I have to admit I thought this was going to be more gimmick then anything. I have no problem carrying heavier packs but it has to be for good reason.
So when my wife started pestering me about trying the “Outback Oven Wicked Good Brownies” I was totally against it. After all it’s frivolous, of limited use, and I’m no baker.
So 30 seconds later we picked it up along with a package of the brownies, a cinnamon coffee cake and even an apple pie.
Now to be clear this item says it works with most stoves, but really I have to say this was designed for the “MSR Dragonfly” stove. The Dragonfly’s ability to so finely control the flame / temperature was absolutely ideal for this.
Now I realize this is a review for the Oven but it’s a combo deal…the 3 deserts we got had simple instructions and were really rather easy to make. In the beginning it takes a fair bit of fiddling with the heat and constant supervision to get comfortable with the process. But 30+ minutes later I finished my first cinnamon coffee cake.
And holy cow was it good…so good we actually drew over another couple at the site beside us who had been wondering what in the world I was doing with that "thing"…and how it smelled so good.
I ended up cooking all three deserts back to back and we had several other people join us. Since then I’ve become much more proficient with the Outback Oven and can actually leave it alone and putter around the site while it cooks.
The ultimate test though came when I took it on a 10-day canoe trip down the French River. I was ridiculed and teased about my ‘excess packing’ but 7 days later sitting under a tarp in the rain, cold and tired, there is nothing that can improve the situation more then serving fresh, hot, flaky apple pie. By the end of that trip there was no doubt about the value of bringing this along.