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Who can resist the honest goodness a stew simmering on the back of the stove, or the smell of fresh homemade bread floating from the oven? A warm, savory kitchen with the promise of comfort for body and soul is easy to create with the use of a wood cookstove!
Most woodstoves have several dampers - contraptions for adjusting the amount of airflow, and by that, adjusting the vigor and heat of the fire.
To build a fire, open all the dampers that you can find. A little experimentation will tell you which way is open, but usually 'up' is open and to the right is open. Cookstoves also have side vents (dampers) that should be open during the fire building.
If you start a fire and the smoke comes into the room instead of up the chimney, the chances are that a critical damper is closed.
If you want a quick, hot fire that won't heat the house too much, leave all the dampers open and do your cooking quickly. If, however, you want the heat from the stove and intend to do more serious cooking, close the damper to the oven and partially close the main damper to keep the heat from all going up the chimney once the fire is going strong.
The whole top of a wood cookstove becomes a cooking top, but the hottest part and the place where you will do most of your frying and boiling, is right over the firebox. Keep a close eye on food as the stove can be hotter than you think - or cooler. To adjust the rate of cooking, simply move the pan or pot to a cooler or hotter area.
Depending on how the dampers are set, the hottest spot can be in the center of the firebox, to the back, or near the area where the pipe is. Fire follows a draft, so the hottest part will be in the path of a draft.
Once a dish is done, transfer it to the warming oven on top to keep it hot. This warming oven can also warm plates, melt butter and provides a handy place to put frying pans when they're not in use.
Use the back of the stove, on the corner farthest away from the firebox, just as you would a crockpot. Put on a heavy pan and load it up with meat, vegetables, beans or a pot roast and let it simmer all day.
A heavy, flat bottomed teakettle is perfect for replacing the humidity that a fire takes from the air and you'll always have hot water for tea! Just watch it that it doesn't go dry, as it will more quickly than you think. If you keep it full, you can use it to replace water in stews, soups, beans, etc, as needed, or to start a pan of potatoes or pasta.
Most cookstoves have a damper that will either divert the heat over and around the oven, or away and up the chimney, so if you have one, find out where it is and how to operate it. If you get the oven too hot, prop it open (some oven doors have a piece especially for this) slightly, until it cools enough. If you've also let the fire die down somewhat, close the oven as soon as it's cool enough.
You can bake almost anything at a lower temperature than the recipe calls for (popovers are a notable exception), but don't try to bake at a higher one, as the food will burn on the outside and still be raw in the middle.
There seems to be something that makes one want to bake when you use a wood cookstove. As long as there's a fire in the stove, the oven is 'on', ready to bake or roast at your whim.
Homemade bread never tasted so good!
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