How to cook on a wood stove meant for heating

[Marianne]

A lot of us don't need this advice, but with all the new members that have that first wood burning stove, this might be helpful. I did a copy and paste from a webpage a couple years ago, but don't know where I got it.

How to cook on a wood stove meant for heating:

1 Heat up the stove by building a nice fire in it with the damper(s) wide open.

2 Get your cooking gear out and the ingredients ready.

3 As you heat up the stove, put a kettle or pot of water on to heat as well. You'll need it for soup, stew, tea, coffee, dish washing...everything. It also serves as a heat-storage measure so use a big kettle. A canner works well.

4 Test the top of the stove by tossing a DROP of water on it. If the water sizzles and danced, the stove is pretty much ready.

5 To make soup, put on a pot, let it heat up well (keep the stove hot, adding wood as necessary and opening/closing the damper to try to maintain a temperature), fry whatever you want fried (meat, onion, etc) and add some boiling water or soup stock. If you add cold water it will take forever to heat up again...that pan of hot water is crucial.

6 To "bake" something, put it in a pan (cake, bread) or in foil (potatoes) and if the top of the stove is VERY hot put foil items on a trivet or a bit of crumpled foil. Then cover with a larger pan that goes all the way down to the stovetop. Big metal bowls also work for this sort of make-shift oven.

7 You can use the fire-box of the stove as a sort of broiler or tandoori oven. Wrap whatever you want to cook in heavy foil and put in the coals after things have cooled down a bit (warning...you may turn your food into charcoal).

8 To fry on the stovetop, use a thin pan. Cast iron pans on a cast iron stove take forever to heat up so might work for soups and stews left all day, but not great for frying. If you don't have a thin frying pan or sauce pan to use, back to the heavy-duty foil! (a coffee can will work too!). Set the pan on the stove, oil it up well. Test for hotness with a drop of water and fry away.

9 When done cooking, turn the dampers down and let the stove cool a bit, but keep that pan of water on there. You never know when you'll want a cup of tea.

 

[TanksHill]

Very good read. I always wondered what the tricks were. Now all I need is a wood stove.

So that leads to my next question. Will any wood stove with a flat top work???

G

 

[Marianne]

Yes. Our wood stove in the family room is steel, not cast iron. So, for roasts, chicken, soups..think slow cooker. It will take all day. I always have a stock pot with water on one side of it for the humidity. When it's really hot, I have put a smaller stock pot inside of it, like a double boiler. The handles catch on the sides of the bigger one and hold it up. Then I can heat food, simmer chili, etc without having to really watch it too much.

I have burned coffee more than once, just trying to keep it warm. I finally got a cast iron trivet that I'm going to try this year. I inherited a little four cup coffee pot, but two hours later I decided that I wanted coffee sooner than what it'd take to make it on the wood burner. I had to keep it over to the edge as I was afraid the handle might get too hot...but then that's the cooler part of the stove top, too.

I use my regular stainless steel cookware. Not a thin pan by any means, but I have fried bacon, etc with no problems. It just doesn't get as hot, so it takes longer to cook. I make skillet bread often, it's like a big biscuit (fry it in bacon grease and don't get between me and the pan when it's ready).

Potatoes wrapped in foil set in the coals, real close to the door...are the BOMB! Just check them every so often and turn with big tongs.

I finally put a retangular wrought iron plant stand close to the stove. Added a couple big ceramic tiles to the top of it and now I have some place to keep a plate, spoon, spatula, whatever I need close by.

 

[old fashioned]

Will any wood stove with a flat top work???

G

I don't see why not....it should.


Many years ago our power went out just as I had put a frozen pizza in the oven...'oh, what do I do now'.....I ended up putting a cast iron dutch oven inside the firebox of the woodstove upside down with hot coals inside the dutch oven and all around it to get it hot, then put the pizza on a pizza pan on top of the upside down dutch oven, closed the door & let it 'bake' for several minutes.

It didn't turn out like it would have in a regular oven, but it did work well enough....and oldest son learned a little something about emergency improvising...so I consider it a success

 

[Marianne]

Pizza!! Now I have something else to try!
I have a baking stone....hmmmmm.........

 

[TanksHill]

I really want a wood stove. . Some day one will find me.

G

 

[Marianne]

I actually have two that we don't use..but you're a little too far away for me to drive one out to you!!

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks.

I have seen many on CL here, but that's just one thing i cant pick up on my own.

G

 

[savingdogs]

Marianne, thank you for starting this thread because I have a woodstove meant for heating as well but would like to master cooking on it better.

I did try during a power outage to heat up soup and it was too hot, the bottom burned. I was not using a cast iron cookware, just regular stainless. It was really a pain to wash that pan afterwards too.

I bought a cast iron dutch oven with little legs for this year, I'm hoping to make it LESS hot. Now that I read your post, it sounds like my oven top is much hotter than yours. Or do you have a small fire going when you are cooking? Generally in the winter we have a large fire in the stove to heat the house, would I need to have just a small one going, you think?

We did manage to heat up some chili the next day in cans, and we also made cornbread, although it wasn't browned on top. We managed that by putting a trivet BETWEEN the stove and the pan to make it less hot (it was so cold that we didn't dare make the fire smaller).

Our woodstove is in the living room which is at one end of a long narrow house, and we are trying to heat the entire house with it, so we have a HUGE fire going in it most of the time.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Last weekend we picked up a cast iron "fireplace" for $20. WEighs 800 lbs. It's top is fairly flat so I plan to cook on that. Especially since Hubby's sis decided to sell FIL's huge cast-iron wood cookstove instead of letting us have it.

That's ok. $20 was a steal!

Timely thread.