Wood Stove Cooking

Most of us know how to cook. We can make a meal, maybe bake a dessert. Prepare something for a potluck. We are familiar with the way the oven operates, how to manage the heat under the sauce pan. But, even the most experienced cooks are curious about how to prepare food on a wood cook stove.

The fact is, it is very much like our modern stove. More than you would think. There is a way to control the heat under the pot. There is a way to "turn" the oven off and on. There is a way to decrease the heat in the oven. Or to put a pot on to simmer. As with many things, practice makes perfect. And, our great grandmothers had plenty of practice! Cooking and baking were a part of their daily chores.

The first thing to know is how to choose which wood to burn. Perhaps ladies of long ago were not able to have a choice in what wood to burn. A woman on the frontier had to make it work, no matter what. But, given the choice, try to burn a hardwood such as oak, hickory or birch. These will begin hot, then slowly burn to heat your oven or stove top.

The next thing to know is how to get your stove top or oven to the proper temperature. If you are starting with a cold stove, it will take at least an hour to get the temperature up. Start the fire with all the drafts open. When the fire is going good, close the drafts most of the way to allow less air in, and allow the wood to burn more slowly. Continue to add wood. If you have a good fire going, your oven will reach 350 degrees in about 40 more minutes. Perfect, right? Almost all of our baking is done at 350 degrees! So, now you can bake!

The stove top will have its hottest burner directly over the fire box, and the burner nearest the spot where the smoke will enter the stove pipe. The coolest spot is the one farthest from the fire, and opposite where the smoke enters the stove pipe. If you need to turn the stove burner down a bit, elevate the sauce pan on a trivet, or even a couple of bricks. Easy peasy!

Not many of us in this day and age grew up with this style of cooking. But, occasionally, older folks mention how their grandma had a modern stove in her kitchen, but she would refuse to use it, and continue to only use her wood stove. There is something about baking in a wood heated oven. Somehow, the bread is better tasting. Or, maybe we only imagine it, as we imagine a slower paced world. Bread would rise in the early day, and be baked to a golden crust goodness by mid morning.. The kitchen would smell heavenly, and the whole room would be warm from the crackling fire in the stove.