Preparedness
Unlock Woodstove Cooking Secrets for Delicious Meals
A woodstove, traditionally used for heating during the cold months, can also serve as a versatile cooking tool. This method of cooking offers a unique way to prepare meals, from baked potatoes and apples to savory soups, stews, and roasted meats. Even if your woodstove isn’t specifically designed for cooking, it can still perform these culinary feats with some creativity and the right tools.
To get started with woodstove cooking, investing in a cast iron Dutch oven with a lid and a cast iron trivet can make a significant difference. The Dutch oven is ideal for its ability to heat evenly and retain warmth, making it perfect for slow-cooked dishes like roasts and stews. The trivet is essential for heat regulation, preventing the bottom of your pot from burning. Additional tools such as aluminum foil, a wooden spoon, tongs, a fireplace shovel, and potholders will complete your setup.
Begin by lighting a fire in your stove and allowing it to burn for at least an hour. This ensures the stove is adequately heated and creates a bed of coals if you’re cooking inside the stove. Once the stove is hot, maintaining a low, steady fire is sufficient for most cooking tasks.
For baking, wrap items like potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, or apples in two layers of aluminum foil. This protects the food from direct heat. Push the fire to one side of the stove box, place the wrapped items on the coals, and use a fireplace shovel to cover them with more coals. After closing the stove door, bake for 30 minutes, then use tongs to turn the packets and bake for another 30 minutes. Adjust the position of the packets if some areas of the firebox are hotter than others.
A woodstove can also accommodate campfire pie irons for meal preparation. Ensure you have a non-flammable surface in front of the open stove door to catch any stray sparks.
“Pretty much anything you can cook, bake or roast over an open campfire you can do in the woodstove firebox.”
On top of the stove, the Dutch oven functions like a slow cooker, perfect for soups, stews, casseroles, and roasts. Its tight-fitting lid keeps juices in, ensuring moist and flavorful results. The trivet helps manage heat levels, preventing the pot’s bottom from burning.
To use the Dutch oven, place your ingredients inside and set it on the hot stove uncovered. In about ten minutes, the contents should start to bubble. Then, move the oven onto the trivet, cover it with the lid, and let it cook as you would with a slow cooker. Soups and stews can simmer all day, while a roast with vegetables typically takes three to four hours. Check hourly to ensure nothing sticks and the food remains hot. If the fire dwindles and the food cools, return the pot to the stove top and rekindle the fire, moving the Dutch oven back to the trivet once the heat is restored.
The combination of a Dutch oven and trivet allows for adapting slow cooker recipes to woodstove cooking. It’s also handy for reheating liquids or boiling water for tea or coffee by placing a pot directly on the stove.
Baking on a woodstove requires some experimentation to perfect items like pizza, cinnamon rolls, or biscuits. An oven works by surrounding food with steady, low heat, and you can mimic this on a woodstove. Use a trivet to elevate the food, preventing direct contact with the stove surface, and cover it with a pot or lid to create an oven-like environment.
“The top of a clay roaster works well as the cover, but any lid or inverted pot will work provided it is completely in contact with the stovetop.”
Be attentive during the baking process to avoid burning, especially when trying a new recipe, as variables like fire size, wood type, and stove location can affect cooking times. However, the effort is worthwhile.
By mastering woodstove cooking and baking, you might find your kitchen stove sitting idle during winter, and you’ll be well-equipped for power outages without sacrificing hot meals.
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