the wonder oven

I tried out my newly-made wonder oven today for the first time to cook a pot of dried pinto beans. I:

• picked through and washed the dried beans,
• soaked them overnight,
• drained and rinsed them,
• put them into my cooking pot with fresh water, a little salt and some pepper,
• brought them to a full, rolling boil and boiled them for 15 minutes with the lid on the pot,
• transferred the hot pot and hot lid to the wonder oven,
• immediately put the cover on top of the wonder oven,
• and waited about 5 hours.

When I took the cover off the oven and the lid off the pot I immediately put my candy thermometer in to see how hot it was after five hours. (You can see in the picture that there was lots of steam coming off the surface of the water/beans.) It registered 170 degrees Fahrenheit, which is safe according to a food safety chart. I tasted the beans and they are completely cooked with a grand total of about 20 minutes worth of cooking fuel, in this case my gas range.

First try is a success! I will divide this batch of beans into quart size freezer bags and freeze them for whenever I feel like having a bean burrito or some chili for lunch.