done a lot of cooking in it -- bread, chicken, sausage, ham, potatoes, even pasteurizing water. It takes a little longer to cook than in a conventional oven, but you can't overcook or burn things in a solar oven which is very convenient. I blogged about it recently and there's a link enclosed with instructions on how to construct your own solar oven. http://tinyurl.com/ozodls Personally, I totally think it would be worth the time and minimal investment, particularly if you live somewhere that gets lots of sun.
