It’s Crazy But This Thai Vendor Uses 1,000 Mirrors To Bake Chicken
The sizzling new way of cooking chicken that puts an ancient Greek theory to the test.
By Khye Lynn Yong — 19 May 2017, 06:34 PM
60-year-old Thai uncle, Sila Sutharat offers a street food specialty like no other - Solar Chicken
A viral video went off showing Sutharat's unique way of cooking chicken for his solar chicken street vending stall. Soon after, demand for chickens cooked sunny-side-up were off the charts. Previously, solar chicken which have been in business for over 20 years was mostly sold to locals in the area.
What kind of sorcery is this?
In 212 B.C., Greek scientist Archimedes came up with the idea of using mirrors to set fire to ships of an oncoming enemy fleet that was planning to attack the city of Syracuse.
The best modern example based on the theory is one you’ve probably tried firsthand when you shone a magnifying glass under the sun to burn things. Similarly, Sutharat splays nearly a 1,000 moveable mirrors out in the sun to create a similar effect and applies it in his cooking.
What makes the solar chicken special? Is it tastier?
Although he needs to wear a welding mask to protect himself from the concentrated heat of the mirrors, sun-baked chicken pays off.
Turns out the chicken comes off more tender and evenly-cooked than the traditional charcoal grill and surprisingly takes only 12 minutes to cook.
What’s more is that it helps the environment by using renewable energy that is the sun, which Thailand has an abundance of anyway. Sunbathing your chicken is a really ‘green’ method of cooking!
“They said that I’d gone mad, that cooking chicken like this was impossible"
It might sound super ‘mah fan’ but Sutharat went ahead with this ingenious way of cooking and gradually proved his doubters wrong.
“They said that I’d gone mad, that cooking chicken like this was impossible”, Sutharat said. But he did it anyway and told AFP “After a long time passed by, they’d say: ‘Actually, you could do it’.”
