[The rocket stove / grill at ÖÖUK.]

The idea with the stove in Österängens Öppna Utekök (Österängen’s Open Outdoor Kitchen) is to complement a common public outdoor grill solution with a wood fired rocket stove for expanded cooking possibilities and relatively safe and cosy interaction with fire.

Food can be cooked on the stove by placing a cooking pot or pan on top of the stove pipe and feeding the fire in the stove with wood sticks through the horisontal part of the L-shaped stove pipe. The grill is used just as a regular grill by putting charcoal on top of the gravel in the concrete pipe and then grilling the food on top of the grate.

[The rocket stove pipe in ÖÖUK.]

The rocket stove is welded from mild steel piping following instructions from the “Rocket Stove Design Guide” by Approvecho Research Center, with some slight modifications to accommodate this particular context.

A stove is always a balance between optimal heat transfer, usability and cost. In this case the horisontal part of the L-shaped stovepipe is slightly longer and wider in diameter than what’s ideal for optimal combustion. However, this allows for better placement of the cooking pot on top of the stove and easier feeding of fire wood. Also the stove pipe is insulated with regular gravel, and not f.ex. vermiculite which would’ve provide better heat retention in the pipe but required a more complicated integration of the stove in the grill.

The stove is integrated with the grill through a hole drilled through the concrete piping and secured with outdoor and heat safe cement plaster and the gravel that is filled up around the stove in the concrete pipe. On top of the concrete pipe is a grill grate cut to fit from non-galvanised expanded metal. The grate and a cooking pot or pan placed on it is kept at the right distance from the top of the stove pipe by distances welded onto the stove.

[Grilling vegetarian sausages and cooking potatoes at ÖÖUK.]

In practice the stove works very well and is able to bring a pot of potatoes as seen on the photo above to the boil in around 10 minutes.