We have friends who once had a cast-iron stove. They would put a big pot of something yummy on top (Le Creuset no doubt) and let it cook all day -- filling the house with the most delicious odors, and then having a fine dinner at night. I'm sure they slow-cooked many things, but it's the stews and soups I remember. Then there was the mulled cider... oh yes!

westelle,

My OTHER fantasy of cooking on the stove inolves mulled cider --- what fun to have a house party and serve the cider, piping hot, right off the living-room stove!

I am sure I would burn any stew I put on the woodstove, at least before having a lot of practice at controlling the heat level.

But you are right, handsome Le Creuset pot is a must for public cooking. Hmm -- I think we still have a monetary gift or two from the wedding waiting to be spent on something luxurious like that.... ;-)

Z

Hi Zabby,

I have roasted Chestnuts in my open fireplace. ItÂs a bit of an art that I have not yet mastered but a friend has so I know thereÂs hope for me.

Rule 1: Score the Chestnuts;
Rule 2: Score the Chestnuts;
Rule 3: Score the Chestnuts;
Rule 4: If doing over an open flame, keep them moving;
Rule 5: They get very very hot so handle with care when you test one for doneness.

If you donÂt score them the internal moisture can cause the nuts to explode. Flying shell fragments tend to dampen the experience. I find a slice through the shell along the length works fine for me. They can take some time to roast depending on your fire so youÂll need to test a few after a while until you are happy. IÂd suggest a practice run or two with a handful of nuts.

A few years back I purchased a pan from a specialty kitchen shop specifically for roasting Chestnuts. ItÂs basically a cheap (uncoated / finished) thin iron pan with 3/8" holes perforating the bottom. Not sure why itÂs designed this way but I have never tried roasting them in anything else.

IÂll try to snap a photo of the pan tonight and post it if youÂre interested.

Bill

I saw packets of instant mulled cider that you just add hot water too. Never tried it though. Wish I had space for a woodstove. Oil for the furnace is over $3 per gallon now. My furnace is also leaking oil fumes while running, and needs replacement. Its over 40 years old and is totally worn out. Has to be replaced in late spring, as it just too cold now.

I'll never forget the day my dad connected up an old Ben Franklin wood stove to a flue on a wall in the cellar. Those flues were not used in many years and the apartment building was one of those 3 family brick buildings all butted together with others. A few hours later, the neighbor in the next building over had smoke coming into her apartment and called the fire department. Still don't know how it wound up there as it was a totally different chimney. In those days, we used to have a big coal bin in the cellar too. Now, that apartment house is gone, the street is gone and all the people who lived in that neighborhood had gone elsewhere. Harvard Medical School bought up all the property.

Zabby,
Start hunting for cast iron trivets!!
I have several and we use them.

I can put a candle in a glass container toward the back of my stove and get all the scent and none of the smoke (bothers DH).

You can heat up soup, chili or stew easily if your pan is on a trivet. It's fun to do on a cold day when the stove is going anyway!

Use a trivet under an old metal teakettle to keep some moisture in the air (the stove WILL dry things out a bit).

Think Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup and cheese sandwiches, grilled right there on the stove in a cast iron skillet!

Also look for a comfy little stool so you can sit right in front of the stove on occasion!! LOL.

Mostly, just enjoy. We have electric heat, but try to just use the stove as much as possible. If we are away for more than a day or two, we may have to turn the heat on. :+(

Congratulations on being able to feed and warm yourselves, no matter what the weather!

Deanna (who NOW wants a rack that fits behind the stovepipe to raise bread.....)

Bill,

Thanks for the hints! "keep them moving" suggests that shaking them frequently on a skillet on top might be better than the foil-in-the-embers method?

I wd love to see your pan. I've seen something that sounds similar sold for grilling vegetables on a BBQ. I have a pizza pan with holes in it, maybe I shd spread them on that....

Ken,
Packets, shmackets! We have orchards galore around here and lots of great local cider, both sweet and alcoholic, to mull.

Sorry to hear about your furnace! A lot are still oil around here, and we feel lucky to have bought a house that has a gas one --- gas has only been available in this town since the mid-90s.

dgritch,
Of course, trivets! I even have a cast-iron one somewhere, I think, but we've rarely used it because it scratches the dining-table finish. Brilliant suggestion.

