Boston Brown Bread Cooked in the Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker

 

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour and White Cornmeal

Buttermilk, Molasses, Raisins, Salt, Baking Powder
 and Baking Soda

I melted the butter and mixed the wet and dry ingredients separately.

Be sure and start your water first. It takes time to 
bring it to a boil. 

I mixed all the ingredients together.

Poured the batter into my oiled pan.

I placed the oiled lid on top.

I placed my pot of batter into my inner pot with boiling water.

I put the lid on and heated up the batter for 30 minutes.

After the initial heating was complete, I place the pots with the batter
and water into the Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker for 5 hours.

Boston Brown Bread

3/4 C Rye Flour

3/4 C White Cornmeal

3/4 C Raisins

1 3/4 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Salt

1 2/3 C Buttermilk

1/2 C Molasses

3 Tbs Butter, melted

Regular Cooking Method

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Divide batter into two 28 oz cans (BPA Free!) sprayed with cooking spray or oil lightly. Cover with tinfoil that has been sprayed or oiled. Make sure to seal the tinfoil. Place in a pot of boiling water that covers the cans at least 1/2 way up the cans. Let steam for at least two hours or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean or almost clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing bread from can. Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. 

Serve toasted in butter or warm with room temperature butter.

Thermal Cooking Method

If using the Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker: Spray or oil the top pot along with the lid. Pour the batter into the pot and place the lid on top. Place inside the larger pot with boiling water. Let steam for 30 minutes. Place inner pots into the thermal cooker. Let the bread continue to steam in the thermal cooker for 5 hours. Test with a toothpick. It should come out clean or nearly clean. Let bread cool almost completely before removing from pan. Let cool completely before slicing.

Serve toasted in butter or warm with room temperature butter.

Let the bread cool before removing from the pan.

Let cool completely before slicing.

It has a moist and fairly dense crumb.

I toasted the bread with a little butter.

Can you see where Number One Husband taste tested the bread?

I had two slices with a cup of tea for breakfast. It was very filling
and delicious.

Enjoy!

Mrs. Smith

Ps...

Our propane was delivered, and the numbers are in.

We used 573 gallons. Last year we used 688.90. That is big savings. We put in insulating
blinds, new windowpanes in most of the house and an a more efficient heater. Yea! Let's see how
much we can save next year. 

My First Time Using the Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker - Hawaiian Chicken and Rice

So, I really didn't have a recipe to go by. I watched a few videos that looked good, but they didn't give any measurements, so I just guessed what I needed to fill up the larger pot. All this to say, there is no recipe. Sorry!

There was also a dilemma concerning the rice. I saw several different videos that used more or less water in their rice. I used the recipe by a woman who lives at a higher altitude and actually wrote the book on thermal cooking. I am now watching out for a good deal on her book. 

I also used the quilt method around my cooker to maintain a higher temperature due to the low boiling point at our altitude, so we will see how things turn out.  

I sliced the celery and carrots in thin diagonal cuts for 
optimal cooking. The onions are naturally thin, so 
I didn't do anything special to them.

I was out of fresh peppers, so I used some rehydrated dehydrated peppers.

I deboned some chicken thighs. I froze the bones to make stock
out of at a later date. 

I cut the chicken into small chunks with the skin on.
I snacked on the extra carrots.

I browed the chicken in my cast iron skillet 
so, I could use the fat in chicken gravy that I
was preparing for lunch.

I sautéed the vegetables, garlic and pepper flakes
in the large pot in a little oil.

This was a lot of chicken. I saved some for my gravy. 
We had chicken gravy for lunch with homemade honey wheat bread.

I added the sauce, browned chicken and pineapple tidbits. I thickened
the sauce with a cornstarch slurry once the mixture came to a boil.

I started the rice.

I brought everything to a boil for 5 minutes. I placed both pans in the thermal 
cooker with the lid. Things got a little complicated as far as pictures go. I had 
three meals going all at once that needed to be tended to, so I failed to get
more pictures. Sorry.

After 6 hours and 40 minutes we were ready to eat dinner. It was probably
ready at the 5-hour mark but we weren't hungry. 

The top and bottom pots had the same temperature.

Everything was cooked to perfection.

This was the first time I successfully cooked rice at this altitude without a pressure cooker.
The rice was perfectly cooked. The grains were individual and not soggy and mushed together.  

The cooker holds a lot of food. It's perfect for big batch cooking.

