This is the next in my series of oven-related reflections. I’m coming to understand how different a mud oven is from a microwave oven. The latter heats just the item you want. Usually this is a small item, its heated quickly (seconds or minutes) and the oven is cold afterward. Kiko Denzer writes about super-insulated ovens, I’m learning to bank coals to one side behind a wall of pre-heated fire brick. Each strategy keeps the oven warm longer.
Last weekend we came into a bounty of salmon, a result of the Palouse Prairie School celebration . We had friends coming over, a former miller, and I decided to make bread. And a casserole with the salmon, and why not a fruit crumble. Things got further out of hand when I decided to smoke some of the salmon (I mean, I’m around, doing chores, tending fires, why not run the smoker at the same time?) My smoking does not get the meat very warm, so I’ve usually finished in the oven on low. Then my wife remembered one of our guest’s food allergies and decided to make a second fruit crumble.
So, oven is 550F by 4PM, bread goes in. Bread out in 20 min, spuds, casserole and first crumble in at 5:40. Trade for second crumble while we eat. After cleaning kitchen, fish into 250F oven till bedtime. Oven still 250F an hour later when fish comes out and still 150F the next morning. Kiko has posted a nice summary reflection on his firing experiences, importantly, he describes the value of drying his wood in the last heat of the oven
In the traditional potluck, guests cook at their house and bring finished dish to the party. What about bringing raw food and baking it? Guests could bring more food than would be eaten and take home leftovers. Some items could be baked during/after dinner and taken home whole. If we understood what to do in a 200+ oven overnight, the host could put something (roast?) in at bedtime.
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