One of the great features of a wood stove is the cooktop surface. Not only will your wood stove heat your home – even during power outages, but it also gives you a wonderful cooking surface to prepare food. All our Lopi Steel Wood Stoves offer excellent cooking surfaces but the Lopi Endeavor and Liberty step-top design are unique in the fact that that they offer both a cooktop and a warming surface. Here are some pro tips for making cooking on your wood stove enjoyable and successful.
High Heat Cookware is essential, a good tip is if you can put it in your oven it is safe for your stove top. We highly recommend cast iron cookware: pans for frying and sautéing and dutch ovens for soups, stews and roasts. Think about adding a grilling basket if you want to adventure into cooking inside your stove. Don’t forget about oven mitts or wood stove friendly gloves!
Keep a Lid on it! Your pots and pans are lonely and can use a nicely fitting lid. A good lid will expand the range of foods you can cook and the speed at which they cook. Think cinnamon rolls, achieving the perfect crusty dutch oven breads, and all your favorite casseroles. Added bonus – they’ll help to keep your wood stove clean and free from grease.
Elevate Your Cooking – Keep your pots and pans off of direct contact with a trivet so you do not burn your food or scratch the surface of your stove. The upper surface of your step top is ideal for warming. Since it is protected by the convection chamber, temperatures will not get a hot. This surface is idea for warming soup, making coca for the kids and for mulling spices to add to the atmosphere of your home.
A Magnetic Stove Thermometer is excellent at achieving familiarity with your stove surfaces and the variety of temperatures they can reach. If you want to go pro you can use and infrared hand held temperature gun to determine the exact temperature in any area, plus you look really cool using it.