cardboard box oven

[cheffy]

I'll admit I'm stumped here. I've seen the plans and understand how a cardboard box oven works but. How hot can you get one of these things before it goes Hoooossssh. The boys want to try it but I'm a little nervous. They want to push it to at least 400F. Think it will work?

[Bob White]

We have had them up to 450 interior temperature and cooked a turkey. The trick is to have every square inch of the interior covered with foil, and to have a small opening at the bottom to allow for fresh air to enter to maintain combustion.

[Fat Old Guy]

If you're a sci-fi fan, you'll remember that paper ignites at 451 F. So, I say "give it a shot."

[evmori]

Fahrenheit 451 great movie!

 

We have used box ovens to cook everything from pizza to cakes to pies to turkeys! They are great! Take a little work to make correctly but they are worth the effort!~

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[KoreaScouter]

I, too, am a box oven devotee. If you're just baking, a box oven is a very light alternative or supplement to a dutch oven. I've made several, and have a couple of suggestions.

 

- For the foil, use only Reynolds wide heavy duty. It holds up best to the rough treatment the box will get.

 

- Cover the entire outside with duct tape, except your vent hole in the top. Otherwise, the cardboard exterior gets very unhealthy looking, very quickly. Plus, the tape provides some waterproofing.

 

- On the first one I built, I used cut-up coat hangers to make a shelf, with a little cut out door in the side, like the internet plans. That door gave me fits. On my latest one, I suspend the baking pan on empty soda cans; no shelf, no door.

 

- Make sure the baking pan has enough clearance within the box to allow sufficient air to flow up and out the vent hole. If the clearance isn't there, your coals will smother or baking times will be excessively long.

 

- In the small pan I put the coals in, I cover them with a piece of accordion-fold HD foil. Acts as a diffuser to keep all the heat from slamming up into the bottom of the baking pan and burning whatever's in there.

 

Good luck...

 

KS

[Scoutmaster Ron]

Does anyone have the plans for this?

[cheffy]

Ok I'm going to try it. Here's my plan.I've got a stand that is about ten inches tall that will fit a tray.

Line box with foil and I'm going to try the door in side of box method as we need to produce multipule items. Start the fire on the ground using 12 coals. place stand over fire top with box and let the whole thing get hot. Open door, insert product cook till done and repeat.

Question to KoreaScouter what do yuo mean by box looks ugly? As in burned up and nasty!

Thanks

[Bob White]

A rare event, I am going to disagree with my esteemed colleague KoreaScouter.

It seems to me that by folding only a small amount of the foil to the outside of the box and using a minimum of duct tape for anchoring the cardboard dissipates heat into the air more rapidly allowing the box longer life.

 

I also like the side door for accessing the food. Since heat rises, removing the food from the top can be quite uncomfortable at times. Here are just some of the things we have prepared in a Cardboard box oven.

 

Hot Sandwiches

Pizza

Garlic bread

Bread loaves

Pie

Turkey

Chicken

Baked Potatoes (there is a better way however)

Fish

Baked Apples

Meat Loaf

Corn Bread

Brownies

Coffee cake

 

[dan]

http://www.macscouter.com/Cooking/BoxOven.html

 

Why ot cover the outside of the box with foil also?

[buffalo2]

KS that little diffuser sounds pretty slick - gotta try that next time

[Scoutmaster Ron]

Ok my first attempt was not very successful. My errors included 25 degrees for each briquet and just standard reynolds foil..try try again.. how have you introduced this into your units as an alternative cooking source?

[Bob White]

cover the box inside and out lowers the kindling temperature of the box xausing it to burn sooner. Also you do not need to worry about whether the foil is shiny side out or not. That has nothing to do with the cooking properties or heat reflection of foil.

 

This is straight from the mouth of a Reynolds Aluminum co. consumer education rep that did a cooking session for us at scout leader training.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[Fat Old Guy]

"This is straight from the mouth of a Reynolds Aluminum co. consumer education rep that did a cooking session for us at scout leader training."

 

I know that it is cliche for me to disagree with Bobo but in my kitchen it has and does make a difference which side of the foil is out. If Bobo's expert was right then flashlight reflectors wouldn't be shiny. After all, heat is nothing but infrared light.

 

 

[buffalo2]

So much for a decent discussion...

Unless perhaps someone would like to share their experiences with adding a window to their oven?

[heartofbrightstar]

I like using the boxes that reams of paper come in, they have a seperate lid. I use piano wire for the shelves and just wind it in and out of holes cut in the sides of the box.I don't make more than 3 shelves. That has created enough venting. For a window, cut most of the lid out, cut open a Reynolds turkey bag and spread it over the hole, using duct tape,tape the edges down, inside and out. I think you are better off putting the charcoal on an elevated surface, about 6 inches high. My husband is a machinist and made my platform out of steel. Before that, I just put a disposable pie tin on roofing nails driven into the ground at the height I wanted. I think you also have to assume the charcoal is hotter than ususal because of the closed in space. Absolutely, use the Reynolds wide heavy duty foil! Nothing else like it! (I really don't work for Reynolds ;})