How to Construct a Campfire Oven Reflector

Use aluminum roasting pans to make a reflector oven.

Your campfire meals don't have to be limited to hot dogs and marshmallows. Constructing an easy reflector oven can vastly broaden your outdoor cooking menu. The key to the oven is to have shiny sides that surround the fire and reflect the heat back onto the food you are making. You can surround a cardboard box with aluminum foil and add shelves to it, or you can piece together some shiny aluminum roasting pans with wire. The trick to cooking with a reflector oven is to keep an eye on the food because these devices lack a surefire way to control the cooking temperature.

Things You'll Need

• Three aluminum roasting pans
• Wire coat hanger
• Screwdriver
• Cooking grate
• Four bricks or rocks
• Wire snippers

Instructions

1. Put four rocks or bricks at each corner of the fire pit. Place a cooking grate over the bricks or rocks.

2. Punch two holes on the ends of two of the pans with a screwdriver. Punch four holes on both ends of the third aluminum roasting pan. Snip the coat hanger into equal lengths and connect the pans by lacing the wire through the holes. Two of the pans should be on each side, while the third, with the four holes, should be wired so that it forms the back of the reflector oven.

3. Place the back of the reflector oven so that it blocks any breeze. Use additional rocks or bricks to keep the reflector oven in place during the cooking process.

4. Light the fire and cook the food on the grate.

References

• U.S. Scouting Service Project: Reflector Baking