Is anyone cooking on a woodstove using a pot/pan made of a non-metallic material?
I'm trying to prep against the possibility of, say, the military collecting all my loose metal for a war effort, leaving me with no way to cook food. Based on what I'm reading, it seems most modern ceramic baking pans can go straight into a hot oven without exploding, even a lot of the old glass ones will be fine (hot to cold is another matter entirely), but I am not really finding any information about setting a room-temperature pot of water, directly on to a hot burner.
It occurred to me that I might be able to use a Pyrex pot, by putting an insulated wire support on top of the burner first, maybe a couple of cm high, just to hold the pot off the surface, until it was warm enough to set directly on the hot surface. But I would prefer to have pots/pans made from material that is stout enough to be placed directly on the pre-heated surface.
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Available used at most thrift stores. We had a set for years. Could not kill it. Now in use at friends hunting cabin.
I have a bunch of that as well, works fine on my electric stove, but I've never placed them on a burner that's already glowing. Are you placing your cool pots directly onto your hot wood burner?
The impression I'm getting from the interwebs, is that they have to go onto a cool burner, and then the burner turned on, so that the two components heat up together.
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Earlier this winter, our slow cooker's heating element quit before it even started to heat. I just took the inside stoneware with lid and set it on the top of the woodstove. It worked flawlessley! Stoneware or Corning ware works great, but I'd advise not to put a cold pot onto a hot surface. Put the pot on the floor or someplace close to the stove where it will warm up gently. I wouldn't want to have the pot split and loose the pot but also the food!
Splitting is my concern as well. Hadn't thought about a slow-cooker's inner pot, I'll have to scrounge garage sales for one this summer. The slow heat buildup makes sense to me, but if I can find a material that can withstand the temperature shock, the convenience of it is appealing.
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Visions is completely different material than pyrex or slowcooker pot.
Thanks to Calexium's extremely high thermal shock resistance, food can be stored in the freezer in a piece of Visions and immediately taken to the stovetop or oven for cooking.
Ah, thanks - I just used "Pyrex" and "Visions" interchangeably, thought it was all the same stuff.
It looks like the confusion lies in the fact that Pyrex was/is marketted as "Visions":
Pyrex, a brand name for break-resistant glass bakeware, has offered complimentary Amber (Fireside) and Cranberry tinted lines to match Visions colorways in the past. Care must be made to distinguish between Visions and bakeware marketed under the Pyrex brand name, as the thermal properties of each product are quite different.
Plus, it doesn't help that most Visions pots were sent with Pyrex-stamped lids.
So, having waded through a lot of internet, if I understand correctly, all Visions stovetop pots & pans are made of Calexium, early versions have lids made of the same, but most came with Pyrex lids. The bakeware that goes in the oven is a different story altogether, with the whole PYREX/pyrex borosilicate/soda-lime Corning/World-Kitchen debacle to sort through. I seem to recall reading that "Visions" pots/pans made in France (cast in handle) were all of the highest quality material, but I cannot find the webpage that corroborates that memory. Worth looking for that stamp, in your garage sale searches, I guess.
Just posting this info for anyone on the net who is making this journey as well, ended up here. Hopefully the information is accurate.
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To bad you don't live closer to me, or you could have that pot. My heritage is Scotch, so didn't have the heart to toss it out.1
My DH wanted me to add this. If you have an Electronics recycler depot nearby, give them a call. They might just have what you want, as they can't use the crockery pot. Could just get it for nothing, except for the gas to go there.
I posed the question directly to Corningware:
"Can I place a room-temperature pot of water onto the hot burner of a wood stove?”
They answered:
"Although the Visions pot would be able to handle the temperature difference, it will probably discolor with soot.”
So there we have it, just like scrounger said.
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Danux,
For your own piece of mind it was a good call contacting the company. I like the slowcooker idea Kootenay.
Went to thrift store at lunch today.
Found a cranberry 1l pot marked made in USA. Lid was marked Pyrex.
Next was an amber 1.5l pot. Marked made in France. Lid not marked Pyrex. So Calexium?
LOL. I couldn't say for sure, but that would be my guess. I think I am less concerned about the lids, as they generally, don't sit directly on the heat source. So a much, much lower chance of thermal shock cracking them.
I think all of the Cranberry stuff is made in the U.S.A.
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Heard back from Lagonstina, recently. They have a couple of "clay" pots for sale at Canadian Tire, they have informed me that they are suitable to be placed on a hot wood stove surface without succumbing to thermal shock, as well.
http://www.lagostina.ca/html/productDetail.asp?idpro=531
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Good to know, Danux, thanks.
