Wood Stove For Cooking???

[FoundANewHobby]

I am going into my third winter with a Jotul 550.

My neighbor just got a stove last year - also an insert.

When we were at his house for a birthday party he was telling me he loves to cook steaks with the stove. Not on top of the stove but IN the stove!

He told me he waits until he has a night bed of coals and then plops the meat right on the coals, closes it up, and the retrieves it in a few minutes when the edges curl a little.

He says the taste can't be beat!

I am intrigued but can't find anything on the web.

I thought maybe he was joking but his wife swears it is true and raved about the taste!

Anyone ever hear of this?

 

[cmonSTART]

Well, I've seen meat cooked directly on coals. I've also seen modern stoves with a grill in the top.

 

[pen]

Just type cooking into the title search at the left of the page near the top and you'll see tons of threads.

Last year's popular trend was baking french bread and pizza in the stove.

Here's a recipe from Alton Brown where he cooks skirt steak directly on coals http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/skirt-steak-recipe/index.html . However, I don't recommend the hair dryer portion of the recipe for wood stove applications.

I regularly do pot roast and the like on top of the stove in a dutch oven. I also keep a box of kosher salt around that I use for baking on top of. I'll line the bottom of the dutch oven with it and then set potatoes on the salt and bake them on top of the stove, turning them a few times. Same thing could be done inside really.

Lots of options. If I didn't rely on the stove as the heat for my home (meaning it's loaded and cranking and often I don't have much time w/ a small amount of coals) I'd do a lot more playing around.

pen