I just bought an old Stovetop Steam Oven, manufactured by Toledo Cooker, Co. It was used on woodstoves. It has a copper reservoir, all in good condition. Patent date is 1907, but I'm guessing oven is probably a bit older than that, though maybe not by much.

As I don't have a woodstove (except for a potbellied stove which needs restoration), and I am thinking that it would not be usable on my old Chambers gas stove, my plan is to build something like a BBQ pit outdoors and have the ability to switch the grill top of the pit with a solid griddle like top, with the thought of this functioning like a wood cookstove. This way, when the weather is too hot to have the oven on indoors, I can at least bake outdoors.

Now, my first question, has anyone had any experience using one of these? I'm assuming cook time will be longer as you're cooking with steam. Also, those who have used one of these, have you ever done any roasting in it?

Any other tips, such as cleaning, would also be welcome. I have been unable to find anything about this piece on the internet.

Thank You!

-- Kim Pezza (homesteadtraders@hotmail.com), April 04, 2002

Answers

i hear those things have a tendency to...explode...from time to time. i might be confusing it w/ another type of old oven system...i'm not familiar with them. is this like a range? cause if it is, then yeah, i can tell you that from watching PBS specials with random facts that one would never think they'd use but do anyway, that those things would randomly have an explosion. (learned that watching the 1900 house). might want to look into that...but i'm sure the problem could be fixed (if there was one).

-- C (punk_chicadee@yahoo.com), April 04, 2002.

I used to have a stove top oven (not steam though) that I used on my wood stove. It worked quite well except you had to watch it closely to keep the heat even. Rather a lot of work, actually. It fell off the trailer while I was moving or I would still have it. I should think it would work even better with a gas stove because you wouldn't have to keep adjusting the heat. kim

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), April 06, 2002.