Tip 1  Choose a pot or pan that is stove-top and/or oven-safe and has a lid. Stainless steel, cast iron, and enamel-coated pots are all good choices because they conduct heat well. So is lead-free clay, but it must be safe for direct heat. Aluminum is not a good choice as it does not hold heat well and carries potential health risks. That said, if you’re snowbound in a cabin somewhere and all there is in the cupboard is one aluminum pan, go ahead and use it.

Tip 2  Choose a pot that is the right size. Food plus liquid should fill the pot by two-thirds to three-fourths. Beans tend to foam and need a few inches space at the top to avoid boil-overs. A pot with a wide base is good for most recipes. Broth can be cooked in a taller, narrower pot.

Tip 3  Choose a recipe with a lot of liquid. The extra water or broth holds heat inside the pot, helping your food cook evenly. (With the exception of homemade applesauce, which releases quite a bit of juice as the apples cook down.)

Tip 4  Ingredients should be room temp or refrigerated, not frozen. No frozen roasts or whole frozen chickens. Fully thawed roasts and whole chickens are fine. Beans should be pre-soaked 8-12 hours.

Tip 5  Add the ingredients to the pot and start cooking on your kitchen stove. Bring the whole pot up to a boil and let it cook a while. How long? See the handy chart above for approximate cooking times.

Tip 6  Be home and be flexible. Cooking times are approximate and depend on a number of factors: your wood stove, the type of food, type of cooking vessel, and whether you keep your stove running hot or let it gradually die down. Pick a day you will be home so you can keep an eye on it and add wood, if necessary. 

Tip 7  Leave the lid on the pot. Unless it’s ready to boil over, which isn’t likely with a modern wood stove, you want the lid to stay on, conserving available heat to cook your food.

Tip 8  Stir only if necessary. Think of it like a Crock Pot. Every time you remove the lid, the pot loses heat. Applesauce will need to be stirred about every half hour, everything else will do fine with just one or two stirrings during the cooking time.

Tip 9  If it fails to cook, move the pot back to your kitchen stove. Experiment with the method a few more times before you give up. You may need to keep a hotter fire burning in your stove or try a different pot or recipe. This method won’t work for every stove, but I think it will work for many, if not most.

Tip 10  Have fun experimenting! Your stove, your fire, and your cooking vessel are unique. You’ll soon develop a knack for pulling off meals on your wood stove. You could create a signature dish, one that you always cook on the wood stove that signals “home” to you and your family. Enjoy!