Fry / Sautee with just 100 W

If you can keep water from the oil, you can fry, caramelize and even burn your food! I used a direct-heated ISEC made by collaborator Alexis from Learning Energy Farms.


The onions cooked nicely because the eggplant was not cut up, so it contained the water, not allowing it to cool the onions. This is how I put the food in the ISEC:


Unfortunately, I went out for too long, so some of the onions were burnt. Ideally, I would have been there to stir the onions after an hour or so.


Thus, one can achieve many of the goals of high-power frying using low power ISEC if the water-containing foods are either isolated from the oil, or just added later.

Hey Pete - great to see you've been collaborating with Alexis!

Nothing hits the spot like some super-charred onions eh...

Are there any more details on this wee cooker? Looks very tidy.

Cheers,

Sean

Sean,
Good to hear from you. We've made a number of improvements (in my opinion). It's documented in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc3urvqxq-U

Thanks Pete - looks great!

Is there anywhere I can find more info on the "ceramic beads" used in the concrete?

Edit: found Alexis' presentation which seems to cover it -

Sean,

My students have been able to buy these beads inexpensively. However, I do not think that the beads are necessary. We have made heaters by immersing the NiCr wire in a concrete puck. We are also experimenting with thinner heaters in furnace cement. Please see this video from today's meeting:

Great stuff Pete, look forward to seeing how it holds up.