Solar Chili

If you are a chili lover, then using your solar cooker to make a big pot o' is a must.

I love chili, but still hadn't found a recipe I was happy with so looked around the web and found this one. We invited ourselves over to my aunt and uncles and decided if the recipe was bad, then they could suffer with us.

Turns out, this is the best chili I have had. If you look at the recipe, you will notice it is light on beans. For those of you who think chili isn't chili without a strong focus on beans, well, give it a shot. You may just like it.

I multiplied the recipe by 3 and followed it except for the jalapenos. I cut it back by half because of the audience eating (kids and wimps) but after eating it, I think most anyone could eat it as written.

To start, I browned the meat on the stove and then removed it from the heat. The peppers and onions were sweated in the residual heat from the mean off the stove. Everything else was by the recipe to include adding the beans an hour or so before we ate.

Times weren't the same as the recipe, but to give an idea of how well the solar funnel heats, this is what we did. Adding the tomatoes, sauce and spices brought the temp of the meat and veggies down to about room temp. We put it out about 2 in the afternoon and by 3 everything was hot. By 4 it was lightly simmering and ready to add the beans which were at room temp. By 5 it was ready to eat.

Just the other day we made this recipe again but instead of the canned beans I used dry and I used enough to make twice what the recipe called for to stretch it a bit. The day was cloudy so it was started on the stove with the beans brought to a boil and left to sit for 30 minutes before adding them to the pot. The picture above is from this second batch.

Everything went outside by 1pm when the sun came out and stayed until dinner at 6. It went from just hot to actually boiling within an hour or so. Providing you have a clear day, there is no reason everything except browning the meat can't take place using the sun. Even with dry beans instead of canned.

Multiplying that recipe by 3 gave us about 2 and a half gallons. Enough for dinner, 3- 2 quart portions to freeze for later meals and enough for my wife to take to work the next day.

My first time

For the last couple years I have read a bit here and there about the practice of cooking with the sun. Since first reading about it I have imagined myself one day giving it a try, only to put it off til later.

Well recently I decided it was finally time and so started looking for the exact method I would start the experiment with. Shortly after having decided on a set of plans, we got word that my father in law was bringing his solar cooker that same weekend on his visit. This meant of course that I could use his first before making my own which was a good thing. It helped me finalize my own plans.

The first thing we made was a roasted chicken with potatoes. We set up his cooker, put a whole, defrosted chicken into a black pot with a clear glass lid, surrounded it with cut up potatoes and onions and placed the whole thing into a large turkey bag. The kind of bag you put into the oven. The idea is the bag allows the suns rays in to heat the pot while holding the built up heat inside the bag allowing it to cook at a higher temperature.

Later that evening, when everyone returned home from a day at the water falls, we had chicken that was falling off the bone, moist and delicious. The potatoes were cooked through and so were the onions. I was really surprised to be honest. I mean, there was no doubt it would work. After all, my father in law had done it before and so had countless others. But seeing it and reading about it are two completely different things.

So of course all I could do the next couple of days was think about what I was going to do once I made my own solar cooker. This blog is one of the results and in it I will try and keep track of my experiences as well as put up recipes that we have tried. This will be my note book and with any luck, maybe even the extra nudge needed to get others to give it a try.

Since my first time one month ago today, I have made another chicken, stew, soup, a couple pots of beans, a couple pots of chili, a large pot of spaghetti sauce, 3 cakes and just today I baked my first loaf of bread. Each of these things will be discussed to a degree based on memory and future items will (hopefully) have a bit more detail.

For the record, I live in Oregon. So if you think you don't get enough sun or maybe not an intense enough sun, keep that in mind. You may just be surprised at what you can do at home.