soapstone owners cooking question

[struggle]

Do you heat stuff on your soapstone by setting a pot on the stone or do you have something on the stone (to prevent scratching the surface and then put the pot on that?

I wanted to heat some beans today on the stove but was concerned about scratching the top stones.

What do you do?

 

[bcnu]

Haven't tried cooking anything yet on my Homestead. Have read some threads here about that so you might try a search of past topics. We do have a copper kettle on top for humidity and I try to be careful with it - but think I'll look for a soapstone one soon just to ease my mind.

 

[Todd]

I just put the pot right on top of the stone. Any scratches can be taken out with fine steel wool.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We just had some delicious bean soup, completely made on the top of the soapstone stove. Woodstock sells boot warmers. They are just small sticks of soapstone that you heat on the stove and put inside your boots to dry them. We find they work great to set the pots or whatever you use to cook on. That way no scratches get in the top of the stove.

btw, those bootwarmers are great for something else. I use a hand warming muff. Put two boot warmers in the muff along with a pair of gloves. I cut wood until my hands get cold and sometimes wet too. Then I put the cold wet gloves inside the muff and put the warm pair of gloves on. Wow! Those warm gloves on cold fingers surely feels great!


Also struggle, I noticed your other post about the bikes. I ride a Bacchetta Giro 26. Can't handle the road or mtn bikes any more. Just too hard on this old body.

 

[abj1969]

never tried it with my lil tribute. i do keep a tea pot of water on it at all times.. never saw how that actuall gets.

 

[struggle]

Also struggle, I noticed your other post about the bikes. I ride a Bacchetta Giro 26. Can't handle the road or mtn bikes any more. Just too hard on this old body.

Around here you have to have a beard to ride a bent :lol:

 

[colsmith]

We sometimes heat water for pasta or soup on the stovetop, or less often simmer a soup there. We use our glass Visions pots, we figure the glass bottoms will not scratch or mark anything. We have also started putting an enamel teakettle on top. We move whatever container very gingerly, haven't had any trouble or markings occur yet. We put them direction on the stove. We also leave a pot there full of water, makes a great humidifier once it gets to be this time of year and the air is dry.

 

[swestall]

When I get mine I intend to use a flat cast trivet on the Soapstone, just to be on the safe side.
Trying to figure out Mansfield or Equinox. I have 2400 Sq/ft but a lot of cu/Ft due to cathedral ceilings.
Anyone know if the larger Equinox will function well at 2/3 of its rated capacity. From what I can figure
this would be about 2/3 loaded for overnight burns, that might be nice to have lots of extra air space in there versus
having the Mansfield loaded fully.
Any thoughts on that?

 

[Highbeam]

You can load it 2/3 full but the minimum allowed primary air setting will run that stove up to whatever temp it want to be and consume wood at that rate. I run the heritage completely closed down and it will run itself up to 450 stove top temps with either a large load or a small load. Now understand that I burn softer woods like red alder and dough fir but also that I can only get about 5 hours out of the 2.3 CF firebox.

2400 SF I think the mansfield would be a better choice but I would vote for the looks of the equinox. Tough decision, will be good to see how it turns out.

 

[swestall]

Yes I've been heating the entire house with a VC Defiant, first the CAT then the NC. At a rated 60K/BTU it does the job. When it goes below 10 degrees we keep it cranking.
I'm on the same page as far as looks of the Equinox are concerned. I figure that since soapstone retains the heat, I can burn a load daytime and a load night time and it should release its heat when it is burning down or just full of coals. The key there is that the Hearthstones will burn the coals efficiently if the draft is providing enough air.
I figure we need to have some folks get them actually installed to see. I think Chimney sweep Tom may have some input here.

 

[Vic99]

We have been trying quite a bit since we got our homestead installed Nov. 30th.

1) We have a clay teapot that we use to make hot cider . . . and then add caramel and sometimes whipped cream. In a clay pot we have to be patient. . . Anyone know where I can get a good metal kettle with a non combustible/meltable handle that won't leech into the cider? I'm told to stay away from iron kettles for this purpose . . . makes sense, I make cider ~3 times/week.

2)My wife has roasted frozen chestnuts from trader joes. Took 10 minutes wrapped in foil ontop of the stove.

3) Put pumpkin seeds in a cermic bowl, added a bit of salt and cayenne

4) Successivefully cooked an eggplant in the hot coals inside the actual stove. Wrapped it in tin foil. Took 10 minutes. . . . . I imagine baked potatoes and red peppers would work the same. Just make sure the veggie is at least 1/2 covered in coals.

