Wood stove ???

[GPW]

Anybody who travelled by Train many years know of the wonderful food they USED to serve, all cooked on a wood fired stove... Anybody have any details of the kind of wood they used ? How they did it? I was thinking this might be good for a TD stove instead of the usual Propane ... Better tasting food and safer fuel carriage is the goal ...

[tpstorey]

IMHO, while there is a lot of talk about what wood is best for cooking/bbqing, in the "old days" people generally used whatever hardwood was locally available. Good old oak makes some great tasting bbq as well as making good long burning coals for other cooking.

[OLDMERC]

Bacon and eggs over a maple campfire is a wonderful way to start the day .

[Vedette]

Although the smell of a wood burning fire and breakfast cooked over one brings out all of those old camping memories, it does have its draw backs.
Propane is easier to transport
Propane is lighter
Propane takes up less space in your TV
Propane is cheaper (than wood purchased while travelling)
You can transport propane over state lines
Your cookware does not get all sooty
Thus, clean up is faster with propane
Propane is faster to light
There is very seldom a propane fire ban in campgrounds or camping areas
You don't have to leave your clothes outside of the teardrop when you go to bed
You don't have to find or use precious water to douse a propane fire before bedtime or breaking camp
You don't need to carry a heavy axe or shovel
You don't get slivers from propane
You are never tempted to cut down natural foliage or trees to have a fire
You can have a propane campfire in the confines of your ezee -up
You can have your propane fire for sitting or camping "Much" closer to your Teardrop
Your propane fire will rarely p..s off your neighbours

So, as an old Boy Scout and long time tent camper, I would never have thought that I would be taking this side in the Wood vs Propane debate........But, Propane makes so much more sense in the Teardrop camping world.
I am sure there will be those that disagree, as there are in the automotive world on the Lead vs Bondo debate.
Good Roads
& Safe Camping
Brian & Sandi

PS
When we are home at the Farm we love to sit around our backyard Fire Pit; enjoying a roaring "Wood Fire" roasting wieners, marshmallows, and enjoying a night time beverage.

[mobile camper]

I love the smell of wood fires. Propane is much easier to transport.

Just my opinion, It's not a campout without a wood fire and everything smells of smoke. Call me crazy.
Steve G

[wagondude]

If you want to cook with wood, it is best to use a rocket stove as they are fueled with just a few sticks at a time. You can find sticks on the ground in almost any campground, so no need to worry about the legalities of transporting wood across state (or sometimes even county) lines. Also, rocket stoves burn so efficiently, they produce little soot and ash. Very little water is requires to put out the fire as it burns on two or three sticks that can be either left to burn out in the stove in a few minutes, or pulled out and dipped in a pan of water, dried, and saved for later use if you are spending several days in the same place.

[martymcfly]

Like a Biolite?

[felixx]

I love woodfires but due to fire bans in many of my camp spots over summer I meet in the middle and use charcoal!

It is less 'visible' and has less smoke

I know it is a fire and I will get caught one day but I wet the ground down well below my charcoal bbq and often place a wok of water under it to catch any embers

I carry 20L to douse it (I camp in campgrounds so heaps of water)

I use kerosene stoves and although they take 5-10 min to get going, that suits me, because I am camping, not being bossed around by my lovely wife (who hates camping btw)

I made a chip stove out of a coffee can and use it in my yard to cook sausages and the like with my 5 year old son, teaching him about fire at that age is a good thing.

I have gas stoves in my emergency box so my wife can use them but never take em camping

[dales133]

Rocket stokes a verry cool.
I built one out of a 9kg fas bottle a while back

[Shadow Catcher]

Wood and fires in general can trigger an asthma attack which for me are potentially deadly. In one Tearjerkers gathering there was an inversion layer and so many smoldering fires I had serious problems. If you are going to have a fire learn to build one and don't leave it to smolder.
I now have a three stage 12V air purifier for inside the tear.

[GPW]

Although we’ve use propane for years now , we still don’t like it ... JMHO...
I was merely thinking about the wonderful FLAVOR imparted by a wood fire over a gas or other fuel fire... Use what you like !!! I’m not trying to convince anybody either way ...

It seems they managed this quite well on trains ... When they switched to other fuels , the taste of the food became “bland” and uninteresting ...

[Catherine+twins]

Hmm, how about a rocket stove with a little pellet feeder, maybe battery operated, or weighted pendulum. My bags of pellets for my home pellet stove (heating, not cooking) claim they are hardwood (generic hardwood, I guess). I know there are pellet stoves for SERIOUS BBQ-ers, so a little pellet stove for campers doesn't sound TOO outrageous.

Bagged pellets would also pass the wood test, i think. You know, the one about transporting wood (and pests) from one forested area to another.

I think I'll have another glass of wine and think about this a bit.

Catherine

[Catherine+twins]

Here's one of the pellet grills:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... a_21884530

Catherine

[GuitarPhotog]

An ongoing issue with wood fuel for fires is the transportation of bugs and diseases. In California State Parks you are not allowed to burn your own wood. "Buy it where you burn it" is their policy, and it makes a lot of sense.

As for cooked foods tasting better when cooked over wood, I think there is some placebo effect here. How would the character of the fire influence the flavor of something like a soup or stew cooked on top of a stove in a metal pan? Meat cooked over an open fire is something entirely different, but train galleys weren't grilling over a bed of oak coals, they were using wood to fuel wood-burning stoves that had openings in the top for pots and pans.

<Chas>

[GPW]

California has always been obsessed with issues like this .... no surprises ...

As far as wood for cooking , some may notice a difference , some may not ... All I know is when the trains switch to other cooking fuels , the food did not taste the same , or as good .... to me anyway ... JMHO ...