Our stove will contribute to the heating of the house, for sure, but our installer has warned us that only a very reduced amount will spread beyond the living room, because of the layout of the house (lots of nooks and crannies and small rooms), and the type of stove and the place we want it (both of which were chosen purely for ambience purposes, NOT for efficiency). In fact, he said our biggest concern will be to keep the LR from OVER heating, because it is a very small room.

He kept looking longingly at our dining room, which is much bigger, and suggesting we install it there, but we spend ALL our free time sitting in the LR, because that's where there is a bay window overlooking the landscaped cemetery and duck pond across the street, so we really wanted it in there.

Still, it'll be nice knowing we won't freeze (or starve) if the furnace conks out or the electicity dies sot the fan for it won't work. It occurred to us we could probably sell our kerosene heater now!

Zabby
P.S. Hmm.... popcorn, maybe? Pancakes? We may NEVER leave that room!

Hi Zabby,

I got lazy and found some shots of the pan on the web rather than shooting my own and posting. Here are a few links. The last one seems to be the terracotta type referenced on the Chestnut website I've included.

Later,

Bill

http://www.fantes.com/images/11741-3chestnuts.jpg

http://www.fantes.com/images/11741-2chestnuts.jpg

http://www.fantes.com/images/120726chestnuts.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: Chestnnuts

Thanks, Bill!

I am just back in my office after a break in the living room, and, looking at the stove, I realize that this cooking on it thing is going to be pretty limited. It REALLY is a for-pretty-and-cozy stove --- the top is textured, and only about 13 inches by 20, with a big hole in the middle where the pipe comes out, so there is no one part of it even big enough for that chestnut skillet (standard ones I found online are about 11 inches). Maybe I will need to get a pair of mini-skillets and put holes in 'em. and a deep-but-tall pot for mulling my cider in.

I've attached the link to show which stove it is in case anyone cares. (In the picture, there is no pipe coming out the top because it comes out the back, but ours will come out the top.) I do think it is the prettiest little thing!

Z

Here is a link that might be useful: Jotul Nordic 100

Zabby,

Nice looking stove.

The top surface does look restrictive but it does look like it has a wide door on it. You could roast your Chestnuts over the fire if you let it burn down some you know, roasting over an open fire like the song suggests. YouÂd just have to watch for sparks while the door is open.

Just a suggestion. Roasted Chestnuts do taste great!

Be sure to let us know how you make out regardless of how you approach your cooking adventures with it.

Bill

My parents have a wood burning stove both in their house and their log cabin. Baked potatoes also work well on top.....wrap them in tin foil w/ an ice cube.

Here in Southern California it is roasting chestnuts on my BBQ in a copper skillet shaking constantly until done. Yes I know, score and keep moving. And yes, you will burn your fingers (the after roasting peeler - which in my house is me). Regards - Jim - Burr it must be cold here. Just went outside to get the jam I made outside today and it must be 40 degrees cold out there (maybe 45 or 50 you know)but we really feel the cold here. Don't know what I'd have to do to go back to Barrie or Owen Sound Ontario.

I roast scored chestnuts in the microwave on high for 10 seconds for 2 nuts.

Zabby,
You may be surprised how well that little stove can heat your house!
We have one rated for 1200 sf. and our house is almost 1800.
We can cook ourselves right out of it if we're not careful!

We run a standard box fan to move the air down a long hallway to the bedrooms. Our master is off the living room and we have to keep the door shut or it's too warm to sleep at night!

Enjoy your chestnuts!
Deanna

Deanna,

Our little guy is only rated for 1,000, but our living room is only about 250, so I sure hope we can move the heat around. The installer said he could sell us a special "muffin fan" that could go in a doorway that would help.

He was here today, and got the chimney all installed EXCEPT for the roof, because some nasty freezing rain started. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so they'll come back and finish it off. It looks so lovely!

Can't wait to try it out tomorrow night...

jimnginger,
We don't get the snow here on Lake Ontario that they do in Owen Sound or Barrie, that's for sure. But it's no zone 9.... I enjoy it for the most part, however. Each season gives me more pleasure because it contrasts with the others.