5) Also tried pumpkin slices in foil in the stove . . . .bleck!

6) We will often put a dinner plate on the stove top for about a minute. Warms it right up. Warms coffee as well, but takes longer.

Going to try pizza on the stove top partially encased with sheet metal next week.

 

[swestall]

(broken link removed to http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=2542&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=tea+pot)

You will find the best stainless kettle here and it is not expensive either.

 

[Vic99]

why thank you.

 

[swestall]

You are very welcome. Check out the other stuff there too, very good site for a store in Amish country.

 

[JimWalshin845]

Trying to keep on topic but we don't own a soapstone. The other day we were without electric in the morning and we are EXTREME coffee hounds. Luckily the cook stove/oven is LP but after we made a pot of fresh brewed we moved it to the wood stove to keep it hot..... we have a 8x8 piece of procelain tile that we put on top of the VC that we have used to keep soups and other foods warm for extended times.

YUMMY! %-P :coolsmile:

 

[elleninpa]

reading the posts has answered my very last question about soapstone, yes something can simmer on top, and if temps are 350 approx then I might be able to set up my little collapsible Coleman metal bake oven and bake something on top too?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That Coleman oven should work like a charm. Just be sure to sit it on something. We like to use the little boot dryers that Woodstock sells. Those things really come in handy for that, for drying boots and even drying gloves. I even take extra gloves to the woods when cutting during cold weather. That way I have a nice warm pair to put on if my gloves get wet or fingers get cold.

 

[STOVEGUY11]

I tell customers to use 3 small pieces of window gasket, the stuff with the one sticky side to put onto the bottom of the kettle.

 

[Harley]

If you have a tile or flooring place near you - they may have, or be able to get a few pieces of soapstone tile. They might cut to size for you fairly cheap, or you can cut the 1/2" tiles easily on a tablesaw with a masonary blade (you don't need a wet saw).

The tiles go for about $12/sf, so that would be a cheap way to make a trivet to set on the stove for your kettles/pots and it won't damage the stove (and it should match the stove nicely)

 

[Highbeam]

I guess I just don't understand the trivet concept and what the point is. I place my clean soapstone kettle right on the clean soapstone stove and then fill it with water. I refill it in place from a tea kettle we have on the kitchen stove. The soapstone kettle doesn't move or slide around or vibrate or anything so I can't see the benefit of adding a sacrificial layer of trivet beneath the kettle. The soapstone kettles have no handles and I believe that they are meant to be left in place.

If you were removing the steamer daily or if the steamer was abrasive cast iron then I see more benefit but you still need to be sure that the trivet stays in place.

 

[swestall]

Well, of course, you are right; we are just nervous because the stuff is so beautiful.

 

[buckeye]

I have a cookie cooling rack that is stainless that I put on top of our heritage. I sit two of the "legs" in the joint where the soapstone comes together and that keeps it in place. I put any pan or anything I want on the cooling rack. It sets about 1/2" above the soapstone and works great.

 

[bcnu]

Buckeye, that cooling rack works pretty well and I can imagine how great it must look loaded with a batch of cookies. A warm stove and warm cookies - it doesn't get much better ;-)

 

[Harley]

I guess I just don't understand the trivet concept and what the point is. I place my clean soapstone kettle right on the clean soapstone stove and then fill it with water. I refill it in place from a tea kettle we have on the kitchen stove. The soapstone kettle doesn't move or slide around or vibrate or anything so I can't see the benefit of adding a sacrificial layer of trivet beneath the kettle. The soapstone kettles have no handles and I believe that they are meant to be left in place.

If you were removing the steamer daily or if the steamer was abrasive cast iron then I see more benefit but you still need to be sure that the trivet stays in place.

You are right about that - if there is stuff on top of the stove that doesn't get moved around much (got one of the steamers that never moves as well) - then all is good. If you want to heat up anything on top of the stove (where you are stirring or moving a bit), its probably better to have something beneath the pot to give a little bit of a buffer to avoid scratches - not sure if "trivet" was really the right word, but really another chunk of stone that you can set stuff on and not really have to worry about it.

 

[woodsie8]

StoveGuy11, I noticed you said use window gasket. Won't that melt? If not, I am going and getting some for my enamel top stove for the trivet. Thanks