Cooking in my insert

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Durantefarm

Member
Jan 7, 2018
59
Ohio
can and can I cook in my wood insert? Saw videos of a guy cooking pizza in a insert . Is this ok and how do u do it ? Thank u in advance
 
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I'd say in general, even if the power is out, it's going to be better and safer to start a wood fire in an old bbq grill on the patio than it will be to try to get pans in and out of a heating appliance full of hot coals.

I'm sure some people do it, but I wouldn't even mess with it unless you have a smoke dragon insert. (And even then, for the sake of the food, I still wouldn't mess with it.)
 
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We have always cooked in Our Wood Stoves :) My Jotul cooks some of the Greatest Tasting Chicken We have ever had:) Get the Fish Basket from Walmart with all the holes in it and use fire bricks to set it on also have your welding or heat gloves to use holding it after it gets hot...the biggest issue I have is allowing the hot coals to die down so it doesn't burn the meat But its Great way to enjoy Your Stove or Insert:) Been doing it for 30 yrs :)
 
Same thing for pizza. Let the coal bed die down a bit and place two bricks about 8" apart as supports with some coal in between them. Then place the pizza stone on the brick supports. Let it warm up then slide in the pizza on the stone. Stay on top of things. It will cook very quickly. Rotate it after 1 minute and be prepared to take it out in 2 minutes or less depending on the stove temp.
 
Experiment but you can wrap some potatoes in foil and bake a good potato too. Lot of guys cook in their stoves, insert or freestanders.
 
Wow! This is so cool. I didn't know you could cook in a wood stove. I knew some people cooked on them, but I didn't know they cooked in them. I love wood fired pizza. Can't wait to try this out.
 
Same thing for pizza. Let the coal bed die down a bit and place two bricks about 8" apart as supports with some coal in between them. Then place the pizza stone on the brick supports. Let it warm up then slide in the pizza on the stone. Stay on top of things. It will cook very quickly. Rotate it after 1 minute and be prepared to take it out in 2 minutes or less depending on the stove temp.

I really want to try this. Any tips on what the firebox temp should be? You don't happen to have any pics, do you?
 
What about marshmallows and hot dogs? Nothing better then a good hotdog cooked over a wood fire. Guess you just have to get the fire where you can open the door without smoke coming into the room. Is that doable?
 
What about marshmallows and hot dogs? Nothing better then a good hotdog cooked over a wood fire. Guess you just have to get the fire where you can open the door without smoke coming into the room. Is that doable?

My wife has done marshmallows with the kids before.

As far as cooking a meal in the stove, we have certain meals we cook in campfire coals when we go camping; I suppose cooking in the stove wouldn’t be any different.


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I really want to try this. Any tips on what the firebox temp should be? You don't happen to have any pics, do you?
Firebox temp will be more than the stove top. I think ours was around 700F, but didn't take notes. The pizza cooked very quickly. Pictures are somewhere back on Hearth.com, maybe 5 yrs ago. Search on pizza in this forum. Others have done this too.
 
Firebox temp will be more than the stove top. I think ours was around 700F, but didn't take notes. The pizza cooked very quickly. Pictures are somewhere back on Hearth.com, maybe 5 yrs ago. Search on pizza in this forum. Others have done this too.

Your stovetop was at 700? That's hotter than I would have thought. I'll do some searching :)
 
I tried cooking baked potato's. They came out like hockey pucks. I guess with practice I could get better. But the stove's intense heat and not being able to control it is an issue.
 
Your stovetop was at 700? That's hotter than I would have thought. I'll do some searching :)
That's the temperature inside the firebox. The stove top temp was more like 400F IIRC.
I tried cooking baked potato's. They came out like hockey pucks. I guess with practice I could get better. But the stove's intense heat and not being able to control it is an issue.
I've had the best results by putting in the potatoes in the late coaling stage, say about an hour before you would normally reload the firebox. The heat is still intense in there so move the coals aside in the area where you want to place the potatoes and set them on the ashes.
 
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This post inspired me! I've cooked a lot of chicken, this was some of the best.

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Jotul Oslo cooking chicken in a fish basket rite on the coals... u have to turn them in about 2-3mins time as the heat is intense but how tasty today's meal was:)
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2 weeks of cooking later. My two dogs look approvingly at my newest well seasoned indoor smoker_g

Kidding!
 
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Did these chuck eyes, or maybe they were rib eyes, a few years back. Doesn't take very long at all . . . a bit of olive oil in the cast iron pan and some seasoning and a couple of minutes on each side.

Oh yeah, you also need a really good hearth glove as the cast iron gets wicked hot.

Edit: Yes, the frying pan is on my stove top . . . I put it there to cool down vs. leaving it on the hearth where the cats would be tempted to eat my meat.
 

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Cooked 4 ribeye's in a grilling basket. Like 2 minutes per side. Best tasting I've been able to do, with the least amount of work. Dripped some fat on the hearth, but the ash soaked it right up over the subsequent few days. Crusty on the outside, juicy on the inside. Delicious.

Just wait until it's down to coals. Those firebricks turn it into a tandoor.
 
I really love this idea. Anything that can make you more self reliant and personally able. The potatoes in the coals wrapped on foil seems easy, but are there any cautions to keep the meat from tasting like you are licking for cat box from the ashes in the stove?
 
I really love this idea. Anything that can make you more self reliant and personally able. The potatoes in the coals wrapped on foil seems easy, but are there any cautions to keep the meat from tasting like you are licking for cat box from the ashes in the stove?
Just raked the coals to knock the ashes off first. No ash at all on the steaks when we did it.
 
All I can say is...WAY COOL! We've done mountain pies and hot dogs and such in the stove with the door open but it never crossed my mind to push the coals to one side and throw in a couple firebrick and start cooking dinner. Especially PIZZA! What a sad little Italian I've been ;hm
 
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