This past weekend I had a few accidental experiments with my Coleman Folding Oven.

One, I left the Coleman Oven cooking muffins on the oven for over an hour, while I was pitching a tarp and gathering firewood. The muffins, while well done, were not black on the bottom, but instead were very well cooked throughout. No blackening on the bottom of the muffin. I am very impressed on how even the heating is on the Coleman Oven, although I think a lot of that has to do with the three fire brick I always stick in the bottom of the Colemen oven when cooking.

The second experiment was I ran out of propane, so I ended up cooking with the Coleman oven on some charcoal, on a grill over the campfire. It works equally well for cooking muffins. Things were evenly cooked, even if they were somewhat more smoky then the when cooked on the gas stove. Not at all black on the bottom side, very evenly cooked. Again, I was very happy with the results.

Apparently those Coleman Ovens have been around for a long time. I saw a similar oven box when I toured the LePorto house at the French Azul outside of Tonawanda, PA. They would put them on top of a wood stove for baking. Indeed, I could see using a Coleman Folding oven when I eventually live off grid, rather then a big oven, just as a way to save money and space over a full gas range, yet do the cooking that I need to enjoy life.