Cooking on the Smart 120
by Unknown - 14:06 on 18 November 2013
Cooking on the Smart 120
We have cooked a wide range of dishes on, and in, the Smart 120. We are very pleased with it. But anyone installing one needs to understand that cooking has to be integrated with central heating and/or hot water production. It is not possible to use the Smart 120 just for cooking, because some heat needs to be distributed from it to a central heating or hot water circuit, otherwise it will climb over its target temperature and soon switch itself off. Klover do have "Oven" or "Forno" settings, but each of these is essentially the same as one of its output levels except that in the oven setting it will keep the same output level until it needs to switch off for safety reasons, whereas in its normal settings it will automatically reduce its output level as it approaches a target temperature (in our case a target hot water temperature, but you could have it set up to target room temperature directly).
Its cooking characteristics vary with the level of output it is set to produce. A common feature with the oven at all levels is that moisture is retained in the oven, as it would be in a Rayburn. Electric fan ovens and gas ovens tend to roast or bake things dry, because air is taken out of the oven. This can even be true of a "conventional" electric oven if it has a fan which comes on to prevent over heating. This means that for roasting or baking in the Smart 120 it is often best not to cover roasts or protect cakes when one would do this in a gas or electric oven. This make it good for baking. On the cooking plate, it is necessary to have pans with a thick flat base. We use a variety: copper, cast iron, thick stainless steel and pyrex. They are all useful. Below is a summary of its performance at different levels of output, although it is worth remembering that the Smart 120 may tend to run rather hot in our house because of the ESBE valve in our system (see earlier postings).
- Output level 1:
- Klover do not regard this as an output level suitable for cooking and, in our view it is indeed too low for cooking.
- Output level 2:
- Klover do not regard this as an output level suitable for cooking but in our view it is possible to do some gentle slow cooking in the oven. Recipes for slow oven cooking in a Rayburn are suitable for this level (but see the advice below about using cast iron items to stabilise temperature).
- Output level 3 (=Oven level 1):
- Klover do regard this as a suitable level for cooking and so do we. A kettle will boil on the boiling plate above the furnace, although this takes about half an hour from the Klover first firing up. Frying may also be initiated on the boiling ring (but it would not be suitable for searing a steak). Once a pot has boiled, simmering is possible on the rectangular plate above the oven and also very gentle frying. I have successfully cooked meals at output level 3 with up to 8 pans on the cooking plate at once (e.g. to make a variety of curries with rice). To do this successfully, it is often useful first to boil a kettle to provide boiling water for one's steaming, stewing and simmering pans, and also to fry common ingredients for several dishes together (e.g. onions for several different curries). Pans need to to be moved around to make best use of the boiling ring. I have measured the following measurements for output level 3 after the Smart 120 has reached working temperature: boiling ring 292C, oven plate 200C, between the boiling ring and oven plate 246C, at the corners 130C-170C. As for the oven, once working temperature is reached, the top of the oven reaches about 200C and the bottom about 170C. However, as Klover say in the manual, oven temperature will tend to drop when a large item, e.g. a roast or deep fruit pie is placed in the oven. At output level 3, the temperature will take a while to recover. The best way to prevent significant falls in temperature is to place a mass of (e.g.) cast iron in the oven e.g. a cast iron roasting tin, casserole, or griddle plate and heat it up before you start cooking.
- Output level 4 (=Oven level 2):
- At this level, the Smart 120 provides good heat over much of the cooking plate. In contrast with output level 3, it is possible to sear a steak on the boiling ring and it is possible to burn things if one leaves them to fry on the boiling ring without monitoring them. A kettle will boil if left for long enough on the rectangular plate above the oven, or in between that plate and the boiling ring. At this output level, 220C is soon reached at the top of the oven and about 190C at the bottom. Indeed if the Smart 120 is left running for a long time at this level, then it will reach around 250C at the top of the oven. Thus this level is suitable for fast roasting, indeed for many roasts it is appropriate to take advantage of the temperature gradient in the oven and place roasts (after an initial browning) in the middle of the oven or even low in it. Smart have an oven thermometer towards the top of the oven, but it useful to have one's own oven thermometer to measure temperatures lower down the oven.
