solar funnel cooker

[Valerie]

That stupid cake never did cook! It's in the oven now, finishing. It rose, and I think the bottom got done, but the top is still gooey. I hope the heat from the oven will be enough to kill any bacteria that might have flourished in those nice warm, dark, wet conditions. I'm a little bit afraid to eat it, but not enough to stop me! It might have worked better if the lid was black, but it's one of my good lids and I'm not painting it. I might try again and put the whole works in my turkey sized cooking bag. Stuff got super hot in the little plastic bag!

I have a smallish (like 1 gallon) stock pot. I don't want to paint it black, but I might try it anyway. I think next time, I'll put something small in the skillet.

Can you tell I'm determined to make this work??!!

[Granny Smith]

Valerie, do you have one of those oval roasters? I have 2, one big (for turkeys) and one small (for chickens, I guess)

[Valerie]

No, but I do have a long deep lasagna pan (that's what I roast stuff in). I think it would be too big to fit in my cone, though.

I'm scared to eat that cake. I'm giving it to the chickens. I had to leave as soon as I took it out of the oven yesterday, so I didn't dump it out of the pan when it got cool. I put foil over it and put it in the fridge when I got home. This morning, I took it out of the pan, and it has grayish spots on the bottom. I think it's stuff from this "preseasoned" pan, which I did wash before I used, but it looks weird. They'll eat it. They eat everything.

[Granny Smith]

You're having the same problems with this cooker that I had with the solar oven. I could bake stuff partway, but always had to finish it in the oven.

The other day, when the cooker wouldn't work for me again, as I stomped back to the house, I grumbled, "This is stupid! I'll just cook stuff on the grill. At least that doesn't depend on the sun and I can close the lid if it rains!"

I'm like that - I have my little fits, cool off for a couple of days, then try again.

[Valerie]

I don't have the little fit. I just get more determined. As in, this dadgum thing will not whip me! I got stuff to cook OK in the jar, so I know it can work. There's got to be a way to get heat on the top of the food, too, not just the bottom.

[Granny Smith]

How about if you set the pan so the bottom of the cone hit it around the middle, instead of elevating the pan so the whole thing is inside the cone?

[Valerie]

I could do that. I'd have to make another cone with a bigger hole in the middle. And the handle of the skillet is getting in the way a little bit, but with a small pot it might be better.

I've decided that on the next sunny day (not today) I'm gonna make a batch of bread, and put a wad of it in that skillet, put the skillet on top of the bowl, put the bowl and the skillet (no lid) inside the cooking bag, and sit all that on top of the block of wood. And see what happens. It will probably rise up the size of a volleyball and I'll have a perfectly round barely cooked chunk of bread!

I've also learned that it does no good to put stuff out there to cook at 9 am, even if it is sunny, because the sun just ain't strong enough to get that thing hot that early. Maybe later in the year it will be.

[Granny Smith]

What if you made rolls or English muffins instead of a loaf of bread? An iron skillet would probably hold enough heat and you could turn your glass bowl upside-down over the top. That might keep it from losing heat, since heat rises.

[Valerie]

Hmmmm! That's a great idea! Or, I have a metal mixing bowl that maybe I could put over the top. I might have to try this tomorrow. I'm on a mission now.

[Granny Smith]

If the metal bowl is shiny, it might reflect the heat away from it.

[Valerie]

I think that's what happened with my cake. The lid was shiny, and it didn't get hot at all.

[Granny Smith]

Probably a casserole lid would have worked better. (or even a casserole dish, turned upside down)

[Valerie]

Hey, I have a glass casserole lid that would probably fit on that pan, and it's a bit domed, rather than flat like my skillet lid! It should work. The other solar cookers use clear glass to hold the heat in at the top, so it would be the same principle. I feel another test coming on! I might try it with frozen biscuits, just to see if it works.

[Granny Smith]

I use casserole and glass pan lids on my iron skillets all the time. They ought to make lids for the skillets. Other skillets come with lids, why not those?

[Valerie]

I know! They make lids for dutch ovens, so I don't see why they couldn't make one for a small skillet.