Z

Zabby,
You're going to love your woodstove! Think crockpot.... I have a cast iron Dutch oven I put on a rack on the woodstove. Any recipe that's suitable for a crockpot works. I bake potatoes in my Dutch oven on the stove you just have to be sure to leave the cover ajar to let the moisture out. As for roasting chestnuts, score them and place in a cast iron skillet placed directly on the stove. Shake often. Or use a Dutch oven on a rack and relax. I always have a pot of stock going. One of my favorite thinks to cook on the woodstove is oatmeal. Before you got to bed, put a pot of oatmeal not instant on a rack on the woodstove, be sure to add a little extra water. In the morning the oatmeal will be ready for breakfast, creamy and delicious. :-)

Zabby,
I have a little 2 quart Staub cocotte that I bought when Amazon had them on sale earlier in the year. It is about 7 inches wide at the top and a little smaller at the base. I also have a five quart that I use more often. I love the black enamel inside and how it holds heat. Like Le Creuset, they have all manner of colors. I wonder how one of the pretty oval ones would fit on your stove. You might enjoy reading this blog. Her stove looks like it is set up for cooking, but she has cooked an amazing amount of things on it.
http://garlic-breath.blogspot.com/2007/12/round-up-of-hobo-challenge.html
Melly

No gas on my street, and we only got water and sewer about 12 years ago. The next door neighbor has a huge underground propane tank that is forever being filled by a big tank truck. He had to get a special rider on his insurance to cover that item in case it ever leaked. I am fearful of it as it could go off like a bomb if it ever did let go. I'm only about 15 feet from it.
About the mulled cider powder packets, I know that its a poor excuse for the real thing. I don't care for it anyway, as I much prefer carbonated apple, like the type bottled in heavy champaigne bottles.

Ken,
> I much prefer carbonated apple, like the type bottled in heavy champaigne bottles.

Mm, now you are talking!

The local cidery makes some non-alcoholic carbonated stuff like that, and also a hard cider. We love both (and served both for the toast at our wedding).

Speaking of going off like a bomb, though, two bottles of that non-alcoholic carbonated apple in the champagne-type bottles exploded in our living room last year! We had been warned not to let it get too warm, but it was only at room temp. Anyway, we now buy it in small quantities and store it in the fridge. We got a little mini-wine fridge as a wedding gift and it'll probably end up full of apple...

Z

Oh, my goodness, Melly, those are SO gorgeous! It looks like the smallest one (not counting a teeny 1-cup one, presumably for gravy etc.) is a 5-quart, listed as 11.5 inches, which, assuming it's the lengthwise measurement and that the width is not too much more than half that, should fit beautifully on one side or the other of the chimney. Now you've made me really covet one of these!

Again, it's REALLY not meant to be a cooking stove, and it is so small that it will not even hold a standard-sized log. (On the other hand, we have an eternal supply of the PERFECT kindling in the form of offcuts from DH's woodturning --- 3-inch chunks of kiln-dried hardwoods.) I don't know if a fire would burn all night in it. But it'll be fun to try messing with cooking on it.

The top surface has a raised pattern on it --- meant for pretty, but I am thinking it might just act a bit like a trivet!

And BF reminded me that we actually have, a find from the flea market in my student days, a half-pot --- an aluminum pot that is actually shaped like a half circle. (I always assumed it was originally part of a set of two, designed so you could cook two things on one burner.) It should fit very nicely and might be just the thing to mull cider or boil water.

Z, who got a Le Creuset kettle for a wedding gift, though the colour (bright orange), though it is not bad in my deep-yellow kitchen, really isn't very living-room friendly

By Nordic tradition you are suppose to have a dragon shaped kettle with water simmering so the steam comes out of his mouth to hydrate your dry air. Something else to spend your wedding money on. ;-)

? Have they actually installed your stove yet? with the pipe coming out of the middle of your stovetop? I was just wondering since they usually come out of the back.

What color is your stove? Try to find a pot to go with that. I am intrigued by your half-pot. I haven' ever heard of such a thing, but it does make sense.

> By Nordic tradition you are suppose to have a dragon shaped kettle with water simmering so the steam comes out of his mouth to hydrate your dry air.

Oh, Westelle, how delightful! I definitely need a miniature one of those. (Hmm. I do have some friends in Denmark; maybe they'll know where to find such a thing.)

As for the stove installation, they're torturing me is what they're doing! They came on Tuesday and installed everything --- put the stove on the hearth, ran the pipe from it up through the ceiling, through my office above, into the attic, and right up to the roof --- EXCEPT for actually running the chimney THROUGH the roof to exit outside. (This for a combination of reasons involving both the need for a different chimney bit from what they had to deal with the oddly spaced rafters in our old house and the onset of snow/sleet.)

