Stove Top Cooking

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Vermontster

Vermontster

New Member
Sep 12, 2007
80
Roxbury, Vermont (pop.526)
www.dogriverschoolhouse.com
Anyone ever do any (wood)stove top cooking? Of course there are the old "cook stoves" but has anyone ever done anything on their VC or Jotul or Hearthstone style stoves?
I have seen the boxes you can use as an oven on the top of the stove, this is what I am most curious in, I thought it would be pretty sweet to bake a loaf of bread "old school" or poach some salmon, simmer tomato sauce...

But anyone ever try one of these oven boxes? or any stove top cooking at all?
 
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A Dutch oven and trivet baked some great biscuits on the stove during our last long power failure two years ago. And of course the morning coffee was made on the stove. For everything else we use a propane camp stove. I learned years ago how much of a mess cooking liquid stuff on a wood stove can make of the finish.
 
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I haven't yet, but I do plan on it!

The Quad's got a big, flat top just begging for a pot of chili. Nothin' like kicking back and watching fire dance with a hot bowl of chili with the snow blowin' outside!

...yeah, it's supposed to be in the 90's here this weekend...I thought this was October!?!?! :eek:hh:
 
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Just remember all of those splatters and drips that normally land on your range are now going to land in the deep recesses of your woodstove and will usually remove the paint.

But if the power goes out the stove will be used to cook on, that was my 2nd best argument to the wifey to install 1. The first was heat without power. For somereason even living on a busy road (a major 2 lane highway to you folks from vermont) we loose power very often, about once a month through the winter, for atleast 6 hours at a time. Last winter had a couple of very cold nights with the dog snuggling under the covers. With a baby on the way in April, emergency heat is a must. We have no family to run to in the area.

This was all before we bought our 19' hybrid camper in July... now we have a place with heat and cooking space if we need it.
 
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I tried to use the cast iron apple baker thing on top of my Jotul 3CB but it still wasn't cooked down enopugh after an hour or two. A pot of water won't boil although I get a decent simmer when my stove temp peaks. Unfortunately I don't get a long enough sustained high temp because my stove has a 3 to 4 hour cycle time at best. A pot of chili or something would heat up but takes too darn long. Maybe if I put it on early in the morning and let it simmer all day.

I stopped after a got a water stain on my enameled surface and it turned a rust color. It's the only blemish onmy newish stove so annoys the heck out of me.
 
Here in the Sierra we lose power alot and I cook on the wood stove often. Usually in a Dutch oven (have a trivet ) Bread, biscuits, soup, stew, croc pot type stuff.
BB
To help keep the stove top clean I take a large cookie sheet and cover it in heavy duty aluminium foil and put it on top of the stove to help catch some of the splatter and spillage.
Isnt fool proof but works pretty good.
 
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I expect what ever you cook on a wood stove would be "slow food", but that seems part of the beauty.
Cleanliness is an issue, guess thinking ahead is important.
I have never owned a Dutch oven, but after the talk of Biscuits, chili, soups... I think it's time!
 
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Two years ago,during an extended power outage, I did some tasty grilled cheese sandwiches on the top of my old Dutchwest cat.It is great to know you can have a hot meal when the "juice" is off, but the fun wears off pretty quickly.Who wants Smores?
 
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I've baked potatoes in my insert a couple of times. This winter I may experiment with some other foil wrapped concoctions.
 
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Works great cooking apple butter. Also the wife cooks beans on the wood stove.

btw, when I was a little boy my mother did all the cooking on a wood stove and I also well remember the water reservoir, our only sourse of hot water. I also remember gathering corn cobs and making lots and lots of kindling. But it was always a pleasure to walk into the house during cold weather as it was always nice and warm there by the stove and usually something cooking. Ah, the memorie.
 
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I've done stews and roasts in a Dutch oven, but like others have stated, you have to careful of dripping. Also use to do Maple surup, just kept adding sap to a pot on top of the stove as it boiled away.
 
Vermontster said:
I expect what ever you cook on a wood stove would be "slow food", but that seems part of the beauty.
Cleanliness is an issue, guess thinking ahead is important.
I have never owned a Dutch oven, but after the talk of Biscuits, chili, soups... I think it's time!
Click to expand...

A Cast Iron Dutch oven is a MUST.

Cinnamon Buns and Venison Stew on top. We'll get more creative this season.

