Cookin' With Coal

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Today we are enjoying a glazed home-grown smoked ham slow roasted in our 'REAL' wood /coal cookstove oven overnight! (Might as well utilize an already warm oven while you heat the house ovenight!!
Carole

Same to you SK!

What time is dinner?

Any time, Come on over!!

Carole,
No pictures of the ham on your FB page, or I'd posted them here for ya.

Paul

Well, we picked up a couple of spiral-cut honey hams on sale for Easter dinner.

However, the hams are already pre-cooked and only need to be re-heated. We still had a large turkey in the freezer from stocking up during sales last November. So, since the turkey would need to cook much longer, we decided to make the most of the coal heat (cheaper than the gas stove) while it lasted.

This was a 17-1/2 pound turkey, with all the fixings, all cooked with the coal range. As usual, it turned out terrific. And, we have lots of left overs for lunches and soup making.

For anyone that wonders if an old range's oven is too small. We use a common size large broiler pan that has held up to 20 pound turkeys. As you can see in the pictures, it fits in the oven with room to spare. Enough room that we have also baked sweet potatoes, wrapped in foil, right in around that same broiler pan.

This being a range on the small side, the oven is 18 wide x 18 deep x 11 inch high. Most of the old coal/wood ranges available have 20 x 20 ovens, like Carole's and Randy's ranges .

There were apples that needed to be used up too, so she made an apple pie the night before.

And about something that Carole first brought up - not needing to clean range ovens. This is our ninth winter cooking and baking with the range . We use it for all our cooking/baking for about 8 months of the year. We have yet to need to clean the oven of anything from cooking. Other than the seam caulking I did this winter, the inside of the oven is as it was when we bought it.

Another plus for cookin' with coal !

Enjoy,

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote:Well, we picked up a couple of spiral-cut honey hams on sale for Easter dinner.

However, the hams are already pre-cooked and only need to be re-heated. We still had a large turkey in the freezer from stocking up during sales last November. So, since the turkey would need to cook much longer, we decided to make the most of the coal heat (cheaper than the gas stove) while it lasted.

This was a 17-1/2 pound turkey, with all the fixings, all cooked with the coal range. As usual, it turned out terrific. And, we have lots of left overs for lunches and soup making.

For anyone that wonders if an old range's oven is too small. We use a common size large broiler pan that has held up to 20 pound turkeys. As you can see in the pictures, it fits in the oven with room to spare. Enough room that we have also baked sweet potatoes, wrapped in foil, right in around that same broiler pan.

This being a range on the small side, the oven is 18 wide x 18 deep x 11 inch high. Most of the old coal/wood ranges available have 20 x 20 ovens, like Carole's and Randy's ranges .

There were apples that needed to be used up too, so she made an apple pie the night before.

And about something that Carole first brought up - not needing to clean range ovens. This is our ninth winter cooking and baking with the range . We use it for all our cooking/baking for about 8 months of the year. We have yet to need to clean the oven of anything from cooking. Other than the seam caulking I did this winter, the inside of the oven is as it was when we bought it.

Another plus for cookin' with coal !

Enjoy,

Paul

That food looks really good Paul! With this nice weather upon us, I am thinking about letting the coal stove go out in the living room. I can still cook with wood out in the garage all summer if I want to on the old cook stove.

My sister wanted to have a non-traditional Easter dinner this year since it is the first Holiday without Dad. I however, was craving a nice ham dinner so I bought a ham today and am going to cook it either tomorrow or Wednesday in the old cook stove. It won't be with coal but I still love using that beautiful old stove. I made two loaves of peasant bread for the dinner yesterday out there and it turned out great.
Randy

...I think this thread has put about 12lbs on me so far. Might aughta show how to reheat a Weight Wathers meal (or two) with coal.

Pancho wrote:...I think this thread has put about 12lbs on me so far. Might aughta show how to reheat a Weight Wathers meal (or two) with coal.

Now what kind of challenge would that be...

I'm working toward increasing my exercise program , . . starting next Fall.

When the base heater is hooked up I'll be carrying more 30+ pound coal buckets up from the basement and more ash pans out to the driveway !

Phew, this coal burning thing can work up an appetite !!!

