Hi folks, I've been researching options for baking/cooking on top of the Ideal Steel wood stove. We tried a folding Coleman camp oven last winter with less than stellar results on a pan of brownies. So I've been looking at other options and ran across something in a web search I had never seen or heard of before, a Conservo Toledo Cooker/Canner/Steamer. These were patended in 1907 and produced for 10-15 years. They were primarily used for canning and can hold 14 canning jars, but were also advertised to cook or steam entire meals. They are made of heavy tin with a copper bottom which is filled with water and put over the stove for steaming. They have a fill tube at the top corner for refilling the water reservoir with a whistle to tell you if the water is getting low. It's 12" square and 21" tall. Here's a neat video of one in use: And a longer video explaining its many uses: I picked up one off EBay this week and will give it a try next winter. I might even fire it up over the kitchen stove to see how it performs this summer. I think it would also work fine on a rocket stove like the SilverFire Survivor stove for emergency use.
Real nice Brian. That should be fun trying out different recipes. Chicken, rolls, pies. I could go on...
Thanks. Heck, if it will just cook a loaf of bread I'll be happy. Apparently the steam fills up the inside and does develop low pressure (nothing like a pressure cooker) decreasing baking and cooking times. There's a full original owners manual that includes numerous recipes available online in PDF format that is linked from the longer YouTube video above which I downloaded earlier this week: http://akro.home.comcast.net/~akro/conservo.pdf Ever heard of these?
I have never heard of them but it I am going to look at the manual at some point out of curiosity. I've been thinking of making a sheet metal reflector oven to put in front of the Castine door glass to bake rolls and muffins. I am challenged with a fireplace install stove that prevents me from stove top cooking. I would imagine the water pan will help keep the food from drying out.
