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Learning to cook on a woodburning stove

LET THE NEXT ADVENTURE BEGIN

Some of you are aware that Donnie and I are relocating to the GA mountains this weekend. My first order of business was to have a wood burning stove installed for heating. All outside lighting will be solar and by summer I want a small solar oven. I have decided the electric company gets the very least I can possibly give them every month. Although I will have a conventional oven and stove I want to do 90% of everything on the wood stove. So....what do you all know about it? Got any ideas or recipes to share? I will be using this model but it has the case iron legs not the stand

Tags: Learning, a, cook, on, stove, to, woodburning

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Replies to This Discussion

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on December 14, 2014 at 19:06

Cast iron pots, pans, and skillets. Dried beans, corn meal, onions, hamocks, and squirrel meat. Nothing to it.

Might invest in some real good potholder gloves.......just saying.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 14, 2014 at 19:37

LOL, yes some good potholder gloves might be a great idea

Permalink Reply by Ron James on December 14, 2014 at 22:02

I keep trying to think of something to say, but all I can think of is beans, fried potatoes and cornbread. Add some onion and tomato on the side and get outta my way.

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on December 14, 2014 at 22:07

For the first dozen years of my life I was fed by food cooked on a wood cook stove. It had an oven in it also. I have no recipes because my grandmother never used recipes so she left none!

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on December 15, 2014 at 5:44

Slow cooked pintos, crowders, chili, or just good old pig-boat stew on the stove make a day of cutting and splitting wood pretty much worthwhile. And the aroma ..... well, hard to beat, fine as fresh bread.

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 15, 2014 at 8:49

Cast iron pots for sure, because all the usual store bought ones will just disintegrate. Just make sure to oil them up so stuff does not stick and you can make a whole bunch of stuff. Have to get it pretty hot to fry!

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 15, 2014 at 9:03

well I have my grandmothers cast iron so that is not a problem, just need to season it. I have seen some great ideas online including baking by turning the dutch oven over on the top of a pan. Thinking I may be able to make that fresh bread right there on the top of the stove also.

When Donnie and I were first married, I made all the breads. He didnt eat store bought bread for the first 5 years. The first house we bought (eons ago) didnt have a stove and I learned to bake it on the grill so this cant be so hard right? (she says remembering the first month of attempts at only cooking on a grill LOL)

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on December 15, 2014 at 9:04

When I was growing up my family lived in Grays Knob, Kentucky for a spell. My mom used to occasionally cook on the old pot belly stove that burned coal. Wish I could tell you here secret. It appeared that her ability to cook on such a stove just came naturally. I'm guessing she acquired the skill when she was probably 7 or 8 years old. Such was the ways of hill folks back in the 1920s-1940s

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 15, 2014 at 9:18

Tobias, my grandmother on the farm cooked on hers so I did spend some early years watching. I know a few basics like use a cast iron trivet under the pot to keep from burning the bottom. timing may be a challenge but i have a theory on that. Start with pots of soups and beans and such (minus carls squirrel meat lol) put them on in the morning, since the stove is downstairs where the shop is i am just going to tell Donnie to bring it up when is ready to eat lol.

Permalink Reply by J.J. Smith III on December 15, 2014 at 9:40

(If Donnie has any plates, downstairs, the food may not make it upstairs.)

Does the manufacturer specify any particular cookware?

Permalink Reply by John Bamford on December 15, 2014 at 11:30

I cooked for about 18 months on a wood fired Rayburn , a very old and basic model . It heated the water and had an oven and it was great. I used to get a lot of free venison at the time and it cooked really well on that stove. A picture of the house below and yes it was as basic as it looked but I liked it at the time..

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 15, 2014 at 11:58

JJ- I want one of those grills!

John, That is exactly what we are going for , basic. For those that have not seen it here is the house. 600 sq ft upstairs and the same down. The wood stove will be in the basement as will Donnies shop, a bathroom, the laundry room and a third bedroom/sitting room http://www.trulia.com/property/45249378-559-Twin-Mountain-Rd-Hiawas...