Woodstove cooking is an art form that delivers a double dose of comfort – heartwarming food and cozy cool-weather heat. We have been heating solely with wood for more than 20 years and have learned to make the most of that heat by preparing some of our favorite meals on the fire. Try these woodstove cooking recipes on your stove-top; you won’t regret it.
Woodstove Cooking Recipes:
How to Cook Cabbage on Wood Cookstove
Hobo Pockets Recipe
Stove-Top Pinto Beans Recipe
Stove-Top Chicken Stroganoff Recipe
Stove-Top Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe
Many folks believe that a cookstove is required for cooking with wood, but that’s not the case. A regular woodstove also will provide you with many enjoyable meals. Baking potatoes in the woodstove and boiling a nice pot of pinto beans on top readily come to mind, but with a little imagination you can take woodstove cooking to the next level.
First, a few basics. Cooking in or on a woodstove takes a few extra precautions. One always needs to remember that the surface outside, as well as the coals inside, can be extremely hot. So, a little extra caution is needed.
The simplest things to cook in the woodstove are things you cook on coals.
Baked Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes
Pierce potato with fork and wrap in foil. If coals are red-hot, wrap twice in foil.
Cook on coals for 20 to 30 minutes. Use large tongs to place potatoes in stove and to remove from coals.
Cabbage baked in the woodstove is a simple dish, and it’s great with any meal.
We also make Hobo Pockets (essentially beef stew in foil) from whatever we have on hand.
Cooking on top of your woodstove is even easier than cooking in coals. Make sure you have an appropriate pot; any cast-iron pot will work. The high temperatures of a woodstove make it difficult to cook with some pots.
We keep a kettle on the woodstove all the time to help keep moisture in the air, and it also keeps hot water ready for hot chocolate, hot tea or instant oatmeal.
Coffee also can be perked on the woodstove, but it is not fast. The top surface of our woodstove doesn’t get as hot as some, so coffee may take 45 minutes. Still, it’s nice to know that the next time the power is out, we will be able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee.
As I write this, pintos are simmering to perfection on our woodstove.
A family favorite is Chicken Stroganoff. This simple recipe eliminates mushrooms; however, mushrooms and/or onions may be sautéed and added at the beginning.
Soup is another dish that works well on a woodstove. Once you have all the ingredients in the pot, let the soup simmer all day. I check occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid, but other than that, I leave it alone.
A well-published writer with an appetite for life, Katie Martin begins each day with an open mind to the many stories that lie behind daily events.