I am going to bake a pizza INSIDE on a bed of coals this year.
 
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Babalu,

I've done pizza on the grill (charcoal of course) and it was amazing. Never thought about it with the stove...how you gonna' do that :roll: ? I would think you'd end up with lots of extra chit for toppings, like ash and carbon. You have some sort of rack or shelf at least to keep it off the bottom?
 
senorFrog said:
To each his own, but it sounds like a good way to make a big mess and stink the house up.
Click to expand...

There is nothing better then the smell of fresh bread baking, and if precautions are taken the mess is no worse then dooking in the kitcken
 
nshif said:
senorFrog said:
To each his own, but it sounds like a good way to make a big mess and stink the house up.
Click to expand...

There is nothing better then the smell of fresh bread baking, and if precautions are taken the mess is no worse then dooking in the kitcken
Click to expand...

...If I did that, my wife would divorce me... :lol:

...and yes, that is a good way to make a big mess and stink the house up!
 
Seems to me that 30-some odd years ago, I saw a cookbook someone published that described how to prepare a meal by wrapping things in foil and placing them on the exhaust manifold of your car, then proceeding on down the highway for so many hundreds of miles, and when you reached your destination your meal would be cooked. Might have to pull over half way there and turn it over, I imagine. Everything from roasts to meat loaf to potatoes and corn, as I recall. Never tried it. With a stovetop thermometer, some experimentation and practice, it would seem perfectly feasible to create a cookbook for preparing meals or dishes atop a woodstove (maybe somebody already has). To simmer, or place on the "back burner", perhaps a taller trivet could be employed. The proof of the pudding would be a thermometer stuck into whatever concoction you're cooking. In any case, protection of the stovetop finish should be a prime consideration, I'd think.
 
Vermontster said:
Thats what it's all about right Dennis? wouldn't be the same turning on a thermostat or sitting next to a baseboard heater
Click to expand...

You got that right. Those baseboard heaters are best placed in somebody else's place. Hey Vermontster, we also looked at those Lopi Leyden stoves and were impressed. However, we ended up getting a Woodstock Fireview and hope it is even better.
 
fossil said:
Seems to me that 30-some odd years ago, I saw a cookbook someone published that described how to prepare a meal by wrapping things in foil and placing them on the exhaust manifold of your car, then proceeding on down the highway for so many hundreds of miles, and when you reached your destination your meal would be cooked. Might have to pull over half way there and turn it over, I imagine. Everything from roasts to meat loaf to potatoes and corn, as I recall. Never tried it. With a stovetop thermometer, some experimentation and practice, it would seem perfectly feasible to create a cookbook for preparing meals or dishes atop a woodstove (maybe somebody already has). To simmer, or place on the "back burner", perhaps a taller trivet could be employed. The proof of the pudding would be a thermometer stuck into whatever concoction you're cooking. In any case, protection of the stovetop finish should be a prime consideration, I'd think.
Click to expand...

Not sure about a cookbook on that but we used to cook our sandwiches on the manifold of our trucks and it worked like a charm once you learned the timing of the cooking.
 
[/quote]"Not sure about a cookbook on that but we used to cook our sandwiches on the manifold of our trucks and it worked like a charm once you learned the timing of the cooking."[/quote]

and how fast your going?
kinda gives new meaning to "greasy food"
 
I remember reading somewhere about manifold cooking back in the day. I never tried it, but it should work.

On a similar note, we used to wrap all kinds of thing in foil and cook over / in a campfire. Meat, vegies, whatever was on hand and generous amounts of butter, salt and pepper all wrapped up in a neat little packet and set in the coals. The trick was to turn it often enough so it didn't burn in one spot and to time it right, but they usually turned out great in the end.
 
fossil said:
Seems to me that 30-some odd years ago, I saw a cookbook someone published that described how to prepare a meal by wrapping things in foil and placing them on the exhaust manifold of your car
Click to expand...

So that's why all those 70's era cars kept breaking down. Hey Lou, get over here! We got another sammich stuck in the exhaust.
 
I used to work on the Mississippi River as a deckhand on a tug, we used to heat cans of spaghetti, beans, etc. on the diesel manifolds all the time. Only thing to remember is that you MUST punch a hole in the can prior to heating if you don't want a grenade...

I see no reason a stove couldn't be used for slow cooking at the very least.

Gooserider
 
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