COOKING WITH WOOD

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Crisscross splinters on top of your tinder. Next, crisscross some thicker pieces, followed by pieces about the width of an ax handle. The crisscrossing gives heat and oxygen a path to flow between the fuel, allowing fire to rise up through tile layers. A 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch space between all fuel elements is ideal. With high-quality fuel, you can start a fire in a cold box in just seconds. (Use soft, dry wood for this beginning fire.)

When feeding your stove fire, add from one to three pieces of wood at a time. Wood pieces placed close together (about 1/4 inch apart) will burn slowly, as will moist, big or cold wood, and any of these can be used as needed to slow down a fire. Clean out and dump the ashes regularly. Ashes on top of the oven box will insulate the heat from your oven. Not good! Once the fire is hot, you can shut down control dampers to regulate the heat and control wood consumption.

Keeping a fire going and at the right intensity requires an intimate understanding of the heat of the box, the size of the fuel, tile moisture content of the wood, the density of the stacking and the amount of air flow as controlled by the vents. A good "tender" has a sixth sense about what a fire needs and when, and provides it before the file either dies down too low t0 be revived or grows so hot it burns the fo od It's a knack that comes only with experience. Have faith in yourself and listen to the fire.

Cooking Tips

Mom's homemade apple pie is mom's homemade apple pie, whether cooked in a gas or electric oven or in a cookstove (through wood cooking arguably raises the taste of even mom's pies a notch or two). The point is the recipes remain the same; it's the cooking times and techniques that may differ.

Awareness and sensitivity are the keys to success and enjoyment when cooking on these great stoves. The entire top of the cookstove can serve as a cooking surface, but keep in mind that the hottest areas will be above the firebox and toward the back of the stove. (Don't confuse those flat round disks for burners; they're actually removable lids designed to ease the task of cleaning inside tile stove.) The surface gets increasingly cooler as you move away from the heat source, giving you a wide range (quite literally!) to work with, allowing you to keep dishes at a simmer or bring them to a rolling boil. Watch your food and fire and let each tell you what it needs. Under the direction of an intuitive cook, the top of a cookstove becomes an orchestrated whirl of pots and pans, rotating, like players in a game of musical chairs, until each finds its ideal spot.

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