The mirror consists of flat hexagonal panels of aluminized Mylar inside of a parabolic framework. The flat panels uniformly illuminate (evenly heat) the bottom of the frying pan, which sits above the mirror. The flat panels make this mirror safe to use for cooking because they don’t ever concentrate the sun in just one place, which can burn the cooks or start fires. The pan bottom is coated with a special black surface that only emits very low levels of radiation. The black surface keeps the fryer from losing as much as half the power it gets from the sun. The pan’s nonstick surface is made from anodized aluminum whose pores are filled with cooking oil.