# cooking with mirrors!



## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

I never really see this mentioned, so I like to throw it out when Im on a new forum. (new for me that is) 

I rented a place from a science teacher one time, and this will likely sound ridiculous but Ive done it in several locations now, even in the middle of the winter! 

He had a wok welded on the bottom to a metal pole so it was a bit easier for him, but Ive done it with pans sitting on a grill held up by cinder block, and I had a tripod for holding a pot over a fire that worked really well also..

anyway all you do is point MANY mirrors to the bottom of your pan. yep thats it. If its not hot enough add more. Ive done it with as little as about 18 and as many as about 60-70 in the dead of winter on a COOOLD day with snow all over. 

glueing small mirrors onto rocks with a bed of sand makes it easier because you can rotate them all pretty easy... ive gotten water to boil like this! although the time I did it in the winter I ran out of room for new mirrors and it wasnt boiling. I was able to slowly cook things though. If I had a tripod at the time so I had more room, I bet I could have gotten it to boil in the winter to... 

so anyway, probably not something many would want to do, but you can! I find it neat.


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

85 views and no one found this useful enough to respond? I know its not something everyone would do, but I figured some folks would like it. oh well.


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

silverseeds said:


> as many as about 60-70 in the dead of winter on a COOOLD day with snow all over.
> 
> although the time I did it in the winter I ran out of room for new mirrors and it wasnt boiling.


This is probably the answer for your question. By the time it takes me to set up and align 60 or 70 mirrors, how much wood could I have picked up? BTW, where am I supposed to get 60 or 70 mirrors? Think my time collecting wood is better spent.


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## PD-Riverman (May 24, 2007)

Also I am sure you would have to re-aim those mirrows every few minutes for them to work their best----sounds like alot of work but I know it would work!


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

I can think of a few instances i wouldnt want to use wood. I will keep that up to your imagination... i only needed 60 in the dead of winter with snow on the ground. 

As for moving them you sure do have to, but not as much as you might think, the bottom of a pan is bigger then one tiny spot and a nice thick metal one will move the heat around decently. I finished what I was cooking before i had to move it, but in one water boiling session that was more a test I had to move them a few times. It takes a second or two per mirror. not hard to find cheap small mirrors. 

anyway.. take it for what its worth, or not...


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

I think its a neat idea and will keep it in mind. I think it would be worth getting some mirrors and trying out!


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

There was a "myth busters" thing about mirrors and setting a boat on fire....... found that not enough mirrors nor could they position them "fast" nor steady enough to make it work...... hey it could make for an interesting experiment....... if'n you wanted to play around. Any idea where one would be keeping 20, 30, 40..... 100 mirrors?????


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Sounds like myth busters were working on trying to do what some think, I believe it was the greeks did. 

As to where to keep them, you want small mirrors, I just have mine in a little box. They are about 1.5 by 1.5. got them at the dollar store rather cheaply.


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

It's called a parabolic solar cooker. They've been made out of the very old huge satelitte TV dishes. Those babies will raise 2nd degree burns in a few seconds. Nat Geo mag mentioned some older people in Mongolia, who had no younger people to take care of them and no wood sources, used them for cooking.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

I find the subject interesting, 

and suppose one should try it, I know they make and are plans for a solar cooker, 
solar cooker - Google Search which is basically the same idea, just possibly a little more compact in nature,


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## no1butcherman (Sep 6, 2007)

Solar Oven Comparisons page Parabolic Solar Cooker: Cantinawest's "Solar Burner"


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Im a big fan of solar cooking. Im going to expand into that some more as well after seeing the much higher prices for electricity at my new spot. 

The ready made parabolic set ups are certainly easier Id think, but they arent cheap. For a few bucks you can source scores of small mirrors and do the same thing. Adjusting the mirrors isnt much different then tending a little fire.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I wonder if you could make a big bowl lined with small mirrors and a stand for the pot in the center? That would eliminate the need to move any mirrors or if you did you could just rotate the whole thing.

Last winter when I walked by a second floor window the reflection of the sun would warm me up and I was probably 40-50' away standing on the ground.


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## ryanthomas (Dec 10, 2009)

Grandmotherbear said:


> It's called a parabolic solar cooker. They've been made out of the very old huge satelitte TV dishes. Those babies will raise 2nd degree burns in a few seconds. Nat Geo mag mentioned some older people in Mongolia, who had no younger people to take care of them and no wood sources, used them for cooking.


We made one of those in high school physics class. I've been meaning to make one myself. We just covered it with galvanized sheet metal bent to match the curves, but it would probably work a lot better with mirrors. I've seen peel and stick flexible mirror material that would make it pretty easy.


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