Cooking With a Hot Dog Solar Cooker

A solar hot dog cooker is a fun, popular and easy way to use a solar cooker that is particularly popular with anyone who enjoys fresh and warm hot dogs, nicely cushioned in a fresh bun with melting butter and maybe just a touch of mustard.
Whist these solar cookers are not commonly commercially produced, most are home-made.
Not only is the apparatus a great conversational item, but it also can be enjoyed outdoors by the entire family.
In principle the hot dog cooker emulates the parabolic reflector functionality, in that the meat skewer is carefully positioned at the focal length of the parabolic reflector, therein receiving maximum focused sunshine.
The reflector is designed in a parabolic curve, manufactured normally out of metal, wood or cardboard and lined with some form of highly reflective material, for example aluminum foil (with the shiny side facing outwards towards the sun) or even flexible acrylic mirror material.
The skewer is positioned on a small assembly of sorts (usually anchored with side supports on the body of the cooker, at the apex of the curve) positioned horizontally over the reflector.
Usually the skewer will have a small handle to enable the solar chef to gradually but progressively turn the skewer, thereby turning the food and ensuring an even cooking application without burning the food.
Whilst the name solar hot dog cooker implies that only hot dogs are cooked over the reflector, the truth is any suitable foodstuff can be cooked in this fashion, for example marshmallows, chicken, fish, seafood, meat and even certain vegetables.
Solar hot dog cooker plans are fairly readily available online and the design is fairly easy to construct, on condition you fabricate an accurate parabolic curve, and that your focal curve is correctly determined and meets flush with the skewer, optimising the concentrated sunshine.
Generally the focal curve should be somewhere between 6-15 inches above the surface of the reflector.