Comments on Thermal Cooking
January 18, 2008 — thermalcookerWelcome to my thermal cooker thermo cooking web blog where I hope to collect and share information on the methods and functions of using non-electric slow cooking for what ever need you might have.
I plan on pulling information in on haybox cookers, vacuum flask cooking, thermos and wonderboxes that use the process of an insulated container to store the heat and cook the food we eat daily or in emergency situations. Along with the how to’s and what for’s and recipes for these non-electric slow cookers.
January 18, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Hi,
Have you tried using a parabolic solar cooker at all? I’m hoping to try that method myself this summer and would love to get tips on using solar equipment.
January 18, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Though I’ve watched a solar cooker do it’s thing and have heard many describe it’s great uses, I’ve not run one myself… yet.
I great resource on the genre is available at: http://solarcooking.org/
I believe a solar heat source would work very well with a thermal cooker and likely help out when the sun just isn’t out in full force and you need to keep what heat was generated in the short time the sun is shining around to cook the meal.
January 20, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Last week I cooked a breast of chicken in a solar funnel cooker here in So. Calif.
I use a mylar sun shade molded into a funnel. I put a plastic tray underneath the mylar funnel, a black aluminum grate inside the funnel. I put the seasoned chicken in a small cast iron skillett and inserted a thermometer in the meat. I enclosed it in a clear plastic bag with the ends held closed with a clip.
The temperature of the thermometer was 60ºF and in 30 minutes the temperature was 120º F. I cooked for 2 hours when the internal temperature of the meat reached 160º.
The meat was moist and tasted delicious.
I next tried corn bread, but used shiny aluminum cupcake pans lined with paper cups. It didn’t work and I think it is because it needed something black around it. I will try it again this week with a black cupcake pan.
February 18, 2008 at 5:23 am
how do you make yogurt and tofu with the thermal pot? Could you please share that secret!? Thanks
February 18, 2008 at 10:21 am
Making yogurt was one of the first applications we used our thermal cooker for. It makes the process almost effortless. Just before going to bed I would start the process by pouring 4 quarts of raw sweet Nubian goat milk (cow milk works too the more fat content the better) into the stainless steel inner container and place it on the stove. While monitoring it with a thermometer I’d bring the milk temperature to around 110 degrees (don’t exceed 118 degrees). I would add two packages of Yogourmet yogurt starter to the milk after the temp reached 100 degrees and would stir it in as the temperature rose the final 10 degrees. Once it reached 110 I would place the lid on the cooker and place it into the thermal outer container and set it aside and leave it until the morning. When I’d wake up I’d take out the inner pot and place it and the finished yogurt contents into the refrigerator. It’s that simple.
For future batches I would leave about 1/2 a cup to 1 cup in the container and add new milk over top of it as I heated it up to 110 repeating the process above but without adding any additional starter packages. We would make 4 or 5 batches before adding another starter pack to keep the cultures thriving.
I haven’t had the experience yet of making tofu so someone else will need to chime in on that process.