... No Big Camp kitchen is complete without this oven. For my wife and I, Big Camp is all about making great meals with a great view. Those dehydrated bag meals are fine for light weight backpacking, but if its Big Camp, then we're out to push the limits. No Beanie Weenie for me! Our Big Camp kitchen includes a Primus Atle 2-Burner Stove, a Primus Atle BBQ Grill/Stove, a GSI Pinnacle Griddle and this Coleman oven. That all fits in this Mountainsmith Large Zip-Top Tote for rapid deployment. It all connects to a 10lb refillable propane tank. We also use the GSI Outdoors Bugaboo Pots and I really like them. That's a serious camp kitchen even Alton Brown would appreciate. As far as this oven goes, I really like it. I've had great success with tube cookies, rolls and croissants as well as brownies and quick bread mixes even at high altitude. I've baked breakfast casseroles just below treeline. This past weekend (6/13) we baked cornbread to go with the fresh pan seared trout. This is no Viking Range. This is a rudimentary folding metal box, but it works. Baking with this can be an active sport and you have to pay attention. The thermodynamic properties of aluminized steel are beyond the scope of this review, but suffice it to say that one should not initially turn the burner on full blast or the box will not heat evenly and could warp. Likewise, one should not place this directly over a camp fire. For campfire cooking, get a dutch oven. I have baked great things in those too. For this oven, I keep the burner low at first and let it all heat up slowly to about 200. I then turn up the burner and let it slowly rise to 350/375. It then requires adjusting the stove burner every few minutes to keep the temperature even. By "even" I mean between 350 and 400. I haven't warped it yet. I looked seriously at the Coleman InstaStart Portable Oven and the Camp Chef Camp Oven, but this simple box can't be beat for portability. I could carry three camp stoves and this oven in the space that one of those other ovens takes up and those things are expensive. Maybe this winter, I'll make a cover to increase the oven's efficiency. I could use aluminized fiberglass ~something like this~ or simply lay a Silicone Bake Mat over it. In addition to the GSI pots and pans, we also have some silicone bakeware because it's lightweight and smashable. We don't bring this oven on every camping adventure, but there is something really fun about preparing great meals that include fresh baked things way out in the middle of the woods. P.S. It's generally a good idea to keep the camp kitchen away from one's sleeping tent. That's not always possible in developed campgrounds. We keep our camp clean, lock it all up at night and have never had a bear or raccoon problem. It's work, but organization is the key. I've found Mountainsmith Cubes and Eagle Creek Cubes to be a great way of color coding all the gear. Happy camping! ...
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