My First Cast Iron Chicken In My Woodstove

[KevsFarm]

I've been teaching myself to cook with cast iron the last couple months.I've aquired some nice Lodge pieces.Yesterday as the woodstove was near the end of its burn, with some nice firey remains, i decide to cook a cut-up chicken in a cover skillet..The covered skillet fit just nice in the stove.I turned the chicken over once after about 15-20 minutes, and back in the stove for about the same amount of time again.
The chicken was very good, nice and moist and browned nicely.It was my first attempt with cast iron chicken in my woodstove.
I'm always trying to figure ways to save energy heating and cooking.For me, woodheat has been a Gods send.I honestly don't know how some folks who don't have access to cheap or free firewood , make ends meet these days.The price of fuel oil and cooking gas is unbelievable..!
One day i'd love to get a real wood cookstove, but can't afford one nowadays.So the next best thing is doing it in my woodstove, as best i can.I've also baked some really nice cornbread from my own milled corn and flour.Anyone else out their getting the extra cooking use out of their wood heat stoves..?

 

[freemotion]

I made several pounds of salt on mine this winter, and preheat my pans (the top doesn't get very hot on my modern stove) and render tallow and lard until it goes in the oven. My old stove was hotter and I could simmer a large pot on it so I often made soup and such. But the new one can heat the house, the old one couldn't. Although I don't cook as much on the new one, it has already paid for itself in less than one winter.

I've only cooked hotdogs on a long bbq fork inside the oven. None of my pans will fit easily in it except the smallest fry pan with a lid. If push came to shove, I'd figure out a way, or buy a new, smaller Dutch oven. Or use foil packets....hmmm, now that's an idea to try out!

 

[TanksHill]

I want a wood stove!!!

 

[donrae]

I'd never even thought to roast hot dogs inside the stove! We'll have to try that. I also have a newer stove with a baffle or something on the top so the top doesn't get really hot. It does, however, get hot enough to melt candles. And trying to get melted wax off the side of your stove sucks!

I hadn't thought to put a skillet inside, either. Ya'all are just of good ideas. I'd thought my days of cooking with the wood stove were over with this new one.....thanks for the ideas!

 

[KevsFarm]

Freemotion,yeah its tough getting cast iron in most woodburning stoves.Most i've seen have doors that are to small to get a 12" cast iron skillet through.The only reason i can get away with it is because i have bi-fold doors.A 12 inch sillet is about the limit with my stove, but its a very good size to work with.
I haven't tried cooking anything in my Dutch oven yet, in the stove.That will be a bit trickier, since i'd want to cook something in it that would likey take much longer to cook, like a stew or soup..
My FIL use to cook steaks in his wood burner when the oak would burn down, until he had a grease fire in the chimmey...!
I'd think hot dogs would be fine, as they cook fast, but if some are thinking of cooking meats for longer with dripping fat,in the woodstove/fireplace ,do be careful...!

 

[chipmunk]

oh...this thread is totally different from what I expected. I was really intrigued by the cast-iron chicken.

 

[Kim_NC]

We have a turn of the century cookstove. It heats the kitchen and adjacent bath, laundry and family rooms easily.

We cook on it regularly in Winter. Cast iron cookware is the best for it. We have a couple cast iron griddles in different sizes that I also like to use. Sometimes we do cook on it with other types if cookware. For example we use a stainless stock pot fairly frequently, and heavy saucepans since we don't have those in cast iron.

We also like to roast and bake foods in the cookstove oven. You have to get the hang of baking in it. The heat comes from the firebox on the left. So you learn to rotate things in the oven for even cooking - more important with baked goods like pies or breads than with roast meats.

 

[freemotion]

GASP! KIM!!!! I am SOOOOOO jealous!!!

 

[KevsFarm]

Wowzeeeee...! Yeah, thats what i'm talking about...! You go girl....lol That is soooo cool...What a beauty,i been eyeballing a nice Amish woodstove, but that baby you have, takes the cake...lol

 

[Kim_NC]

Thank you so much, Free and Kev. The cookstove is one of our most endeared treasures.

In 1992, DH & I wanted a cookstove. My grandpap helped us find one in PA. (You see, if you ever wanted either a cookstove or a used vehicle....then you told my grandfather because he had a passion for both of those things. LOL ) So, my grandpap shopped all over central PA, picked out a couple for us at antique stores, a couple an attorney's office was selling, a couple with private individuals, etc. We spent a whole day with him, and viewed all his "finds" on one of our visits from NC. They were all lovely, but we could only get one. We've enjoyed our choice though - and I think of my grandpap and that particular day's memory everytime I look at that stove.

We moved the stove to NC after purchasing that day, and burned it until 1998. Then we moved and were not able to use it for 9 years. In 2007 we bought our current farm property and it again has a 'working home'. I think it looks quite natural here in the 1928 farmhouse kitchen.

Here's a photo of a meal cooked on the stove the first Winter we were here in 2008 - Pork Chops, Collard Greens, Applesauce with fresh ground cinnamon, Yellow Eye Peas with Ham, Homemade Herb Bread, a glass of Chablis. Sweet Potato Pie for dessert.

Regarding cast iron in your OP, Kevin - the Pork Chops were browned on the stove top, then baked in the oven using a 12" cast iron skillet. We do that quite often. That method on a woodstove generally makes a nice crust, yet holds moisture in the meats. We also have 8" and 10" iron skillets, a 12" Dutch oven, two rectangular griddles, a 10" round griddle and cornbread pan.

ETA: We have a pot roast and veggies roasting today that's making the whole house smell so wonderful! But soon the cookstove will be getting another break for Spring/Summer. We're already planting greens and cole crops. However today is quite cool with an all day rain - one of our last days for a fire before Spring hits in full.