Be they cast iron stoves, steel wood heating stoves, fireplace
inserts with a cooking surface, or old fashioned wood cooking ranges,
all will generate intense heat on the cooking surface. A cast iron
pot or pan placed directly on the surface of the stove may well
produce enough heat to burn the contents intended for consumption
-- really bad news.
Trivets were the traditional answer. They elevated the pot or pan above
the cooking surface, so air could circulate and thus lower the temperature
of the pot or pan to more manageable levels, as in simmering a stew.
But trivets are non adjustable, generally small, and now quite expensive.
The alternative answer is to use pieces of steel expanded metal, cut
to whatever size you desire. The expanded metal itself is usually available
for free from the scrap yards of metal dealers, in odd shaped pieces
left over from various projects. I cut mine circular, using either a
hack saw (the hard way) or a metal cutting blade in a jig saw, then
deburr with a grinder.
The size depends upon the alternate use: I cut them
to fit inside stock pots, so they will elevate a pot above the bottom,
allow water to circulate, and thus make a stock pot into a giant double
boiler. When not used in the stock pot, they are can be used on top of a
wood or kerosene heater just like a trivet. And the expanded metal
offers the additional benefit of adjustability -- you can stack up two
or three pieces to more finely regulate the heat on the pot or pan
sitting on them.
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