Now it's been sitting there for two days, looking totally ready to go, but not actually functional yet, while perfect woodstove weather descends upon us. The chimney part is arriving today but more snow is coming (hm, there it is now). Sigh.

And, yes, the pipe comes out the top. This model of stove is made so it can be done either way (if you click on the link I posted to the photo you can see a circle on the top covering the opening where the pipe could go). We wanted ours as close to the wall as possible, so as not to obstruct passage through our small living room. For the same reasons, our chimney pipe is actually bigger than usual, because it's double-walled (reducing the minimum necessary clearances). It looks a bit top-heavy coming down to this teeny stove, to be honest. But I think once a fire is actually going in the stove that's all we'll notice!

It's totally the opposite aesthetic of the stove in the food blog Melly linked to --- tiny, decorative, with a big glass door. Totally meant for what we wanted: a fireplace substitute. It is plain black cast iron (we liked the blue-black enamel finish, but it was nearly $500 more and we didn't like it THAT much more).

So any colour will look fab on it. Though the stove has prompted me to vow to get this winter to the living room redecoration (really, decoration, no "re-" about it, since when we moved here a few years ago we pretty much just stuck things anywhere), and I think I'll be painting the walls a deep green. The trim is a very clean white, which I'll keep.

I'll see if I can get and post a photo of the half-pot.

Z
P.S. I do also have two 6-inch cast-iron skillets, which might do for chestnuts if I kept 'em moving...

Zabby, I hope they get your stove installed soon. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

When I designed our house, I wanted to be able to have a woodburning stove in the livingroom, too. We were subject to power outages in the winter so I wanted something that would keep us warm, give some light and could be used to cook on. I chose the Lopi Liberty because it filled all these purposes. The top is in two levels, one you could cook on and one you could use as a warmer. We chose the smaller version and have been totally satified with it. It has the glass in the door so you can see the flames like a fireplace, but it is super efficient. It is designed to heat a 2400 sq. ft. house and ours is 1800 sq. ft. We have a ceiling fan in the livingroom cathedral ceiling that really spreads the heat. Wouldn't you know, in the three years since we finished the house, we've only had one power failure in cold weather and didn't need to cook. Regardless, it keeps the house warm and the heat pump off. My large Chantal pot is perfect on it and we keep a small pot of water on it for moisture. Never thought of trying to roast chestnuts on it, but have kept pots of soups and stews on it.

Oh yes, the store where I purchased it from had some oval casserole type pots that were enamel over cast iron in different colors. The lids were designed as lounging squirrels with tails forming the handle and there were holes cast into the lids to allow moisture to escape. I wanted one so bad but couldn't afford it at that time and still haven't gotten one. Hum-m-m, finances are a little better now.

Ooh, bcskye, that sounds very cozy. (If I had designed our house, I wd probably have put in a fireplace. But we didn't much like the look of any retrofit fireplace that could've worked for our home (tiny firebox, way back behind the wall), so figured we were better off with a pretty woodstove. I never really intended it as a cooking tool, but you guys are getting me very excited to mess with it, just for fun!

westelle,
I am not set up to easily post photos here yet and couldn't find a half-pot photo on the web, BUT DH found a photo from E-bay of a set of THIRD-pots by the same manufacturer, which look to be of a similar vintage. (THese would fiton my stove REALLY nicely!)

So my half-pot is the same idea, only a saucepan with a long handle, and a semicircle rather than a third. I never had a lid but I bet there once was one.

Zabby

Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Merton Third-Pots

Still waiting on the chimney part!

Weather is last good day for installing it on the forecast --- WAY cold tomorrow and then lots more snow --- argh, it's making me crazy just having it sit there, non-functional....

Zabby

We have fire!

Final chimney piece arrived late yesterday, and the installers put it in this morning (I did NOT envy them being on our metal roof with temps of below 0 F plus a wind chill).

We our currently in the midst of our second small fire of the "break in" process (you gradually up the size of the first few fires in order to cure the paint). It's beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will report back when we get to the chestnut experiment....

Z

Hey Zabby,

Congratulations!

Right about now youÂre probably just starting to get the nasty storm theyÂre forecasting for this weekend. IÂm sure youÂll be enjoying the fire watching the snow pile up outside. IÂm expecting it to hit my neck of the woods early morning. Wow, another foot of snow on top of the roughly two we have already. I think IÂll spend the day on the sofa by my fire listening to the radio and surfing the web for more canning ideas LOL.

