This video is part demonstration and part experiment. I enjoy using cast iron pans over the fire. Cast iron pans are one of the classic ways of cooking outdoors. These pans are typically used over coals, which produce a lot of heat. I wanted to experiment and determine if 10-inch cast iron pans can be used on wood gas stoves. The obvious advantage is that a wood gas stove requires much less fuel than a regular campfire and the fire is virtually smokeless. This means that it is possible do a lot of cooking using a small amount of fuel. If you are living in a space constrained area, and it’s often not possible to store big stacks of firewood in case of an emergency. Under these circumstances, a wood gas stove might be a possible option. Wood gas stoves work even when there is no electrical power, such as after a big storm. Additionally, the wood gas stove is kind of stealthy because it is small and virtually smokeless, contained, and has virtually no visible flame. These characteristics can be advantageous.
One of the problems I encountered when using 10-inch cast iron pans was that under certain conditions, the stoves didn’t seem to produce enough heat to cook efficiently. Cast iron pans are usually made of thick metal, which allows the heat to evenly diffuse across the bottom of the pan. However, this thick metal requires more heat than thin metal pans.
Under certain conditions, more heat is required to cook efficiently. These conditions include when it is windy outside, when the weather is freezing cold, or when the 10-inch cast iron pan is full of water. The more liquid volume in the pan, the more heat is required for cooking.
The idea was to run a test and see if I could get a rolling boil in a 10-inch diameter pan filled with water. Both the water and the cast iron absorb a lot of heat. I set up some bricks and used two disposable aluminum tray windscreens to help increase efficiency. The idea is that the windscreens will keep the wind from blowing the flame out from underneath the pot. The windscreens will also funnel the hot air and exhaust from the burning fire(s) up and around the sides of the pan, achieving increased heat transfer efficiency. Additionally, there will be some reflected heat from the aluminum. The bricks catch the burning wood pellet embers.
I tried this arrangement with first one stove, and then with two stoves set up in a tandem arrangement. This means two stoves are used to heat one pan. When using two stoves, the idea is to double the amount of heat hitting the pan, thereby increasing heat transfer to the pan. Now I have two flames heating up one pan, which should allow the full pan of water to heat up faster. In theory, if a stove can heat up a full pan of water, it can also heat up a full pan of food or sauce.
Once the pans of water are boiling, I looked for hot spots in the pan. Although both pans produced a rolling boil, both pans also had obvious hot and cool spots. The cast iron provided a certain amount of even heat transfer, but there were still some hots spots in the pan. If you are cooking food, it might be important to often stir the food, so that all the food gets the same amount of heat. This avoids the problem of having some burned food and some undercooked food in the same pan.
I wear welding gloves when I use wood gas stoves, in order to protect my hands. I am also careful not to spill the hot contents of a pan. An additional safety measure is to make sure that nothing underneath or around the wood gas stove can catch fire when the stove is burning. Use lots of common sense when using these stoves and take adequate safety precautions. Bigger pans can tip off of the stove easier than small pans, so be careful. Set up the stove on a level surface, like rock or sand or dirt, which cannot catch on fire. When in use, the bricks got hot enough to kill the grass underneath, leaving a bare patch on the lawn.
The conclusion of this experiment is that a 10-inch cast iron pan does work on a wood gas stove, even when fully filled with water. The pan heats up quite quickly. Using a windscreen increases the efficiency of the stove, allowing the heat to be quickly transferred from the flame to the metal of the pot, and ultimately to the food in the pan. A wind screen speeds up cooking times. Two stoves produce more heat than one stove. If you need a lot of heat, using two stoves might be the solution. In both cases, there are some obvious hot spots in the pan, which means the food might need to be stirred often in order to ensure that the entire pan of food is cooked evenly.
I hope you find this experiment useful.
Enjoy your outdoor cooking, stay safe and Have A Great Day!
