Cooking on Your Wood Stove

[icedog]

Although I can't imagine cooking with the furnace in the basement, I can't put a fire in the wood stove without at least thinking about cooking on it. Have any of you had any success with wood stove cookery? I have modified many recipes for preparation on a wood stove and I will gladly share them with you. I'll start with this simple side dish that is perfect for a cold winter day:

Baked Spuds a la Braddie

• Start with a couple potatoes (these are russets but when it comes to baking, spuds is spuds)
• Fresh dill
• Unsalted butter
• Sweet onion (Vidalia are best) sliced very thin
• Zest of one lemon

Notice the items listed above are the items on the plate in the photo. There are alot of items not on the plate which you can use as much of as you are willing to try.

Using a sharp knife, "book slice" the potato by cutting almost all the way through the potato as if to make very thick potato chips. Place the potato on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil(the heavier duty the better. I have no use nor any respect for flimsy tin foil. It is crap and should be mocked at every opportunity). Gently open the "pages" and stuff the thin inion slices between them. Smear the top of the potato and onion with unsalted butter. Lay a bunch of snipped dill over the top of all that and top with fresh lemon zest (if you don't have one already, get a Microplane: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005166/4103/8-Starter-Set.aspx they are the best thing in the world for zesting a lemon, grating nutmeg and removing the callouses from your heels)

Close the foil very carefully as follows:

1. Bring the sides up together and fold them down together in approximately 1/2" folds until it is tight against the potato.

2. Fold one end in 1/2" folds until it is tight up against the spud. Leave the other end open.

3. Add a few drops (maybe 1/2-3/4 teaspoon)water and close up the other end tight up against the potato. Your goal in this exercise is to make a watertight, airtight package in which the potato will cook. If properly done, it is in effect a miniature pressure cooker.

Put the potato packages on a sturdy (earthenware) plate (okay, it doesn't have to be earthenware. I just don't get to use that word very often. Earthenware earthenware earthenware). and place the plated packaged potatoes on your woodstove (preferably while there is a fire inside the woodstove).

Place a stainless steel mixing bowl over the plated packaged potatoes and leave it alone until the potatoes are cooked. Two questions:

1. How do we know the stove in the above photo is hot?
2. How do we know when the potatoes are cooked?

Answers:

1. We know the stove is hot because Basil is not lying on the couch.
2. We can determine when the potatoes are cooked by lifting the bowl and squeezing the package. A cooked potato is much softer than a raw potato. If your wood stove is hot enough that your dragon is boiling, the potatoes will be cooked in about an hour.

You just baked potatoes for free!