Rocket Stove

          Since there are times when the sun doesn’t shine and since there are times when I want to make a dish for the sun oven that requires browning meat or something first, I asked my husband to make a rocket stove.  A rocket stove uses a small amount of fuel, wood, that can even be sticks or other trimmings from your yard.  We live in a National Forest area with lots of downed wood available so it seemed like a good fit for us.  

          There are a lot of rocket stove plans and instructions out there on the internet but most are confusing so my husband just took a general look at them and built his own.  Many call for the use of #10 cans and smaller fruit and vegetable cans but these are only good for a few uses.  Some people build larger ones and encase them in clay for both heating and baking.  We decided to go with a 5 gallon metal can and 3” used metal stove piping.  My husband feels that 4" would be better.  He also put a used stove grate on top and even painted it.  It looks good, but even better, it cooks fine. 

          The first time we tried it out the fire was too hot and I had bacon and eggs in about 2 minutes.  Since then we’ve learned a few tricks. 

Trick #1: have all ingredients ready and at your side.

Trick #2: learn how to manage the fire by pushing and pulling the wood in and out

Trick #3: use cast iron and be prepared to clean the soot off the bottom.  It will be a mess.

          For the 4^th of July we cooked Sloppy Joes.  Food takes on that campfire taste because of floating ashes etc.  Be prepared for that.  It is easier to cook on than an open campfire, takes less wood, is cooler, and since we set it on a stump, is easier on the back.  When I cook on the open campfire I have to bend over a lot more, get more smoke in my face and use a lot more wood.  The rocket stove is far nicer.

          Since it was so hot here on the 4^th, I appreciated not having to heat up the RV by cooking inside it.  I do consider the Rocket Stove and the Camp Ring to be mostly for emergencies although I am using them a lot this summer because of the heat and wanting to be comfortable cooking with them.  In a real crisis it would be too stressful to be learning to cook with a new and difficult method on top of everything else.  Our visitors, including some grandsons, really loved the way we were cooking.  It kept everyone entertained!  Bon a’ petit!