Why Cook on the Wood Heat Stove?

• It Uses Less Resources:  If we’re already heating our house with the wood stove, we save resources by using that same heat to cook our food.
• To Be Prepared for Emergencies:  If we lose electricity during a Winter storm, we will still be able to cook our meals.  Waiting until we’re actually in an emergency to learn the skills needed to cook on a wood stove doesn’t seem wise.
• It’s fun!

 Cooking on Top of the Wood Heat Stove

Types of Cooking:  You can use the top of the wood heat stove to cook anything you normally cook on top of your electric or gas range.  Since you can’t turn a knob to adjust the flames, though, you need to learn other ways to control the temperature, so you can create more heat when you want to fry something in a skillet or less heat when you want to simmer something slowly in a pot. Find the Sweet (Hottest) Spot and the Slow Cooking Spot:  The key to controlling cooking temperature is to get to know the personality of your stove.  Begin by finding the sweet spot, where it gets the hottest on top, so you'll know where you can cook food the fastest.  Originally, we could not find a sweet spot on our stove. Ours is one of the smallest models on the market.  When we had it installed, the chimney rose directly out of the top (where the circular area is shown in the photo to the right), which didn't leave enough room for a pot unless it hung over the edge.  It took forever to heat up food and frying wasn't really a possibility.  Eventually, we had the chimney moved so that it now comes out of the back of the stove, leaving us the entire top for cooking.  The round plate where the chimney used to rise out of the stove turned out to be our sweet spot (where the thermometer is in the photo top right).  Anything we place on that spot can be boiled or fried, if our fire is hot enough, while anything we place farther away from it will cook more slowly.  If we want to keep something warm without overcooking it, we place it away from the sweet spot. Build a Hotter Fire:  If you want to cook more quickly, build a hotter fire by using several thinner logs (3-4" in diameter) in the firebox, rather than one large one.  The thinner logs burn faster so give off more heat.  For the fastest cooking, you want the firebox filled with as much flame as possible to heat the top of the stove. Preheating Pans:  To speed up cooking, preheat your pan, by placing it empty on top of the stove.  The food will heat faster if the pan and lid are already hot when you add the food. You can use any of your normal pots and pans on the wood stove.  We prefer cast iron, but have also used enamel and stainless steel.  Pans with thinner walls, like enamel, will heat up more quickly and cook food faster. Use a Lid:  Using a tight fitting lid will trap heat and help food cook faster. You May Need to Rotate the Food:  Food may heat unevenly, depending on how close it is to the sweet spot, so if you have a small stove top like ours, you may need to stir the food in the pan more often, or turn the pan periodically to get everything done evenly. Timing:  How fast food cooks will vary depending on how hot your fire is, so you can’t always rely on the cooking time listed in a recipe or assume that it will take as long as it took the last time you cooked it on the wood stove.  It may take longer, or it can sometimes burn fast if your fire is hotter than you think.  Keep a closer watch on your food until you get used to how your stove works.  When you start to smell the food or hear it cooking, check to see if it's done.

Find your stove's Sweet (Hot) Spot.  Ours gets hottest on the circular area where the thermometer is sitting: The peppers and rice cook on the sweet spot, while the tortillas heat slowly on a trivet where it's not as hot: Lids and a hotter fire make cooking go faster: