21
USING THE OVEN AND COOKING SURFACE
Stove top cooking
A cast iron cooking vessel with a flat bottom is recommend
-
ed.
Do not cook directly on the cast iron top.
As you inspect your new cookstove, you may find the
edges of your keyplate sitting slightly above the cooking
surface. This is caused by the gasket under the keyplate.
When getting used to cooking on the stove top remember
that the surface is cast iron and like cast iron cookware,
once heated retains the heat for a long time.
Successful stove top and oven cooking will not result from
trying to fire the stove up immediately but by having a heat
-
ed stove and ‘banking’ the fire to retain the temperature
required.
The left hand side of the cookstove top will be the hottest
as the fire burns directly beneath it. The surface will get
cooler the further you go to the right.
The oven damper can be used to help control the heat on
the cooking surface. To have the entire cooking surface
warm, the damper will need to be in the closed position.
This funnels the heat under the entire cooking surface,
therefore heating it (see figure 25).
The temperatures established on both the cooking surface
and in the oven are determined by three primary things:
1. The amount of draft the chimney has. As the bell damp-
ers are opened more air gets in the firebox and is drawn
through the stove and chimney, resulting in a faster,
hotter fire.
2. The position of the oven damper. With the oven damper
closed, the heat is channelled under the entire cooking
surface (heating it up) and around the oven (heating it
up). When the oven damper is open, the heat will be
routed directly up the chimney.
3. How much wood/coal is in the firebox and what stage of
the combustion process it is at.
Figure 25
Under oven
exhaust
Damper
closed