Cooking on a Woodstove

I recently visited a friend of mine in Louisiana.  She is a true homesteader and a GREAT friend!  I asked her about her woodstove that appeared to be well used.  She laughed and assured me that it worked well.  Then, since it was a nice cold, January day, she showed me how to work it!

The first thing that you will notice is that it is up high.  She said she got tired of always leaning over so she had her husband put it up on blocks.  What a GREAT idea!

Notice that it has been elevated so one does not have to bend over to use.

 The first thing she did was get some wood split to put in the stove.  She had lots of wood handy as that is how they heat their lovely home.

Splitting wood

 Then add the wood to the stove with a little newspaper.

Remove the burners and add the wood from the top.

 Next you need to put the burners back in place.

Place the burners back where they belong

 Light the fire...this is really easy guys!

Light the fire.

 Now you have to wait for the stove to get hot.  Really, it did not take that long at all. 

The biscuits were cooked on the gas stove.  We are waiting for the fire to get hot.

 

Eggs cooked on cast iron with a wood stove:  YUM!

 And there you have it!  A wonderful breakfast cooked in a very little amount of time using cast iron cookware and a well loved woodstove.  Yes, everything tastes better cooked on a woodstove!

Fresh Eggs...Part One

I have chickens, and I really enjoy having fresh eggs. There IS a difference in the flavor…fresh eggs have a much better flavor! You can tell an egg is fresh when you crack it into a pan. With a fresh egg, the yolk will sit nice and tight on top of the egg white (well…the clear part…the egg is not cooked yet. But…albumin does not sound like something yummy to eat for breakfast, does it?)

There is one little problem with fresh eggs, however. They do not peel well for boiled eggs. There are a couple ways around this, and seeing as how I am ‘Northerner’, you know that my suggestions are pretty easy!

If the shape of the egg does not matter, simply poach the eggs. Boil your water, then add vinegar or lemon juice…this will help keep the egg white ( yummy albumin, heh-heh!) more or less in one mass. Do NOT salt the water for poached eggs! Salting the water has the opposite effect of acid, and will cause the egg white to mix with the water. This is great for egg drop soup…not so great for poached eggs, though. Once the eggs are done cooking, simply drain, cool them and chop. They work wonderfully for egg salad, potato salad…or any recipe that calls for chopped boiled eggs, because the shape of the egg doesn’t matter. Not having to peel the eggs saves time and effort, and I really like that!! The other tip I will post either tomorrow or Monday…that depends on Mrs. Townson’s blogging schedule!