How do I Cook With a Dutch Oven on Wood Stoves?
Indoor wood cook stoves revolutionized the way food was prepared. No longer did the home cook have to cook outdoors over a fire or in the fireplace hearth; the wood cook stove gave them control over the heat that was needed to cook food. It was only natural that the cast iron cookware used in the hearth, including the Dutch oven, be utilized in wood stove cooking. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Build a hot fire in the firebox of the wood stove. Good candidates for wood would be maple, hickory or oak.
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Combine the ingredients for your recipe in the Dutch oven.
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Place the cover on the Dutch oven and set the oven over the largest "eye" plate of the wood stove cooking surface. The "eyes" are the removable iron plates on the top of the wood stove.
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Continue to add wood to the firebox to keep the level of the heat maintained during the entire cooking time. If you need a lower temperature, say for simmering a sauce or stew, move the Dutch oven to an "eye" that is farther away from the firebox.
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Cook the recipe, without lifting the lid on the Dutch oven except as directed for stirring, until the food is fully cooked.
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Tips & Warnings
If you need to brown meats before cooking roasts or stews, add 3 tbsp. cooking oil to the bottom of the Dutch oven and sear the meat before adding the remaining ingredients.
When using hickory wood, be careful of sparks as you load wood into the firebox.
A Dutch oven can also be used to roast meats and other foods in the wood stove oven. As with the cook top, keep the temperature maintained during the cooking time.
You can also use the flat plate on top of a wood stove heater to cook foods in a Dutch oven. Most wood stove heaters have a grate that can be lifted and propped open for cooking.
