Well fish sticks

[jimindenver]

Bob put me to the task of finding out if the Sunflair could cook fish sticks. He probably thought I had forgotten but I have made a half a dozen attempts which is normal with solar cooking seeing that there is no hard and fast cookbook on them.

Since the Sunflair is a solar cooker not a oven I tried placing the frozen fish sticks between two black graniteware dishes trying to create a mini oven inside the cooker. Even though I flipped them half way through the cooking time was too long And they were not really crispy. I let the next set thaw thinking it would shorten the cooking time but still found that it took way too long to get the batter dried out. I even tried a thawed set for 4 hours with no better result. The issue I decided was that the two halves of the dishes were holding the moisture in.

I switched to Gordons fish fillets and tried a few attempts just sitting them on one black granite ware dish and while it didn't hold in the moisture, the lack of the upper dish producing heat left a slightly undercooked taste to the batter even though I flipped them. The oven just couldn't get over 225 f With such a small area of black converting light into heat. They may have done better if left in there for more than two hours but I figured that's the longest I would want to wait for lunch to be ready.



Today I used the black cookie sheet that came with the Sunflair with a cooling rack to set the fillets on and covered them with a graniteware plate. That allowed for more heat generation and let the coating to not only crisp up but also gave them a golden color on the tops. The bottoms were done and a bit crispy yet lighter in color so tomorrow I will try it again but will flip them after a hour. That should give me both sides crispy and golden in two hours.





So Bob, it is possible to do fish sticks in a Sunflair.

 

[Queen]

Are you sick of eating fish sticks yet?

 

[rvpopeye]

Not fish sticks , fillets....maybe sticks would cook (and brown) faster ?

Now , can you do donuts ?

 

[Putts]

This whole thing sounds a rather fishy endeavor. 

 

[jimindenver]

Are you sick of eating fish sticks yet?

No but I have spread the attempts out over months. lol

Not fish sticks , fillets....maybe sticks would cook (and brown) faster ?



Now , can you do donuts ?

The original attempts were fish sticks, I think I like the fillets better. As for donuts, no I can not in a traditional sense because donuts are fried which is the only thing I can't do in a solar oven. I can make some wicked cakes in them or use the hot plate running off the panels for frying. Who wants a donut when you can have pineapple upside down cake.

This whole thing sounds a rather fishy endeavor. 

And here I thought you'd say I was fishing for compliments. lol

 

[akrvbob]

I just saw a clever idea that I hadn't heard of before. You get two of the really large, glass, clear Pyrex mixing bowls and put them on top of each other. Full light and heat let in but then held in. Too much moisture could be a problem, but maybe you could offset them slightly so there was a slight opening to let moisture ecape but mainly retain heat.

Too big and too heavy for a van but you might can fit them in.

 

[Ballenxj]

This whole thing sounds a rather fishy endeavor. 

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.   Ok, save your tomatoes.

 

[mnpaul]

 

[lenny flank]

I just saw a clever idea that I hadn't heard of before. You get two of the really large, glass, clear Pyrex mixing bowls and put them on top of each other. Full light and heat let in but then held in. Too much moisture could be a problem, but maybe you could offset them slightly so there was a slight opening to let moisture ecape but mainly retain heat.

Too big and too heavy for a van but you might can fit them in.

I've heard  of people using a Pyrex baking pan upside down on the dashboard to heat up microwave frozen dinners. Apparently it works like a little bitty greenhouse, but it takes a couple hours, and I never had the patience to try it out.

 

[lenny flank]

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.   Ok, save your tomatoes.

Alright, I believe it's time for me to fly now.......

 

[WalkaboutTed]

My son mentioned that last week with the high temps here in the desert Arizona, that it was taking about 1 1/2 hours to bake cookies in a vehicle.

 

[Putts]

^^^Well, using an oven might help, but 90 minutes in a vehicle in the Arizona sun ain't bad...for a brownie. Don't think I could take it for that long though.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Jim, I think you need to write a cookbook... if you need an editor, I'm available. And I'm serious about the cookbook, cuz I need to know how to bake out there... I can't live without baking!

 

[SoulRaven]

Ask him about his Pasole (sp?). Delicious.

 

[jimindenver]

I bake in my solar ovens, my RV oven, anything it takes. I love food

The only thing about a solar cook book is all you do is adjust your normal recipe. Last night I made dry pork and vegie curry. No liquid just sprinkle the curry powder and coconut cream powder on it and stick in the Sport oven. Cakes just take longer with the reduced temperature but the fact that it's moist heat makes them taste like pudding cakes.

 

[jimindenver]

Pozole is really simple on the stove or in the ovens with the biggest difference being the water added to the stove top version. I do have to remember who I make it for, people cried at the RTR. lol