Two things that I didn't consider was the volume of food it cooks and both pots needing to come together at the same time. Fortunately, my freezers are full. Unfortunately, it made a lot of food. I can use the smaller pan for smaller meals by using boiling water in the bigger pot for thermal mass. I had multiple meals cooking at the same time and I should have focused on the meal going into the cooker at least for the first few times until I am more familiar with this technique. 

So far, I am very pleased with the Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker. The next test will be the bean test. I have high hopes that it will cook a pot of beans. Beans, like rice are impossible to cook at this elevation without a pressure cooker. I may be asking too much from a cooker without a heat source. We will see. 

Mrs. Smith

Off-Grid Cooking - Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker - Unboxing

We have two Sun Ovens and purchased both
from a local thrift store at different times.

We live off grid in the Rocky Mountains and I am always looking for ways to reduce our energy consumption, especially our propane consumption. Last year, we reduced our propane usage by 14%. It is time to fill up our tank again. Number One Husband has a call into the distributor of said propane. We can only guess at the price per gallon this year. I definitely think that it will be more than we paid last year, but we need 14% less this year. 

We have several options when it comes to cooking without propane. One of my favorite ways to cook is in our Solar Oven, however it requires the sun to shine. This isn't usually an issue living in one of the sunniest states in America. Unfortunately, we do have to battle high wind conditions. 

During the summer months, I can usually get a Sun Oven meal cooked before the wind and the rain begins if I start by 10 or 11 am. I have managed to cook several meals in the past week even though we have had wonderful afternoon thunderstorms. If there is no rain in the forecast, I can cook in the Sun Oven until 3 or 4 pm. I avoid windy days altogether. Forecasts can usually predict what time the winds will pick up and I plan accordingly. The Sun Oven can withstand 30 to 35 MPH winds, but if the wind is blowing on all four sides of the house, I just don't use it. The wind pretty much blows non-stop in the winter, and it is brutally cold, so we only use the Sun Oven in the spring, summer and fall months. 

I don't mind cooking inside in the colder months. The heat from cooking warms up the house nicely and keeps the heater from kicking on. The smell of homemade bread and a pot of soup cooking just makes me happy, but in the warmer months it is too hot to bake and simmering a pot of anything is just out of the question. 

This brings me to our next option and that is the Electric Pressure Cooker. My mom gave us three different sizes to us over the years, for which we are very grateful. I use my electric pressure cooker as much as possible if the sun is out or when we need to run the generator. I usually don't miss an opportunity to cook a pot of rice, beans, sauces or soups if there is room in my freezer to store it. I try and utilize our free power and our generated power as efficiently as possible. Thanks Mom!

Rabbit is up to no good! 

Then we have our grills, like the Cobb Grill that uses just a couple small of chunks of charcoal to roast a whole chicken or we can fire up our larger grill for batch cooking. We do have to rely on charcoal to use the grills and we cannot use then during fire bans. In other countries like Africa, a large portion of a family's income in rural areas goes into the cost of energy for cooking and heating water. 

Sabbath Preps

Thermos cooking is not efficient here at this altitude. Don't get me wrong, they will keep foods hot and drinks cold. There is just not enough mass to cook a meal unless it's oatmeal or something similar that cooks quickly. I use thermoses every week for the Sabbath for hot tea and hot water. We use a thermos when we travel or hike. A thermos will keep soup hot for several hours, but it will not cook rice at this altitude. In fact, I have to use my pressure cooker to cook rice and beans. The stovetop just doesn't cut it. The first time I tried to cook beans at this altitude, I ended up throwing them out after trying for three consecutive days to cook them.

This brings me to my newest tool to combat the use of propane: The Saratoga Jacks Thermal Cooker. 

I have wanted one for quite some time to add to my arsenal but was not willing to pay full price for one. I finally found a new unused one in an open box on Ebay. I made an offer, and it was accepted. I paid 1/4 of the price of retail including shipping. 

After researching thermal cookers, I decided that
this was the thermal cooker that I wanted. 

Thermal cooking is a very basic concept and
has been used for generations. There are several
kinds of thermal cookers. Hayboxes and quilts were
among the first of their kind and are still used today. 

It is made from high quality stainless steel. 

There is no need for additional cookware since both pots have heavy bottoms
 and can be used on the stovetop or in the Sun Oven to bring foods up to
temperature. I can also do the initial cook in the pressure cooker. 

Other cooking vessels like jars with lids
can also be used in this cooker. I would 
avoid cooking in plastic.

I have not decided what to cook first just yet, but I will be sharing my successes and failures. 

Shalom,

Mrs. Smith