For some years now I have pledged my heart to energy-efficient cooking with the slow cooker, but now my interest has also been aroused by the Eco stove. Who of you already knows this stew and has cooked with it before? I recently made a number of dishes in the Eco stove and I would like to tell you more about the use of the substance and the way of cooking.
Table of Contents
A while ago I received the Eco stove, together with the accompanying cookbook 'Slowly Tasty'. Stubborn as I am, I first made my own dish in the Ecostew before I started working with the recipe book.
Slow cooking was not invented by our generation. In fact, it's finally coming back. Almost gone. We are slowly beginning to realize that ready-made or just very-quick-ready are not the healthiest options. And certainly not the tastiest, if you ask me. In the past, people took much more time to prepare their food. To be fair, they also had a bit more time for it! But nowadays there are still plenty of options to prepare your food slowly. And now a very sustainable option has been added:the Eco stove.
Want to learn how to cook? Check the cooking course by the Cooking University for more information .
You buy the Eco stove here
You can actually compare the Ecostove with the hay box from the past, which, filled with straw, ensured further stewing of the food. Now there is a more modern variant for the enthusiast. No need for straw and also no duvet to make rice pudding - as my parents used to do for example.
The Eco stove is made of linen and filled with sheep's wool, which makes this stove extra insulating. At the bottom is a cork 'shelf' so that your pan simply remains upright and yet is also insulated at the bottom.
You can open the oven completely to put the pan in it. Then you close the stove by placing the 'valve' on top of your pan and closing it with the cord all around. And then you have to 'wait' for your food to be cooked!
There is no arguing about this. The stew may be a green alternative to the slow cooker, but I think it is a bit more difficult to cook. It is a bit of a search for the right way of preparing your dishes. The possibilities are endless. From meat and fish to vegetables, and from pasta to stews. You can even prepare yogurt in it. Do you find pasta sauce or stew even better the second day? You can already achieve that with just one afternoon of simmering in the Eco Stove. And you don't even have to wait that long. Vegetables are ready in 1 hour, and your stew is on the table after 3 hours.
You start by preparing your food on the fire. When your food is warm enough, put the pan in the Eco-stove and let your mash continue to cook in the stove. Below you will find a table for how long you should cook and approximately how long your food should be in the oven:
Type of food Cooking minutes Stew for minutes Stew10180-360Fish530-60Vegetables130-60White rice330-45Potatoes130-45What I especially had to get used to is that you cannot use the Eco stove all day for your food and then immediately be able to eat it at the table. Your food will be cooked, but if you leave it in the Eco stove for hours, you will still suffer from heat loss and (depending on your dish) you may have to warm your food through before you can serve it .
That is a big difference with the slow cooker, since it keeps your food warm with the keep warm setting. It is therefore not an option to put your food on the Eco stove in the morning before you start working and then be able to eat it straight away at the end of the day.
I assess the 'advantages and disadvantages' that I see compared to slow cooking with a crockpot because both devices have the same purpose, namely to stew and cook your food while you no longer have to be there yourself.
The Ecostew is for sale on Ecostew.nl and costs €89.00. You can order the slow delicious cookbook for € 24.50.
