Studebaker Driver
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 223
- Location
- The Big Valley in the Golden State
So...
Since I've become a widower I have been cooking as therapy. I can't eat that much, so I've been cooking for the neighborhood. Most Saturday nights I have busied myself with giant pots of spaghetti, boneless country ribs from Costco, fried chicken, tri tip roasts, mashed or fried potatoes, rice pilaf, biscuits, garden vegetables (broccoli, lettuce and spinach are going gangbusters in California now), gallons of soup, bread, all sorts of breakfast stuff, pies, and more.
But here's the thing.
The only kitchen range is a wood burner and that is what I've been using.
When I bought the stove, I didn't do it on impulse, really, but I did it with the suspicion it was going to be a décor item more than anything.
I could not have been more wrong.
It is wonderful and getting to know it has not been the arduous ordeal I feared, it has been great fun. I swear, the stove remembers how to cook. Biscuits have been the greatest triumph. For years I searched for a good recipe. I made batch after batch of biscuits promised to be "high, fluffy, delicious..." Well, they weren't, they were flat, dense, bready, disappointing. While visiting the neighbors, the lady of the house called us into the kitchen for little biscuit sandwiches with ham and cheese. The biscuits were unbelievable and I had to try them. The following Saturday I mixed them up according to the recipe, placed them on the cookie sheet and crossed my fingers - they were perfect! They were several inches tall, layered in flaky buttery layers. Everything I've cooked has been similar.
I've never made fried chicken in my life. I got a recipe from a former coworker and set out to do it on the woodstove. Holy cow, it could not have been better! I built the fire, clanged down a cast iron Dutch oven over the left hand lids (directly over the fire) and the temperature of the oil rose to 360 degrees and held there. It was perfect. The oven was perfect for those biscuits. The rice, the Brussells sprouts (with bacon), the pie, all of it cooked with the single fire. It just WORKED.
I know people have been cooking over fires for tens of thousands of years and grandmas have been cooking over wood fires for generations and within my memory. But this was ME doing it. And I DID IT. It works. It just works.
I am sure I will not be impressed with the stove in the summertime when the temperature is over 100 degrees (the house has no A/C), but that is when you DON'T cook on it! Go out to eat. Or use the grill. Or order take-out.
Since I've become a widower I have been cooking as therapy. I can't eat that much, so I've been cooking for the neighborhood. Most Saturday nights I have busied myself with giant pots of spaghetti, boneless country ribs from Costco, fried chicken, tri tip roasts, mashed or fried potatoes, rice pilaf, biscuits, garden vegetables (broccoli, lettuce and spinach are going gangbusters in California now), gallons of soup, bread, all sorts of breakfast stuff, pies, and more.
But here's the thing.
The only kitchen range is a wood burner and that is what I've been using.
When I bought the stove, I didn't do it on impulse, really, but I did it with the suspicion it was going to be a décor item more than anything.
I could not have been more wrong.
It is wonderful and getting to know it has not been the arduous ordeal I feared, it has been great fun. I swear, the stove remembers how to cook. Biscuits have been the greatest triumph. For years I searched for a good recipe. I made batch after batch of biscuits promised to be "high, fluffy, delicious..." Well, they weren't, they were flat, dense, bready, disappointing. While visiting the neighbors, the lady of the house called us into the kitchen for little biscuit sandwiches with ham and cheese. The biscuits were unbelievable and I had to try them. The following Saturday I mixed them up according to the recipe, placed them on the cookie sheet and crossed my fingers - they were perfect! They were several inches tall, layered in flaky buttery layers. Everything I've cooked has been similar.
I've never made fried chicken in my life. I got a recipe from a former coworker and set out to do it on the woodstove. Holy cow, it could not have been better! I built the fire, clanged down a cast iron Dutch oven over the left hand lids (directly over the fire) and the temperature of the oil rose to 360 degrees and held there. It was perfect. The oven was perfect for those biscuits. The rice, the Brussells sprouts (with bacon), the pie, all of it cooked with the single fire. It just WORKED.
I know people have been cooking over fires for tens of thousands of years and grandmas have been cooking over wood fires for generations and within my memory. But this was ME doing it. And I DID IT. It works. It just works.
I am sure I will not be impressed with the stove in the summertime when the temperature is over 100 degrees (the house has no A/C), but that is when you DON'T cook on it! Go out to eat. Or use the grill. Or order take-out.