Paul

Paul, I think you would enjoy the documentary video attached. It is a Victorian home and the cook stove in it is awesome. It looks like they are using bituminous coal. The whole video was awesome with some period recipe's as well.

Randy

Photog200 wrote:Paul, I think you would enjoy the documentary video attached. It is a Victorian home and the cook stove in it is awesome. It looks like they are using bituminous coal. The whole video was awesome with some period recipe's as well.

Randy

Thanks Randy. Very interesting show. I've saved it to favorites so we can watch the other seven episodes.

Yeah, being as how the show is in England, I'd say it's very likely soft coal. And, it seems the Brits liked to cook with open-front grates and rotisserie clock-work gizmos.

Here's a link to an "America's Test Kitchen" (Cook's Country Kitchen PBS show) site that has pictures and an article about a guy in England that still cooks on one of those open grate type coal stoves. This method of roasting must have filled every corner of the house with mouth-watering smoke.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/notes-from ... vermont-2/

And if they ever re-run it, see if you can watch the WGBH Boston PBS show "Fanny's Last Supper". It's only out now in book form on Amazon. It's show about all the details that go into cooking a 12 course Victorian meal using only the recipes and equipment available in the late 19th century. They diverged a bit by using wood in the massive range, but I'll forgive them.

And, I'll bet William would love to watch it too !

Paul

Yeah, being as how the show is in England, I'd say it's very likely soft coal. And, it seems the Brits liked to cook with open-front grates and rotisserie clock-work gizmos.

Here's a link to an "America's Test Kitchen" (Cook's Country Kitchen PBS show) site that has pictures and an article about a guy in England that still cooks on one of those open grate type coal stoves. This method of roasting must have filled every corner of the house with mouth-watering smoke.
When she put the coal on top of that roaster, I was like, I hope you have a Co detector! I am sure there was a sulphur smell along with the smell of the meat cooking.
Thanks for the link...I have seen several videos of them roasting meat with these wind up rotisseries so I would agree this was a popular way to roast meats back in the day.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/notes-from ... vermont-2/

And if they ever re-run it, see if you can watch the WGBH Boston PBS show "Fanny's Last Supper". It's only out now in book form on Amazon. It's show about all the details that go into cooking a 12 course Victorian meal using only the recipes and equipment available in the late 19th century. They diverged a bit by using wood in the massive range, but I'll forgive them.

I will keep my out for Fanny's Last Supper...they might even have it on Youtube.


Randy

Roasting jacks (as they were called) were popular in this country in the colonial period before the advent of mass production of clocks.

There is a letter in existence from Simon Willard (a major clock maker of the period) to Paul Revere asking if he had sold any of the jacks left him by Willard to sell. I believe it was set up before an open fire and slowly turned the meat in one direction.

Paul, I found a place where you can purchase the DVD of this show "Fannie's Last Supper". http://www.cookscountryhouse.com Chris (host of America's Test Kitchen) also hosts this web site.

I was watching a couple more of the Victorian Kitchen shows last night. I guess they answered my question about cooking right over the coal...they had a grill that went directly over it and grilled lots of food on it.

Randy

Photog200 wrote:Paul, I found a place where you can purchase the DVD of this show "Fannie's Last Supper". http://www.cookscountryhouse.com Chris (host of America's Test Kitchen) also hosts this web site.

I was watching a couple more of the Victorian Kitchen shows last night. I guess they answered my question about cooking right over the coal...they had a grill that went directly over it and grilled lots of food on it.

Randy

Randy thanks. Good to know there's a copy of that show. It really was amazing all they went through to prepare that meal. I saw the show a year ago, when WGBH still had a link to it on their website.

We got a subscription to Cooks Country Kitchen magazine (America's Test Kitchen) last year because it's the one cooking show Melissa and I both like to watch. It comes with access to their website for watching re-runs of previous shows, all the past season recipes and equipment tests, plus much more info and stories.

I like that on that show, they always explain why things happen during the food prep, cooking process, and why they use the temps they do, . . not just list a bunch of steps to do like most other cooking shows.

We're going to start watching all 8 episodes of that Victorian Kitchen show this weekend.

Paul