Who cooks with their stove?

The price of the I beam was right (free)! Do you put the soapstone blocks inside the stove?

 

Hey , Thats my stove!
We have the exact same one.

I will have to send you a picture of a heat-shield I built that incorporates a small computer type fan. Installing this made all the difference in the world!

 

I'll cook on it often enough. Never tried in it. I've done foil packages in a campfire many moons ago.

 

We do the foil packs quite often.
A little sliced chicken , peppers and onions are always good.
Kielbasa and some sauerkraut and onions.
Burgers
and it makes a great baked potato that way.

 

My IR gun has the back top corners hotter than the stainless steel plate under the center trivet, unless it is chocked down for a cat burn. I normally put the things needing more heat on the back right next to the stove pipe.

 

I just went back over the whole top of the stove with my IR gun and I agree. The back corners are hotter than the trivets.

 

Now you guys have sparked my curiosity on my stoves tempatures.
I do have a thermometer on the pipe but never shot it with the heat-gun. Tonight when it is going I will have to check and see what is actually going on.
Not a concern but now I am wondering.

 

I simmer soups from time to time and every so often I'll make grilled cheese. That's sort of the extent.

 

Last meal of the 60 hour power outage... Burgers on the woodstove tonight. Literally put the cheese on and the power pops back on...!!!

Well I now know this stove is more than capable to cook great meals and will now make more on it just because I can now. I'm gonna buy a rectangular cast iron griddle now for the stove.

 

I cooked both of these pans in the rear corners of the stove tonight. Both coners were around 430's degrees with the trivets between 250 and 300. This was 4 hrs into the burn at air half open. Burning maple and elm.

 

I saw a cast iron griddle just before Christmas...and thought the exact same thing!
Might just do it.

 

You should, I'm going to buy one when I find a good deal.

 

I don't fry too much on the wood stove. I did bacon once, and it did splatter pretty good.
A grill that covers the surface of the stove might reduce splatter on the stove top.
Maybe limit frying to cast iron pans that can be covered with a screen or lid.
Or put foil down before frying?

From the bacon, the fat splatters seem to have burned off from the one time we did that. In fact I think I fried bacon on the big round griddle (above) not much ended up on the stove. I reckon I could have tossed a piece of tinfoil over the bacon and contained the airborne grease. Didn't think of that at the time . . .

 

I was getting ready to ask the same thing..
..

 

I didn't have any spatter on my stove yesterday's burgers. It was a low fry with minimal sizzling and no crazy spattering out of the pans.

 

Any spills on my stove top stay forever. Usually from soup drips. Spray paint every few years cover them up.

We use the stove to reheat pizza, loosely wrapped in foil. When warm on top, it's done. Nice crisp bottom.

 

Today is a first.
It's 35F out, so not too much heat is required from the stove, just a pleasant low burn to keep the chill out.
But I wanted to make soup today, so I cranked it up pretty good and made soup. I realized I'd rather throw 6 logs on over an hour or two, than use the gas range. That will change when I open doors to the outside to alleviate the heat in the kitchen I suppose, but maybe not.
Makes me wish we got the Kitchen Queen.....

The fish chowder is piping hot. I'll add the fish and bacon later before eating. Then back on the wood stove for a couple hours again. Man does it taste good.

potatoes
dill
salt
bacon fat
corn (used dehydrated corn we have kicking around)
onion (used dehydrated onion we had kicking around)
tomatoes (used a handful of dehydrated tomato slices we had kicking around)
water
heavy cream (keeps well in the freezer and best used in soup as it tends to seperate)
pepper
Add last:
bacon
whatever kind of fish.
parmesan cheese (generously)

Options:
paprika
Added a seafood medly from a Korean store once (shrimp, scallops, squid etc)...that was awesome
I prefer Yams over starch potatoes

Best IMHO, if simmered all day or all afternoon, before adding the fish/bacon/cheese. the smell is awesome, and tasting the goods as they make is fun.

 

Striped Bass is the fish that makes the best fish chowder IMO.