Solar-powered griddle?

[roastduck]

My dad told me once how when he used to go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, he and his friends would just put some foil down on the dashboard of the boat. He said it would get hot enough to cook steaks and such on. Would that work on the playa? Just rig up a cooktop out of foil and put it on the hood of my truck?

[some seeing eye]

Fish tale.

But stop by the Alternative Energy Zone and see their solar death ray parabolic concentrators!

Seriously. You can easily make a solar oven that traps heat in an enclosure to roast steaks. For an open air grill to achieve 400F + temperatures you need a concentrator. Beaming that onto the front or backside of a heavy metal plate to grill with would be a great project.

[essjay]

What's on the end of that pole?



(Not the pretty burner, the other end . . .)

[Elorrum]

It looks like what we used to call a flying saucer sandwich maker. two pieces of bread and anything in the middle. yuum... peanut butter and jelly. or cheese.

[trilobyte]

You can bake cookies on the dash of a car, but I'm not sure whether or not it'll sizzle a steak. Mexico's quite a bit closer to the equator than northern Nevada (plus the playa's 4400 feet above sea level), so the experience won't be quite the same. But as SSE mentioned, camps like the Alternative Energy Zone do some awesome stuff using solar power and are able to cook some great stuff.

[lemur]

well... if youre in a pinch.. and worried about 'solar' energy

head on down to center camp, in front of the cafe, find the cauldron.. diablo.. some years they succeed in lighting it using the sun, they did this year in 2011

theres usually wood around somewhere near to keep this flame going all week long...

stoke that fire, throw on a log and start cookin.

thats good heat!! dont waste it..

[roastduck]

It's not so much me being all about alternative energy. I just enjoy steak, and would like to cook some steaks out there without having to haul a grill out there

[lemur]

oh.. do bacon wrapped filet mignon medallions count as steak?

baconfilet.jpg

well.. long ago i spent about $40 on a small backpacking stove.. isobutane cannisters are about $5..

its small...it is the one i bring with me for my personal use at burning man.

hey! i just happened to have made some steak on it before,.... sometime last year i made these images as i was emptying out a nearly empty can..

baconfilet2.jpg

...yeah, for reals..

[MyDearFriend]

complete and utter awesomeness right there, lemur

[FIGJAM]

Get one of the small sat. dishes that are everywhere and line it with foil.

Piont it at the sun and use a small enough pan (put a long handle on it) that it does'nt block too much sun and you have a solar grill!