Campfire Reflector Oven(pic heavy)

[cheapeats]

It is made from 4 pieces of 1/2 inch steel conduit, 8 conduit clamps, 2 Large shiny cheap cookie sheets( 3 for $3 and change at Wally world), a couple of coat hangers, a dozen or so screws and nuts and a couple of sheets of scrap aluminum

Disassembled Unit

The aluminum was cut into 2 side pieces 5 inches at the narrow end and 15 inches at the wide with the angle part the same width as the cookie sheet

Side piece

and 1 back plate 5 inches by the length of the cookie sheet

Backplate

Holes were drilled to allow the sides and back to be screwed to the cookie sheets as such

Sides and back attached

attach the legs(1/2 inch conduit) using the conduit clamps (i chose this method because I plan at cooking at different fire rings of different heights)

Side with legs attached

Several holes were drilled into the side plates to allow pieces of coat hanger to be inserted to serve as a grill

Front view

The cookie sheet I bought came a set of 3 different sized sheets so I seasoned the smallest with olive oil so the finish would be very dark so it would asorb the reflected heat.

Finished with pan

note that the grill is perpendicular to the back plate and parrallel with the bottom edge of the back plate rather than centered( Someone else had done a science project with the grill at different locations and found this to be most effecient) One of the most amazing things was the biscuits that were farthest form the flame browned first and it took about the same time as cooking in my home oven.

Finnaly here is apicture of it in action at our annual scout camping trip to northern Maine I abked 40 biscuit sthat were devoured by 10 scouts in 4 minutes you do the math

I have also used this during winter camping trips as well our last trip called the Freezeout this January( 5 degrees F or -15 derees C) I baked 4 dozen chocalate chip cookies for the boys and for cub scouts that visited for the day.

 

[shocks]

hmmm fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Looks great a boon to any camp!

 

[JonnyP]

Thats neat....Bet a bannock would work well in it...

 

[British Red]

Bet chicken would too - lovely bit of ingenuity there!

 

[LazySod]

Im liking that a lot, great material sourcing.

 

[andy_e]

That's very smart.

When you say biscuits do you mean like Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, what we might call a savoury scone? I keep meaning to look for a recipe for them.

 

[mick miller]

40 biscuits divided by 10 scouts = 4 biscuits per scout
4 scouts eat 4 biscuits each in 4 minutes = 1 biscuit per minute

And they said my C.S.E grade 2 maths was next to worthless, pah! By today's standards I reckon its the equivalent of 2 A levels.

That is a very nice piece of engineering, cost effective and practical too. I always wondered about the actual practicality of a reflector oven having never seen one used in anger. I think you just proved its merit to me!

 

[cheapeats]

Andy, I suppose it would be like a savory scone here is a basic recipe but here in the US pilsbury makes them ready to go out of a cardboard tube which makes camp cleanup easy.

makes 10-12
2 cups
(200 g) flour

4 tsp
(20 ml) baking powder

2 tsp
(10 ml) sugar

1/2 tsp
(2.5 ml) cream of tartar

1/2 tsp
(2.5 ml) salt

1/2 cup
(100 g) shortening

2/3 cup
(150 ml) milk


1
Preheat oven to 450F or 230C Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2
Make a well in the center. Pour in the milk all at once.
3
Stir just until dough clings together; no more.
4
Knead gently on a lightly floured surface for 10-12 strokes.
5
Roll or pat to 1/2-inch (1-cm) thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch (6-cm) biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut.
6
Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 450F or 230C oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.
Lots of cookbooks tell you to use two knives, or some such, to do the cutting-in of the first step. Forks work fine for me (I'm a klutz.)

All of the trick to making light, fluffy biscuits is in how you handle them: the less, the better. You can make these as drop biscuits (skip the rolling; drop batter by tablespoons, and bake); they're even better for the lack of handling.

Outside North America you might not know what "shortening" is. Use butter, margarine, copha, or lard. Vegetable shortening really is better for this recipe, but don't forget lots of butter to put *on* them.... I make these for study breaks. They disappear at an exponential rate....

Mick good job with the math, it is a useful peice of kit but I would not carry it back packing or if I wanted to I would simplify it to the 2 baking sheets joined at the back and foil sides and just prop it with whatever materials I could find. I only put the long adjustable legs on it because I have a raised fire pit at home and the fire ring where we camp in Maine is quite high as well. I have used it when we had a sled and snow or when it was a short carry.

I forgot to mention it is the flame that causes this to cook no need to wait for a bed coals to start cooking.

 

[andy_e]

Thanks for that recipe - I can see myself needing a new belt in the near future.

 

[SAS_MAN]

All this talk of food is makeing me hungary

 

[Tengu]

I think its absolutley fantastic