Food vendor Sila Sutharat turns the grates on a cart loaded with chicken as he cooks the white meat with rays of sun reflected on an oversized mirror panel on his property in Phetchaburi province.
Not
many chefs don a welding mask before they enter the kitchen, but Sila Sutharat
prefers to cook his chicken sunny side up.
Two
hours south of Bangkok this 60-year-old roadside vendor has found an ingenious
way to offer his customers something a little different by harnessing the power
of the sun.
Using
a large wall of nearly 1,000 moveable mirrors - a device he designed and built
himself - he focuses the sun's rays onto a row of marinated chickens, sizzling
away under the intense heat.
His
unusual culinary methods raised a few eyebrows when he first hit upon the idea.
"They
said that I'd gone mad, that cooking chicken like this was impossible," he
told AFP next to his stall, the row of sun-drenched chickens behind him too
bright to look at for any length of time.
"After
a long time passed by, they'd say: 'Actually, you could do it'," he added.
Food vendor Sila Sutharat uses a large wall of nearly 1,000 moveable mirrors - a device he designed and built himself - to focus the sun's rays onto a row of marinated chickens, sizzling away under the intense heat.
That's
because the solar reflector generates intense heat, easily enough to match an
oven, with a sunshine-baked chicken taking just twelve minutes to cook through.
For
much of the last 20 years Sila grilled in relative obscurity for a fairly local
crowd.
But
after videos of his solar-cooker went viral online, people from across Thailand
have flocked to his stall in Phetchaburi province.
Sila
says the idea came to him in 1997 when he was struck by the heat reflecting off
a passing bus.
Sila says that compared to a traditional charcoal grill - which he used before his solar epiphany - his meat is more tender and evenly-cooked.
"I
thought, with this heat reflecting from the window from the sun, I could
possibly change it into energy," he said.
Sila
says that compared to a traditional charcoal grill - which he used before his
solar epiphany - his meat is more tender and evenly-cooked.
And
given Thailand's sweltering tropical climate, the sun is a free, clean and
totally sustainable energy source.
"At
the time, energy such as petrol and gas was becoming more expensive and
suppliers were also running out of wood to sell," he recalled.
"I
thought if I used solar energy, I could save a lot. And it also decreases
pollution."
Sila
and his wife Pansri now cook around 40 chickens - as well as several sides of
pork - each day.
For much of the last 20 years Sila grilled in relative obscurity for a fairly local crowd. But after videos of his solar-cooker went viral online, people from across Thailand have flocked to his stall in Phetchaburi province.
"We've
been eating here for a long time," said regular patron Thanyarat
Kaewpaleuk, who was tucking into lunch with her husband.
"It's
delicious. His chicken is fatty, it's not burned and doesn't smell like a
charcoal grill, which you can smell on the meat.”
Take a look and watch
chicken bake while the sun shines:
By AFP