Later,

Bill

BIG storm here. Got up an hour ago and we already have about 8 inches on the ground. They did say it would turn to rain, but I doubt it. If it does, I have to get out to shovel as much as I can before it all hardens to cement. I hate winter, I hate snow, I hate ice.. Wish I lived someplace warmer... Even the birds are trying to come indoors as I left a storm window slightly open and I see a half dozen birds staying a bit dryer perched inside the window sill behind the storm window. Birds are eating like there is no tomorrow.

Hey Zabby & ksrogers,

Hope you have the fireplaces on! Well, we got hit pretty good and itÂs still coming down. I canÂt remember a dump of snow like this in the last 15 years.

Last year my plow guy, whom IÂve had for 14 years, had to do my driveway 7 times. Four of the plows were guilt plows IÂm sure we had a very very very light winter. At $325 for the season, it cost me $50 per plow. This year heÂs more than making up for the easy time last year. If the weather keeps up like the season has started in my area itÂs only going to cost me $10 a plow!

Here are a few shots of the 3 Â 4 foot pile outside my bedroom door. WeÂve got another two inches since I took them.

Keep the home fires burning,

Bill

{{gwi:967525}}

{{gwi:967526}}

Bill,

We've been giving that new stove a good workout today, that's for sure! Now that it's had it's "break-in" small fires, we were able to let it get up to peak-efficiency heat today, and it definitely got that living room toasty! Before the snow got TOO deep I thought to wade out and dig up some of the small logs we've had stashed behind the shop from when we took down a little tree a few years ago, so once they dried off we had some bigger pieces to add to the piles of kindling chunks DH produces in his work.

The dog has discovered that he loves to lie with his head toward the stove getting toasty. And I think the warmth must have been a contributing factor to the fact that the cat, whom we've been trying to coax back into the living room since we got the dog, finally was willing to come hang out there for a while today.

Still falling here, some 36 hours after it started. I can't complain, though --- we made sure we were well stocked up, and didn't have to go anywhere all day except to take the dog out. No power problems. Watched curling and Christmas specials. Cooked a tasty roast. Baked cookies.

And since we both work at home, we won't have to be in a hurry to dig out the car tomorrow.

Lots of blessings to count. My sister, a doctor in Halifax, had her car die yesterday and had to walk across town in the blizzard to get to her shift today.

Zabby

LUckily, I dg out the blocked sewer in front of my driveway. If I didn't, the ice would have been frozen solid and at least 6 inches thick. Everything froze solid late last night. Some of the 2+ feet of snow melted, but now all of it is as hard as a rock. No wood burning stove or fireplace here, just the expen$ive leaky old 45 + year old oil burner.. Been making lots of breads the last two days. Giving some to an elderly friend who loves any kind fo bread there is.

Zabby, I got a new Jotul stove this year, too! We routed the chimney out the back, just so we'd have the option of cooking on the top. Mostly we've just kept a kettle going for humidity and tea, but I did try to simmer soup one day. Eventually decided that the house just wasn't cold enough and I didn't want to make the fire huge just for the soup.

We have a box fan directly behind the stove that we turn on when it gets good and hot. It's great for warming up the rest of the house! Sometimes it also helps to turn on ceiling fans in other rooms, if you have them set to blow upwards instead of downwards.

Last February, there was a huge ice storm that knocked out our power for about 8 hours. My husband woke up and noticed the clocks had gone dark, and moved us and all our pets out to the living room, where we all stayed toasty warm. My dogs have a big bed near the fire, and my cats hang out on the mantle. You'll love the nice cozy feeling all winter long!

julsie, isn't is just the coziest thing?

The chimney coming off the top definitely gives it a bit of a top-heavy look. But I am glad we decided to put it as close to the wall as possible, or it would have impeded flow through the very small room.

So far we don't tend to keep it going all day (which, with this smallest model, means adding fuel pretty much hourly), but stoke it up for a cozy fire over breakfast and again in the evening, and any time in between that we'll be hanging in the living room for a while (we both work at home).

I love how easily it gets going, making it no trouble at all to have a fire crackling before the coffee's finished perking.

(We are aware that, if we have more small fires rather than keeping it going at peak efficiency, we'll need to be sure to have our chimney cleaned often!)

In the New Year I'll get to work on trying out Project Chestnut....

Zabby