Cookin' With Coal

Besides scoring another cookstove “Víctor” by Crawford with a gas side car and the side car I went to skips on sat, I also purchased this drop in grill.
can’t wait to try it out, one side is a little lower then the other and all the ribs are shaped like a a U so the juices run to the sides then drip into the fire.
Dana

What a fantastic find !!!! I've never seen anything like it. Please let us know how well it works.

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑

Mon. Feb. 11, 2019 8:02 pm

What a fantastic find !!!! I've never seen anything like it. Please let us know how well it works.

Paul

I will, prob will be a little while.

He has at least 3 more, I’m sure he will drop one in the mail.
Dana

Heres a few pictures of the old Pilgrim. I gave it a good cleaning to get all the fly ash and soot out of it so that I could engage the oven without smoking myself out as has happened before. Now that I have a good understanding how that stove operates it was fun making some meals on it this past week.

Due to the chimney being so short and crude (Our log camp was built in the late 20s and then expanded on by the CCC program in exchange for them being allowed to use our camp as their headquarters for the region) the draft just wasnt sufficient enough to make the coal burn hot enough by itself to cook on. WIth a little help of some oak splits, I was able to get sufficient heat to make some chow. Heres a few pics including some brownies baked in the oven, some chicken corn chowder, a breakfast scramble, and my favorite some new york strip steaks in the cast iron. Im hoping that one day this stove becomes mine personally. It will get a good polishing to remove the years of dirt. Id do it at the camp but some of the other members would likely not keep it shining to my standards lol.

Any one have tips or hints on using waffle iron? Good recipe?

Used it few years ago on Pro-pain range n didnt end well. Was edible but ugly

jedneck wrote: ↑

Sun. Feb. 17, 2019 8:18 am

Any one have tips or hints on using waffle iron? Good recipe?

Used it few years ago on Pro-pain range n didnt end well. Was edible but ugly

I have the same waffle iron you have in that photo. The first time I made waffles in it, they stuck pretty bad. What I have discovered is that I did not let the irons get hot enough. Then I brush them well with vegetable oil and then pour the batter in. The batter I use and like is actually a buttermilk pancake mix (recipe on bag to make waffles with it) from New Hope Mills in Auburn, NY. Not sure if you have access to that in PA. I use to make them from scratch but I like this mix even better than the recipe I had.

Randy

My sister gave me an antique waffle iron for Christmas. It has the recipe cast right into the lid..... if you can read German. It's missing it's lifting handle that fits on the trunnions on either side, that allow it to be flipped over without falling open. But I can make one if I ever see another one to know what it looks like.

The lid lifting ring makes me think it was meant to be used over an open round cover hole so that the fire heat gets to it directly.

I cleaned it up, but never tried it. I prefer French Toast. Plus, without the handle, it might get messing trying to flip it over. And then there's the thought of having to clean down in all those edges inside it,..... that made French toast look a lot easier.

But since then I learned about what Randy said, get the cast iron really hot first. I was amazed at how that simple detail makes such a big non-stick difference,.... even with well-seasoned cast iron.

BlackBetty06 wrote: ↑

Sat. Feb. 16, 2019 10:07 pm

Heres a few pictures of the old Pilgrim. I gave it a good cleaning to get all the fly ash and soot out of it so that I could engage the oven without smoking myself out as has happened before. Now that I have a good understanding how that stove operates it was fun making some meals on it this past week.

Due to the chimney being so short and crude (Our log camp was built in the late 20s and then expanded on by the CCC program in exchange for them being allowed to use our camp as their headquarters for the region) the draft just wasnt sufficient enough to make the coal burn hot enough by itself to cook on. WIth a little help of some oak splits, I was able to get sufficient heat to make some chow. Heres a few pics including some brownies baked in the oven, some chicken corn chowder, a breakfast scramble, and my favorite some new york strip steaks in the cast iron. Im hoping that one day this stove becomes mine personally. It will get a good polishing to remove the years of dirt. Id do it at the camp but some of the other members would likely not keep it shining to my standards lol.

Looks great BB. Looks like you made good progress getting that range working. Glad to hear you got the flues cleaned out. With wood or Bit coal, that'll have to be done more often than with anthracite.

It helps keep them clear if you always open the oven damper and MPD fully and give the range a few minutes to build up strong draft speed before shaking ash. That way, a lot of the fly ash goes up the chimney or to the chimney clean out, rather then getting dumped into the oven flues. And if your finding fly ash in the oven, that's a sure sign that you have an oven seam that is leaking.

BTW, the oven flues can be cleaned while the range is running. So no need to shut down to clean inside the range. If you want I'll post how I do that.

In your other thread down in the Antiques, stove section, .I posted some suggestions for checking to find leaks that reduce draft. Coal grates identification. Kalamazoo pilgrim

Paul

Well it’s not coal fired but it’s attached to a coal fired stove,
This is the side car I got from skipba few weeks ago bent up a new tin jacket this weekend and blasted it all, now just waiting for the nickel to go out next week, I can’t wait to clean the rest of the stove up and get it into my camp for year round use.

That'll be a nice addition to make it a four season stove.

Have the gas burner valves been pressure checked for leaks ?

paul

I have disassembled all the valves and have cleaned them, simple tapered fit grease sealed valve I need to get some new porcelain knobs, I have to wait till the black iron piping comes back from the plater befor I can actually to a leak check

When I was a kid there were still stoves with those tapered valves and it was not uncommon to have to service the valves after many years of use. I remember hearing that those tapered gas valves used a special grease that was compatible with cooking gas. Don't know if that is true or not because I never needed to rebuild any. I know the same type of tapered valves for fuel lines have a very thick grease. Thicker than any sold in autoparts stores. Don't know if it's a petroleum or synthetic based grease.

The spring/gas ram powered pellet guns use a silicon grease for the piston cup. Often it's the dielectric grease used to weatherproof auto electrical connections. Regular grease can't take the higher heat. Might be worth checking into to avoid a gas leak at the valve. When I was a kid I remember all the excitement when my Grandmother's old gas stove had a valve leak while making Thanksgiving dinner. I thought it was fascinating, but the adults didn't seem to think so.


As far as I know, no one has ever reported on using one of these gas side cars. Looking forward to reading how well it works for ya.

And remember, no pictures, no happen.

Paul

Yes the gas valve grease is a synthetic grease, I need to pick some up but as memory serves me is actually quite thin like a white lithium. When I was a gas tech I used it from time to time but I don’t have any left

Yes, "thick" was the wrong word. it was a thin layer of clear grease. I should have said very viscous grease.

The very high viscosity and sticky-ness of the fuel valve grease makes it tough to turn the valves on when the engine is cold.

Paul

Happy St. Pat's day. Corned beef cooking all day and some beverages to add to the fun!