Chicken #1 test result: Qualified failure.

Air temperature away from the focus of the oven was 130 degrees at 3:45.

The chicken breasts were a little over 2.5 inches thick. The skin browned well only at the very top, the breast and whole carrot stuffed in breast temp after 15 minutes of resting was 140 degrees, and the breast meat pulled apart easily. Juices were present and near the breast bone may have showed the palest of pink (I had to look a couple times and was not quite sure). Drumstick meat measured only 130 degrees, pulled apart easily, and the juices again might have been the slightest bit pink (I was a little more certain I saw some pink).

Unfortunately, solar ovens cook from the top down. The fact the breasts were probably cooked and the drumsticks probably not quite cooked, meant the rest of the bird was not done. The whole carrot stuffed in the breast was not quite cooked soft all the way through.

I lifted the bird out and placed it on a carving board to check underneath. Red and pink juices ran onto the board. None of the potatoes, onions, or turnips that lined the bottom of the pot were done. I did not start with any liquid in the pot (there was no room to put in the canned tomatos), but there was about an inch of juice in the bottom of the pot.

Being a confirmed coward, I reloaded the pot and put it in a 325 degree oven to finish cooking. All knives, boards, utensils, and my hands washed in hot soapy water.

Thoughts for next time: Bird too big (the recipes I found all recommended a 2.5 pound bird but I got the smallest one I could find at the store.). Overloaded pot couldn’t close (all recipes for all solar cooking indicate a closed pot).

Chili #1 test: Put an almost full pot on to see if a vegetable chili could cook starting at 3:45. We’ll see if there is enough solar to do the job. This is a second clean pot, not the one used for the chicken #1 test.

Sigh. Solar advocate face slightly red.