I like how the top of my rocket stove looked when I first lit it. It’s rusted over now but at first it turned a nice shade of blue. I think that means it got up to about 550 degrees F. I think that’s in the range of what an indoor electric range would do.
Do you cook right on the top like a griddle?
Hey, RedT. I thought about it briefly when I had the griddle top polished, but it rusted over pretty much immediately and it looks cool like that. I like how in the desert the rust can be a pretty low-maintenance finish, so I’ve been using pots and a skillet when I cook on it instead of directly cooking on top. The original idea with that griddle top was for 1) spark suppression and 2) so that my regular pots from inside wouldn’t get soot-blackened from being exposed to the flame. If you wanted to cook directly on the griddle, you’d probably have to keep it under a patio and go over it with the kind of scrubber I use for an iron skillet. I’ve been using something like this scrubber to clean my iron skillets for years now and I bet it would work great for a griddle top on an Entertainment Furnace Brand rocket stove like mine.