Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cuisine with 150 Easy Sun-Cooked Recipes

by Rick Palkovic and Lorraine Anderson

Book Overview

What could be more entertaining and magical than putting food into a cardboard box outdoors on a sunny day and taking it out fully cooked a few hours later? Solar cooking -- a safe, simple cooking method using the sun's rays as the sole heat source -- has been known for centuries and can be done at least during the summer in just about any place where there's sun. In Cooking with Sunshine, Lorraine Anderson and Rick Palkovic provide everything you...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156924300X
• ISBN13: 9781569243008
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The only solar cooking book you will ever need

I already know about solar cooking, I ordered the book just for the hundred plus recipes. Wow, what a surprise. It covered everything, so feel free to get it if you want to build your own cooker or order the best out there. However, back to the recipes. Yup, my kind of cooking. Short lists of ingredients and clear directions- and accurate cooking estimates. So far, all are easy and delicious. Everything you might want to cook is in this book, and more important for those of us just camping- none of the stuff we DON'T want to cook is in this book. No exotic spices or elaborate dishes. Just good, well planned, comforting meals.

Start Cooking with Sunshine!

I must say this book is a real gem. It is small but contains some good information. Half the book is information on solar cooking and it even tells you how to build two simple solar cookers from things you probably have around the house or can get cheap. The other half of the book contains recipes for cooking with your solar cooker. Excluding the recipes, the book can be read in a few hours at most. After which you will know enough to be able to build your own solar cooker and be cooking in no time. The book also gives sources for buying a cooker should you really want to do so. I built a panel cooker in about an hour or two following the easy instructions. The next day I cooked a meal with it using a recipe I modified a bit to work with the cooker. It turned out better than I thought it would to be honest. I have cooked several dishes using the cooker now and everything has turned out great. I personally find the food to be of better quality than the typical high heat cooking usually done on stoves and ovens. Most recipes can be adapted to be cooked with sunshine so you are not limited to what is provided in the book. As the book says a general rule is a conventional recipe will take about twice as long to cook in the solar cooker. I found this to be about true, though it might take just a little longer but doubling the time seems to be about right. If you are interested in learning how to build a solar cooker and start cooking with one then I recommend getting this book. It keeps things pretty simple and easy while still giving you the information you need to start cooking good meals with free energy from the sun.

This is the reference I paid money for...

I usually preview my books by borrowing them from the library to see if they are worth buying. This is one that I chose for my personal collection. I also checked out "Cooking with the Sun" (by Halacy and Halacy), which had some good introductory information and interesting-looking recipes. However, as soon as I got to the list of supplies needed for actually building their solar oven (plywood, fiberglass insulation, 1/16" thick aluminum or iron sheets, double-strength window glass, etc.) I gave up. My tools are limited to hammers and screwdrivers, and I didn't even know what some of the required items were, much less what to do with them. This book, by contrast, has wonderful, step-by-step, illustrated directions on how to make a solar oven (box cooker) using simple stuff I have at home (cardboard boxes, newspaper, aluminum foil, turkey oven-roasting bag, Elmer's glue, etc.). There are also simple-looking directions for making a reflective-panel cooker. I love how this book caters to the average Joe (or Josephine) who wants to cook with solar but doesn't want to spend a bundle to get started. The book gives lots of recommendations for improvising inexpensive options in cookware, explaining what works best and what doesn't work so well (and why!). For example, two dark 9" cake pans held together with large binder clamps (those things used in offices to hold large quantities of paper together) can work just as well as an expensive enameled dutch oven.

How and Why?

Just picked up the book yesterday and read it from cover to cover last night. Great opening section about how solar cooking works. I haven't seen it explained more clearly anywhere else. Great explanations on how to build your own- two types. And the recipes look wonderful. I'll be trying many of them when I finish building mine.

yum!

You must try the Asparagus Pesto! By my calculations, a batch of this makes more and costs less than store-bought pesto. (Also less oily, if you wish.)

Far From Frying An Egg On the Sidewalk

The idea of cooking with solar energy is new to me, but since I've been so impressed by previous publications by Lorraine Anderson, I decided to give the book a whirl and order it. The 150 easy recipes include a tantalizing tomato bisque soup, a unique Ozark pudding, and a to-die-for Boppin' John (traditional New Year's Day dinner down South). Using the free and clean energy of the sun will appeal to anyone hoping to be more environmentally responsible. Not only do Anderson and Palkovic teach neonates like me how to construct a solar oven (out of tin foil, cardboard, newspapers, and glass!), but the book also lists places where I can order such ovens. As for me, I'll be taking the solar cooker and a copy of Cooking with Sunshine to the Mississippi River beaches this summer. Bon appetit.