The paper presents a comparative experimental study of two solar cookers. The first is the widespread SK14 cooker; the second is a prototype of a solar concentrator (parabolic trough) using a storage unit. The SK14 is a direct solar cooker where the cooking pot is placed on the focal point of a parabolic dish; in the trough system heat is transported from an absorber to a storage unit by means of a self-circulation loop filled with thermal oil. Cooking takes place directly on the top of the storage. Cooking experiments are conducted to compare the performance of these two methods of heat extraction. Both boiling and frying are tested to estimate the cooking efficiency of the heat storage system. Following these experiments, simulations are conducted to optimize and improve the system. Cooking on a heat storage with optimized surface contact is proved to be competitive with standard solar cookers or other cooking devices. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.