I frequent a Pellet Stove forum - at first it was to soak up knowledge, now it is more conversation and helping others, expecially with St. Croix Hastings/Greenfied stoves, since that is the one I have had to figure out everything on. I still learn plenty about both stoves and set ups in general. And we all share what pellets are available where (some areas have shortages, other areas have gluts, and still other areas the price can be as much a $4/bag difference between retailers). And we share how different brands are burning so those that drop big bucks on buying several tons at a time don't get stuck with crappy pellets.
A couple of weeks ago, someone asked if anyone had tried cooking with their pellet stove. After much off topic banter, a member reported that he had just tried baking some potatoes in his Harman P61a (the same model that I have in the basement) and that they had come out perfectly. Well, that is all it took and I was off and running.
I bought a couple of sweet potatoes, washed/scrubbed them up well, wrapped them in foil (still wet) and set them on the ledges at the side of the stove. I made sure it was in a maintenance burn (would not turn itself off), set the timer and went about my business.
1.3 hours later I removed the foil packages and opened them up to find perfectly steamed sweet potatoes. I dumped them in a bowel and stripped off the skin (very easy - just lifter right off), then added some real butter.
After the butter had melted a bit, I mashed them all together, added a bit of real maple syrup, about 1/2 cup of oats, ground cinnamon and some water.
I then let the concoction sit a couple of hours for the oats to soak up the water and decided that a parfait would be perfect; So, I scooped out a bit of the sweet potato mixture, added vanilla Greek yogurt, and topped it all off with cinnamon.
Awesome! I reported my results on the forum, and someone else chimed in with their results from steaming vegies in their stove. Someone still needs to do an experiment with filling a small crock with meat and vegies to make a stew for 1-2 people - I am looking forward to a report on that! Earlier this week I put in 3 more sweet potatoes and have been enjoying them at work (and for breakfast this morning).
Pellet stoves; keeping the house warm, blow drying hair, and now cooking - is there anything they can't do? LOL
"I dumped them in a bowel...." You started my afternoon with laughter. There are advantages to heating with wood/pellets, aren't there. Sounds great!
Posted by: Cop Car | March 22, 2015 at 02:08 PM
That was an interesting, and funny mistake - glad you got a chuckle out of it!
Posted by: bogie | March 23, 2015 at 04:09 AM
Cool! I keep thinking I ought to practice cooking on our woodburning stove, "just in case", but never get around to it...
Posted by: Ruth | March 24, 2015 at 09:24 AM
Ruth - if you have a cast iron stove, I'm sure you could cook on it. Stew and chilis would probably be best and easiest to start with as they are more forgiving of over heating/cooking while you are getting the hang of it.
I believe there was a time or two that I baked potatoes in the wood stove in my previous house. However, that stove had a soapstone exterior, so it didn't get as hot as cast iron (gave off heat forever though after the fire went out). Heck, I couldn't even boil water on it. It was great for keeping thing warm if other stuff was still cooking on the gas stove/oven (like for Thanksgiving dinner).
Posted by: bogie | March 29, 2015 at 09:03 AM
Yup, cast iron. It gets quite hot on top!
Posted by: Ruth | March 29, 2015 at 10:05 AM