Woodburner cooking

[fluffy]

Hi,

Saw a thread somewhere about cooking jacket potatoes in or on your woodburning stove and wondered what else people cooked on theirs. I was thinking about just boiling a kettle for a cuppa on ours to start with, but am worried about the kettle marking the top of the stove (it is an old camping one). I hope to progress to casseroles and soup in the winter if it's possible. Does anyone have any tips on what you can and can't cook on your stove as I'm keen to save fuel costs!

Thanks

Fluffy
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[Thomzo]

I cook loads on mine. I have a flat top wood burner so I don't have an oven, but it's still great for soups, stews, casseroles, rice pudding, custard, boiling water. I tend to just make up recipes as I go along.

Allow plenty of time, things tend to cook quite slowly (or they do on mine anyway).

Enjoy.

Zoe

[fluffy]

thanks very much Zoe, I found the thread with the jacket potatoes on. What I'm wondering is what kind of pans you can use on top of your stove? Normal pans like with your cooker or do they have to be cast iron or what?

I'm new to all things "ish", but am determined to be thrifty and use "stuff" wherever I can!

Fluffy
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[Thomzo]

I just use my normal pans. It doesn't seem to do them any harm. Try not to be too precious about keeping the stove clean, it's a woodburner so it'll get very grubby very quickly. If you can get hold of a good quality metal trivet that'll be useful. You can lift the pan off the top of the stove to slow the cooking down if you need to, or just to keep it warm.

Zoe

[niknik]

I just use normal pans too.

Mine is flat top, and most of that is lift up lid with smal "oven". but need to pput a rack or something in first as otherwise the potatoes just burn on one side!
when closed and used as cooking surfac. I have 2"settings" the lift up lid ( cooler, and the other smaller part which is much hotter.

I also , when not cooking, put some fire bricks in the oven bit, and then wrap them in a towel when ready and use them to heat the bed, or keep myfeetwarm when sat at computer ( with blanket round legs!)

[fluffy]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, mine doesn't have a lift up lid, just flat topped with the stove pipe sticking out the back of the top. There is enough room to put a small pan on the top or kettle, but i'm not sure how I could use it as an oven except in the grill pan as mentioned on another thread (and ours is very small).

Thanks again for your replies,

Fluffy
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[pelmetman]

I have posted this before, as you can see ours is only small as you can see ..........but we do nearly all our cooking and heating hot water on it in the winter

christmas 2009 020.JPG (39.01 KiB) Viewed 7197 times

Lamb shanks cooking, coffee staying warm and hot water ready

When we do baked potatoes we use a trivet in the bottom of a cast iron casserole pan, also when cooking you will find the top of the log burner is hotter at the back, which is where we put the pans to cook and move them to the front to keep warm

[battybird]

I have used a metal biscuit tin as a bain marie when cooking rice pudding or egg custard. Did a search a while ago and found some useful recipes under "one pot cooking" and "skillet cooking" (I think that was what I searched anyway! ) Got a recipe there for one pan lasagne which cooked well on the top of the stove. I have an oval shaped large heavy frypan which fits the top of the stove really well and use it a lot, even cooked fish in it along with sautee potatoes and veg cos it holds enough for three/four people. Just experiment! As Zoe said, a good metal trivet or two are essential for slowing things down or just keeping warm. Also make sure you have good thick potholders...I got a nasty burn using a cheapo one. The pans get very hot all over! And...the top of the stove will get a bit mucky looking but if you keep pans on it a lot nobody will see anyway!

[fluffy]

Hi Pelmetman wow your stove looks excellent! I have to say that ours looks smaller, but we would probably fit a kettle and small pan on it. Thanks for the idea about the potatoes, I'm really going to try and makes loads on it this winter!

Battybird thanks for the advice i'm going to invest in a trivet.

Fluffy
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[greenorelse]

I have posted this before, as you can see ours is only small as you can see ..........but we do nearly all our cooking and heating hot water on it in the winter

christmas 2009 020.JPG

Heh heh; after my own heart. Looks great!

[madabouthens]

We have a very old Rayburn Stove that can burn just about anything. Because it is so old, it is easy to take apart and repair; easier than the newer models. It does have its foebles, but it was cheap to buy and provides us with central central heating, cooking and hot water. It is kept alight just about all year...this is Sunny North Wales, after all
Tony

[clare]

I love cooking on my woodburner,I always have the kettle on it in winter. I use cast iron pans and everything seems to cook quite quickly,the cast holds the heat well,they are my mother inlaws old le creuset pans she had them 25 years and was fed up with them so was throwing them out!!I have never used a trivet but if using a normal pan it might save the base of the pan,there's nothing like a home made soup for lunch cooked on a woodburner......I am missing winter already.....

[The Riff-Raff Element]

We cook practically in the oven or on the top of the wood burner during the winter. Bread, cakes & pizza take a little practice, but otherwise it is pretty straightforward. The even heating is a big advantage when cooking on top as stuff is less likely to catch. The best omlettes I've ever made were on the wood burner.

[fluffy]

Hi riff raff,

I was wondering how you cooked cakes on the top of your stove, do you put it in a pan on a trivet with the lid on? I was thinking about this the other day. I cooked a lovely bread pudding that turned out marvellous on the top in its tim covered with foil and it worked a treat!

Thanks for all your replies,

Fluffy
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