Using a regular woodstove to cook

[Want Less]

We have a small woodstove and I'm hoping to use it for cooking some this winter. However I am worried about messing up the surface over time. Is there something I can put on the surface to protect it? (Such as a piece of slate tile, etc?)

The stove itself is probably 30 years old but in great condition. Please note that this is not a "cook stove" just a regular heating "All nighter" wood stove like this one pictured.

Thanks!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Is that cast iron? I've only had cast iron stoves, of which I never worried about cleaning it...if grease, so much the better....otherwise I'd just wipe it off and eventually it has to be cured, cuz it gets too white. Try and see.....maybe do somthing clean and go from there.

 

[Hinotori]

I cooked on my wood stove when we were without power last winter. It's a new steel stove and the manufacturer even has recipes on their website that work good on it. Metal trivets are recommended by them to prevent marring the paint.

I was frying foods as well as making stews and soups (and hot water for showers). Frying worked best directly on the lower cooking surface. With the trivet it took to long to cook pancakes, without it was great. Use a splatter screen for anything with oil. I still ended up getting a little on the stove. If you really are looking for it, you can see the darker spots. We don't really care though, and if we have to repaint it later, we will. It's dark in that corner and no one will notice.

 

[Emerald]

We had an old potbelly for years growing up and we either had a big tea kettle on there with hot water or a big dutch oven of stew/soup going all winter. and would wrap potatoes in foil and bake them in the coals.
but had an older wood stove at hunting cabin more like the one in your picture and we cooked on that too. frypans full of bacon and eggs. took some practice tho. those things can get too hot and at deer camp.. you got your eggs how ever they came out of the pan..

 

[Boogity]

. . . at deer camp.. you got your eggs how ever they came out of the pan..

Yeah, we have eaten some awful stuff at deer camp over the years. But it sure tastes good after a cold morning in a tree stand.
We have a steel wood stove like the one you have in the picture in our living room and we cook on it often in the winter. Mostly stews, soups, or anything else you would use a slow cooker for. Spills are inevitable and stains are, too. We usually use an iron trivet to control the temperature. When the stovetop gets too ugly I re-paint it in the springtime with high temperature flat black stove paint. It's not hard to paint at all. I say go for it.

 

[~gd]

We used to use a product called Stove Polish on our wood stove. You removed the gunk before polishing it. I think it was made of graphite (pencil lead) and a light grease to help with spreading it. The grese woul stink for about a week unti it baked on [like seasoning cast iron cookware} besides the smell it would leave pencil marks on anything that touched it. My father got tired of it and he and his gunsmith buddy applied gun bluing to it [the stuff you use on guns to produce that blue steel look], It made a really pretty blue-slate and I don't think we ever redid it. I hope this was some help.~gd

 

[Marianne]

I use my steel wood burner for some cooking every winter. I just looked at the top with a critical eye, it's not bad at all, after five years of use/abuse.

I also keep a pot of water on it for humidity during the entire burning season. No problem there, either.

Our neighbors have a cast iron stove that is showing a bit of rust. I think it just adds character. )

 

[gram of 5]

I love cooking on my woodstove. Mostly stews, chili and slowcooker stuff, but that's how we eat in the winter. I am up for learning more about it and even trying breads and bisquits as I have heard it is possible. Last year when they came to clean my chimney they gave me a can of spray and covered up the small spot I had soiled. What do you cook on your stove?

 

[Denim Deb]

Gram of 5, do you have a regular wood stove or one designed for cooking and baking? If you have a regular one, and are able to figure out how to cook bread, please, let me know how you do it! I'd love to be able to bake w/mine.

 

[gram of 5]

I only have a regular woodstove. I have "redesigned" the top of the stove with a few items so that I can cook at different temps right now, but have not attempted to actually bake, yet. What type of cooking do you do on yours? Love to learn more about it.