A lot of you know that I love and highly recommend the Stove-Tec Rocket Stove. It’s a highly efficient cooking stove that uses very little fuel, either wood or charcoal, but is sturdy enough to take on multiple camping trips. Reader RWM (RightWingMom) recently sent me an email detailing her experiences making a rice and beans dish on her stove. I’m going to let her words and photos tell her story. (Thanks, RWM!)
“I still need to work on my bread making skills, but until then, we’re practicing on our Rocket Stove. Here’s our latest success story. We live in a heavily wooded area, and the Rocket Stove runs solely on small tree limbs from our yard.
From the time we started our kindling, using twigs and leaves, it took thirty minutes to bring 3 cups of red beans and 8 cups of water to a full boil. 
We removed the Dutch oven from the stove and placed it in our kitchen, with the lid on, to allow the beans to soak for one or two hours. To save fuel, the beans could have been soaked overnight.
Once soaked, we transferred the beans to our 6-quart pressure cooker and added our favorite ingredients: garlic, chopped onion, sausage, garlic salt, and chili powder. We filled the pressure cooker with water, according to the manufacturer’s directions, and fired up the Rocket Stove once again.
We placed the pressure cooker inside the metal sleeve atop the Stove. It took 45 minutes for pressure to build and for the weight to begin rattling. We cooked the beans for ten minutes and were able to adjust the flame and heat by opening a vent door under the rack holding the fuel (twigs).
Warning! Please be cautious using the Rocket Stove with a pressure cooker because the heat is less regulated than on a stove top and needs to be monitored at all times!
When the beans were finished cooking, we removed the pressure cooker from the Stove and returned it to the kitchen to allow it to cool down and the pressure to dissipate. This took about ten minutes.
In the meantime, we began cooking our rice. We placed a pan filled with four cups water on top of the stove, and once it began boiling, we added the rice and covered the pan with the lid. We removed the twigs from the fuel rack, closed the side door, and allowed the rice to simmer for 15 minutes.
By the time the rice was ready, the pressure cooker had cooled down enough, and the beans were ready, too. The total cooking time was two hours.
The ability to use our pressure cooker and Rocket Stove to cook dry beans is a great relief to us. The stove uses very little fuel and is easy to operate. If you live in an area where wood for fuel is plentiful, I highly recommend this stove for having an alternate way to cook food. (No, I don’t work for the company!)
The only downside to this method is that the pots did have some soot build-up on the sides. This was easily cleaned off with some Comet and a nylon scrub brush.
I am actually interested in the Rocket Stove and was curious about how well it cooks. Now I really do want one. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, I'm impressed. Efficient fuel combined with a fuel-efficient pot. I love it! Thanks for sharing, love the pictures now I have to start researching these Rocket Stoves. I learned something new today, thank you!!!
Ciao,
L
hip pressure cooking
making pressure cooking hip, one recipe at a time!
Glad this was helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks RWM, I was considering the rocket but with your account I feel like the time has come to "get off my butt and do it". Have you tried it with charcoal ? I ahhave bags of charcoal that I would like to use first before twigs, which are abundant.
Would it be wrong to say, “KEWLLLL BEANS!!”?
I really love the idea (and practice)of cooking outdoors over a fire and have yet to try my rocket stove, though I do see its practicality when camping where you won’t want to leave a fire smoldering.
Shy III
Shy, it is a clean and efficient burn therefore puts out very little smoke. I also like the safety of the fire being contained.
I don't know if you've heard/seen this, but there's a new show on RFD-TV (the rural farm network…I get it on cable) called The Cowboy Kitchen. Their website is http://www.thecowboykitchen.com and they have great recipes, including some specifically for use in dutch ovens. They also have dutch ovens and accessories for sale on the website (I think they're Camp Chef brand). I just stumbled across the show and really enjoyed it.
Actually, if you have access to RFD-TV, you may want to take a look at some of their shows. Some are a bit boring, but I learned a lot about the type of wheat, how to combat diseases and pests on plants without using pesticides, types of cows (milk vs meat vs both), etc.
I would love to see that show but we don't currently get cable TV. The Cabela's by our house offers free Dutch oven classes once a month or so.
RE soot on the bottom of pans – Take a bar of handsoap and rub it on the bottom of your pots/pans before cooking over an open flame. The soot should wash right off without needing to scrub.
Great tip! Thanks!
If you have it you can cover the pot of the with aluminum foil then there is no clean up to the bottom.
Very informative. I think one critical piece of information missing. What does the rice and beans cost?
I ask this as it's important for people to realize how inexpensive a large amount of basic food prep costs. Along side my rice and veggies. I have 4 large bullion cube containers from Sams club; beef and chicken. Looks like 200 cubes per.
I run into a lot of people here and there and share my concerns about America and the globes financial house of cards. I advise them to stock up and explain it's not that expensive. Rice and beans may not be taste-bud heaven, but having a full belly is more important than variety.
Sierra Dave
Good advice, Dave. Bullion, herbs, and spices go a long way toward providing variety, even if the basic ingredients don't change much.
I totally agree that having a full stomach is a big part of the plan, and hunger is a wonderful seasoning. Another words being hungry makes a lot of things taste wonderful.
I'm looking for your March survival Challenge. The beans and rice for seven meals was a big hit with my kids and I'm looking forward to this months challenge, to get me out of my comfort zone, or at least rut.
I've been so immersed in my book that I am terribly tardy with the March Skill of the Month!! I'll post it right away.
okay…..what rocket stove to buy?…..the site features about four….any suggestions anybody?
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I have and use a Stove-Tec Rocket Stove on a regular basis! It is a fantastic cooker and does not need any fossil fuels or chemicals to cook! IOnce the fire, wood, and air is set correctly there is very little or no smoke! It is great for cooking anytime and would come in handy if the public utilities are shut-off for some reason! I use cast iron pots and griddles when cooking outside!
We started using our Stove-Tec Rocket Stove several years ago! They are fantastic!
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