Introduction to Solar Cooking The Solar Cookers Building a Solar Cooker Solar Cooking News and Blogs Photos and Videos of Solar Cooking World Wide Solar Cooking Initiatives Solar related and Miscellaneous Contact Us
I love my two Copenhagen solar cookers! by: Victoria from New Mexico
I love the Copenhagen solar panel cooker! I needed a good solar cooker at a low price as I wanted to make sure cooking solar would be something I enjoyed before I splurged on anything fancy, and I took a chance on this one, and I am so glad I did. The first thing I did with it was to cook eggs for breakfast -- it only took 20 minutes, in a metal pan inside a covered glass casserole in an oven bag, but on a cold, windy NM mountain day that wasn't even as sunny as usual! I then cooked half-frozen chicken breasts with olives, pepperoncini and muenster cheese in only three hours and they were perfect! For the past couple weeks instead of a metal pan, I have been placing one of my darker pottery dishes (I have an vintage American pottery collection I love to use) in a covered glass casserole. I've only used an oven bag over all this on windy days, or when I needed to speed up the cooking. I think the pottery slows down the cooking a little bit, but not much, and it looks lovely at the table when it is served.
I liked this Copenhagen oven so much I then bought another one right away to take to our cabin in the wilderness, where I usually cook on a propane stove or grill. Well, I used this solar panel cooker, and it acted as a solar crock pot! --so that I was able to help my husband with remodeling work we had to do there, and not abandon him an hour early just to start and make dinner and worry about how I was going to deal with flames so close to a dry wilderness on a windy day.
I was so pleased! I placed this Copenhagen cooker on one of our wrought iron patio chairs that swivels, and adjusted it every couple of hours or so to follow the sun. It was a perfect dinner -- a chicken, sausage green Chile Alfredo dish I served with a salad and tortillas on the side.
I was worried when I bought this oven that it might only be a child's toy, but it is definitely not. It's a powerful tool!
What I appreciate about this solar panel cooker, too, is that, even thought it feels quite durable, if it ever wears out or one of the panels gets damaged or dulled by time, I will just use some of that reflective material you can purchase in rolls to cover the panel. This thing could be kept going almost indefinitely, I think. I do use a trivet under the food, to keep it heating more evenly. And I keep my two Copenhagens assembled, as I am not the patient sort who wants to put something back together each time. By the way, these ovens do beautifully in our strong New Mexico winds. It must be the way they're designed!
Gosh, there are some things so wonderful about the adventures of middle age!
