Puckster wrote on Jul 30^th, 2009 at 10:04pm:



Yummy!!!

One thing to remember with the reflector ovens, the flames of the fire play an important role so if they are higher it will cook faster.  Infrafed heat... Especially if the surface of the stove is shinny more reflected....try some cooking at a local park and get a oven themometer you would be suprised how hot the oven gets.

Snow_Dog and Intrepid_camper -- hats off to you both!  I appreciate your sage advice.  I'll let you know how Liz's cooking goes, and now I can criticize and critique her as she is in the process...as if I know what I'm doing!  I'll send pics. 

Oh yeah, the attached picture depicts a great way I've found to cleaning up after mixing the brownies...

prouboy

The last batch of brownies I made in the reflector oven got overdone...as they were cooking I asked "Do you think they should be BOILING in the pan?"  That was a bit TOO HOT, they cooked through and were tasty, but parts were the consistency of hard taffy when it cooled and took dynamite to pry them out of the pan.
You can regulate the cooking in your oven by where the fire is out in front of the oven.  Closer cooks the bottom of the pan more, further away cooks the top of the pan more.  SD is right about keeping a steady, even fire of moderate size...we make LOTS of kindling ahead of time to be able to feed the fire as needed with small wood.
If the top of what you are cooking is getting too brown ahead of time, try laying a pie tin, metal plate, or tin foil over the top while cooking longer to firm up the middle.  Do not over fill the cooking pan, keeping it a bit thinner will help cook the middle.  I also use a muffin pan and paper cups sometimes; the spaces between the muffin forms help transfer the heat and using paper cups makes it easy to remove the muffins when cooked (or while cooking, ahead of the rest if some are fully cooked and others are not)   

DentonDoc wrote on Jul 29^th, 2009 at 2:37am:


I'll second that thought. 

FWIW, for the first time in many years I dusted off the ol' reflector oven for the houseboat trip I recently took to Voyageurs.  I cooked up a batch of cornbread (similar consistency batter as your brownies, I'd guess).  I turned the pan a couple times early in the process, then let it go a bit longer between turns the rest of the way.

The more soupy the batter, the more you need to turn the pan.  Also watch the heat level and keep feeding the fire gradually to keep it fairly even.  If the edges are setting up too fast, even with frequent turning, then back off the fire a bit.

Anyway, the cornbread turned out well.  The kids thought it was really cool to cook in front of a fire like that.  I was pleased to see that reflector cooking is a bit like riding a bike.  Get the knack and you are good to go, even a decade or more later...

Thanks for the tips.  In addition to your good ideas, my strategy is to delegate brownie baking to dearest daughter!

prouboy

I'm "guessing" to much liquid/oil?
If your rotating the pan and the temp is fairly steady, you should get a good result. The cook time will vary as you would expect.
I know from my own experience that when mixing dry ingredients with liquid, sometimes it's easier too mix when you add a little more liquid?
I would cut back package recommendations a bit, and see if that helps?
I used this product with good success.
Gives you the eggs/oil/non-fat milk and salt. Add a little water and your in business. Also makes a great omelet mix. You can buy a sample package to see how you like it.

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Puckster wrote on Jul 29^th, 2009 at 1:41am:

This is the result I achieved on my first field attempt...a little crispy on the edges, but done in the middle (after rotating the pan about half-way through cooking).  A little less fire and more cooking time would be my guess.  

However, cooking will vary depending on the recipe.  A soupy mixture will cook quickly on the outside/edge but will take a while to cook to the middle/bottom.  A cake-like mixture will tend to take less time to cook and but be more evenly cooked.  Also, it depends on what combination of milk/water/oil is used.

I generally use a coated pan or muffin cups.

dd

This is critical....brownies cooked in my new reflector over are gooey!  Done on the outside and the edges, but not cooked on the bottom. 

I need help before taking my daughter into Basswood next month!! 

Fire not hot enough?
Didn't cook long enough?
Wrong kind of pan?

Any assistance from you sage reflector over chefs is much appreciated.

prouboy

I thought I'd include this pic to report to all of you who gave me good advice on reflector oven cooking.  The brownies were the highlight of a very cold trip last week to the Batchewaung area.  

These brownies came off the grocery shelf.  I will never use freeze-dried crap again...no need to put up with dull taste, at best.  

prouboy