How to Cook With a Log Burner

We like to think that our stove buyers are adventurous types - after all, stoking the flames of your own handcrafted fire does bring a little more excitement to your life!

So, we thought we’d let you in on a secret about your log burner that you might not know about - you can cook on it, too!

Just as you might love the idea of baking potatoes over a campfire, your wood burner holds plenty of possibilities for creating rustic treats cooked over open flames. Great for bringing a little more adventure into your home, cooking on your log burner is also...

Ideal for log cabins, shepherds huts and other glamping experiences
A great back up for your kitchen against power cuts
Possibly energy-saving - uses the same fuel for both heating and cooking
A lovely hygge home touch

On the Direct Stoves website we now have a dedicated Cook Top Stoves category page, showing you a wide range of wood burning stoves with a cooktop - some of which we'll touch on in this blog post.

Read on to find out more about how you can cook and boil on your wood burner today!

How Can You Cook on a Wood Burning Stove?

So, you may be wondering exactly how you would go about cooking with a log burner. While log burners may not have been designed with food in mind, many people have found ways to heat, boil and bake food with the help of their flames.

Some tips we’ve seen include:

Putting foil-wrapped potatoes in the ash pan to cook baked potatoes
Preheating your cooking pans on top of your stove to save energy
Using a hot skillet on top of your blanking plate to cook scrambled eggs
Placing a heavy-duty clay roasting dish or cast iron pot over the top of your stove to create a pizza oven
Using the hot embers of your extinguished fire to grill food
Cooking these flatbreads in a hot pan on top of your blanking plate

The main requirement for cooking with your log burner is to have the flue outlet attached to the back, rather than the top, of your stove. This leaves a larger hot area which you can utilise for heating up food and drink.

However, even this can sometimes be a process of trial and error - from burnt spuds to cold baked beans, it doesn’t always turn out as planned! You also need to be careful cooking in the firebox to ensure food residue doesn’t cause any damage to your stove.

To make things easier, Charnwood has come up with their own range of accessories that allow you to easily and safely use the heat from your stove to cook your food…

Charnwood Wood Stove Cooking Accessories

New to the market, Charnwood’s wood stove cooking accessories offer an easy way to explore the world of cuisine your log burner can offer.

The Charnwood Cooking Plate is designed to replace the blanking plate on the top of your Charnwood Stove - this means your stove will need to be installed using the rear outlet. It then creates a highly effective hot plate for cooking - also perfect for heating your kettle!

Charnwood stove top cooking plate with kettle boiling

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxiftioBbLV/

The magnetic Charnwood Toasting Fork is also a great way to start out cooking with your log burner. This handy magnetic tool allows you to hang your bread slice along the stove door, resulting in delicious toast.

Charnwood log burner with stove toasting fork

Esse’s Log Burners You Can Cook With

If you want something a little more sophistication, there is a fantastic range of Esse stoves that have been designed with this exact purpose in mind.

The Esse Bakeheart and the Esse Warmheart are two of the most unique stoves offered by the brand. They offer a fantastic combination of both cooking stoves and heating stoves - so, as well as filling your room with radiant heat, they also offer features that allow you to cook food such as hot plates and ovens.

Esse Bakeheart

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Esse Warmheart

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We asked Esse Sales Director, Mark Blewitt, a few questions to help fill you in on how these log burner cookers work…

Hi Mark! Can you explain to us how the Esse Warmheart & Bakehearts are different from a regular log burner?

They are similar to a regular stove in many ways. They burn wood, have a 5kW heat output, and are a great size for a UK living room. However, there’s nothing average about these stoves - they are super clean burning!

What features do the Esse Warmheart & Bakeheart have that enable you to cook with them?

They both have a hob and a firebox with runners inside on which you can place a grill shelf over the glowing embers. Think ‘barbecue’ but indoors and all year round! The Bakeheart also has a separate oven below the firebox, too.

What kind of food can you cook on the Esse Warmheart & Bakeheart?

Anything you want! Where they excel is barbecue and grilling. There is a certain food trend called “Armageddon” cooking where people cook comfort food in a fire. These appliances are a more sophisticated version of that – you can cook comfort food perfectly, without compromising on quality.

Are there any particular installation requirements for them that are different from a regular log burner?

If you can fit a log burner you can almost certainly have Bakeheart or Warmheart. Both have the option to have external air kits which are essential for modern airtight houses.

What would you say the benefits are of buying one of these stoves over a conventional log burner or range cooker?

It features both types of appliance. Whilst some buy as an insurance policy for when the electric goes, others are buying to be self-sufficient and independent. The most compelling reasons are that they are the cleanest stoves around and are Eco Design-ready. And, they are hand-made by ESSE Master Stove Makers since 1854 in Britain - how good is that?

While a great addition to living rooms and kitchens, we also think the Esse Warmheart and Bakeheart are great for installing in sheds, huts, summer houses and log cabins. Creating the perfect outdoor glamping experience, you can keep cosy while cooking delicious food around your flames - bliss!

For some more inspiration, take a look at how River Cottage uses Esse's range cookers to cook up top quality food...

Ekol Apple Pie Wood Burning Stove With Oven

It's not just Charnwood and Esse who offer stoves you can cook with. The fantastic Ekol Apple Pie Wood Stove has been designed specifically for those tight spaces, such as boats, yurts or shepherds huts, where self sufficiency is key. The ultimate glamping stove, this log burner features a baking oven, a warming plate and shelves either side to help you serve and prepare food.

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Go Eco Adventurer 5 Glamping Log Burner With Oven

If you are really serious about cooking with a log burner, the Go Eco Adventurer stove could be perfect for you! Along with a 4.5kW heat output, the stove features a stylish looking oven that is perfect for cooking all types of food. It offers a number of other optional log burner cooker accessories too, such as warming shelves and fiddle rail for your kettle.

Go Eco Adventurer 5 Glamping Stove with Oven