With a kitchen wood fired cookstove, it's fairly easy to regulate the cooking heat. And the stove is big enough that the cook can put a pot on the back burner to keep things at a slow simmer or below. But as Debbie pointed out, my stove is tiny. It barely holds two pots and there is no way to find a cool spot on the stove to move a pot to. So I had to be creative.
I remember from way back in my early childhood that my grandmother used a variety of methods when cooking on a wood fired stove. One was the use of metal rings that could be set atop the stove top for her to place a pot on. She had different sized rings for small to large pots, plus they were different thicknesses. Some had vent holes in them, some didn't. I've looked in old catalogs and antique barns for these old fashioned cooking rings, but I've never seen them. So I'm guessing that someone local made them for her.
Since my grandmothers cooking rings aren't available, I've come up with a substitute. Her rings had handles, which must have been very convenient. My solution lacks the handles. I'm using old mason jar rings, the ones for the wide mouth jars. .
They are not as big as I'd like, but they do the trick. So if one of my pots is boiling too briskly, I can place a ring on the stove then plop the pot atop it.
This brings to cooking down to a simmer. Works pretty nicely.
Some day I plan to have a blacksmith make me some proper cooking rings. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Sue,
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it will help, But at the cabin I used rings off gas kitchen stoves. They are cast iron, and of proper size to support a pot. I would check with appliance stores in the area. Most offer removal of old appliances with delivery of a new appliance. Ergo, they would have old rings destined for the trash anyway....
jimmy