Wilderness Cuisine by Carole Latimer (1991) 

Mini-Ovens

     For baking with the mini-oven method, it’s important to have a stove you can turn down to simmer. If your stove is capable of running with a low flame you may be able to bake with this method using a heat diffuser, but if your stove runs only at medium or high heat, you will burn anything you attempt to bake.

     To put together your own mini-oven you’ll need a frying pan at least two inches deep with a snug-fitting, flat lid on which you can build a small twig fire.

     I use the Banks Fry-Bake Pan. It’s designed for the mini-oven method of baking and is a quality piece of equipment. It can give baking results like a real oven, and it doubles as a frying pan. It’s a heavier-gauge aluminum pan with a tough, stick-resistant anodized coating that you can use with metal utensils. It comes with a ridged, domed lid. You build a twig fire on the lid and turn your stove down to simmer to create a mini-oven. Once you get the hang of it, it bakes delicious biscuits, brownies, yeast breads, pizza, quick breads, and casseroles. This baking system is faster and uses far less fuel than the water-temperature baking method. There are two models : The Alpine is 8” x 1.5” high and weighs 10 ounces. The Expedition is 10.5” x 2” and weighs 29 ounces.