Cook Outdoors Year-Round with a Solar Oven

LIME.com, September 1, 2006
By Paul Freibott

With Labor Day upon us, backyards across the U.S. will host countless outdoor picnics, barbecues, and maybe a clam bake or two. But summer's winding down doesn't mean your plein air culinary pursuits must end this weekend, or even with the first autumn leaf. Au contraire--with a Global Sun Oven®, you can enjoy outdoor cooking whether your lawn's covered in snow or sprouting a badminton net.

Sun ovens, also called solar cookers, rely on brilliantly simple technology; using mirrors, they concentrate the free energy source of sunshine and direct it towards your raw food until it's edible, moist, and delicious. (Or puffy and golden, if you're baking bread.) Solar ovens work whenever the sun's out, even on slightly overcast days, which means you can use them equally well for New England summer cookouts or February fish-fries atop frozen Minnesota lakes. You just can't use them if it's raining or very cloudy.

The Global Sun Oven® is a 21 lb. plastic box with a wooden frame, suitcase-style handle, glass lid, and four collapsible, highly polished aluminum reflector panels that fold flat for storage. A leveling leg in back and swinging shelf inside allow you to position it for maximum sun exposure. In 20 minutes or so, you might reach temperatures anywhere from 200 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which you can read on the internal thermometer. Because food heats slowly, it won't burn, and unless you're cooking something delicate, like fish, you can leave it for hours and not fear overcooking.

To be fair, cooking in a solar oven means you forfeit one summer delight: that smoky taste you can only get from grilling. But you'll gain the concentrated flavors that come with slow cooking, not to mention easy cleanup, energy savings (did I mention sunshine is free?), and the environmentally-conscious glee of not burning charcoal, wood, or propane. When it's too cold outside to tend to a grill (brrr...you know it's coming), simply place the sun oven outside, stay snug indoors, and you'll have a box dinner in 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on what you put inside.

Sun Ovens International, Inc., the company that makes the Global Sun Oven®, began when founder Tom Burns, a service-minded Rotarian and restaurant industry veteran, wanted to help feed people in developing or violence-torn countries. Twenty years ago, Burns took the centuries-old concept of sun cooking and married it with modern materials to develop his power-free product. Today, Global Sun Ovens® are used where cooking fuel is scarce, where deforestation threatens the environment and local economy, and where indoor fumes from firewood and coal are unhealthy to breathe-places such as South Africa, Honduras, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uganda. In total, the company's website says, "thousands of portable models have been shipped to more than 126 countries around the globe. SUN OVENS® have helped feed refugees in relocation camps, natives in remote Third World villages, workers at field sites, climbers on the slopes of Mount Everest, and soldiers during the Persian Gulf War." Admirably, the company continually seeks new relationships with NGOs active in Afghanistan, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Nepal, North Korea, and South Africa.

Until recently, the Global Sun Oven® had rather slight domestic appeal, mostly among rural off-the-gridders, outdoorsmen, conservationists, and maybe a few die-hard Burning Man attendees. Thanks to a Y2K-preparedness fad, Global Sun Ovens® became almost popular in the late 90s. Today, amidst rising energy costs, the specter of winter utilities bills, and growing green-consciousness, solar ovens hold real potential to save money, have fun, and practice one's beliefs, all at once.

I gave the Global Sun Oven® a test-run one sunny Saturday, after scooping up a bag of in-season tomatillos, cilantro, and a dried chile de arbol from my local farmer's market. My goal was two-fold: to test the oven and to improvise a green salsa of roasted tomatillos with lime. I opened the box, unfolded the collapsible aluminum panels, and peeled off their protective plastic coating. To my surprise, the oven required empty preheating once before use, sort of like seasoning a wok. (My best guess is that this helps release unwanted odors or residues from the plastic interior, left over after manufacturing, but the enclosed pamphlet was mum on the topic.) I washed it all out with a mild all-purpose soap and placed in my glass baking dish stuffed with tomatillos, onions, cilantro, garlic, and a minced chile de arbol, thinly coated with olive oil. An hour or so later, I removed it with two oven mitts (yes, it really gets that hot) and bumped the shelf, clumsily proving spill-proof claims on the box wrong. I squeezed in a lime, added salt, and served it over two halibut filets, which cooked in no time compared to the salsa. Savoring the tangy rich flavors of my hot, seasonal dinner, I realized I used not a drop of electricity or natural gas to create it. Funny how right then, it started tasting even better.