- Output level 5 (=Oven level 3):
- This level is, if anything, rather hot for most cooking. It is good for boiling a kettle, indeed a kettle will boil not only on the boiling ring, but over much of the cooking plate. If a kettle has boiled and one wants to keep it just below boiling, then it is necessary to remove it to the extreme corners of the cooking plate. At the top of the oven, a temperature of 300C is reached after a while. Thus the oven is rather hot for most cooking except cooking a pizza or grilling.
Perhaps it is worth making a list of the utility of the Smart 120 for cooking in different seasons:
- Summer
- We set the Smart 120 so that output level 3 is the maximum level. We use the Smart 120 to heat our hot water tank in the evening and do cooking at the same time. This works well using less than 5kg of pellets a day thus about £1 (when bought in bulk). This is no more expensive, or perhaps a bit less than, our immersion heater or oil boiler and we have the bonus of cooking our evening meal. If we need to cook for more than about 1.5 hours then it is necessary to turn on one of the central heating circuits in the house to prevent the Smart 120 overheating and switching off. Often in the North of Scotland, a little bit of heat is welcome in the evening. Obviously a thermal store would be an alternative to opening heating circuits, but one would need to have a use for the heat. Our daughter has suggested a hot tub in the garden, but we are not planning to install one in the next few years because we think the government's RHI scheme would take a dim view of a hot tub.
- Early Autumn
- In the early autumn, when one first turns on the central heating, it is possible to keep output level 3 as the maximum output level.
- Autumn
- Output level 4 is appropriate for our heating system.
- Winter (temperatures down to freezing at least at night)
- Output level 5 is appropriate for our heating system, but for cooking it may be appropriate to set the maximum output level to 4 well before one intends to cook in order to limit temperatures on the cooking plate and/or in the oven.
Thus we find the Smart 120 useful for most cooking, but in the summer in particular it is helpful to have our gas hob available and a small combination oven. We find that the Smart 120's oven is suitable for most purposes. It is not wide, but it is deep. However it is not suitable for very large roasts nor for large pizzas. To make the most of the oven, we believe that a second wire shelf will be useful, and we have recently ordered one, but it has not yet been delivered. The Smart comes with one wire shelf and also a drip tray which can be used as a second shelf, but we prefer to keep the drip tray at the bottom of the oven, because we think that, if it is used as a shelf, then air circulation around the oven is reduced.
Added 20/01/14: There is a use for the drip tray higher up. This is to divide the oven in two and restrict humidity to one part of the oven, thus leaving the other part for drier cooking. Thus, when roasting something that will tend to give off water (e.g. poultry), if the roast is done at the bottom of the oven, with the drip tray on the top shelf, then roast potatoes can be cooked on the drip tray without humidity preventing them from forming a crisp skin. Another small tip is that if you want to warm cups (e.g. espresso cups), then these can be warmed on the stainless steel at the back of the hob.
Paul and I have been mainly using the Klover for heating purposes and not much cooking. We had realised that each output level meant a different oven temperature and that some sort of graph with this info could be made (and have it handy next to the Klover). Your detailed commentary will boost my confidence when I am next cooking at the Klover. [We also have a separate hob and oven powered by LPG gas which is convenient, especially this last summer when the sun propelled the underfloor heating hence no klover being fired for a while. We have a buffer tank where the water heated by the solar collectors and the Klover accumulates for our use around the house].
Thank you for that detailed analysis of cooking on a Smart 120, a really clear and useful account. With your permission, I would love to include that with the operating instructions that go out with the Smart 120. In exchange I would like to offer you a set of the hob covers that Klover are designing at the moment for the Smart 80 and 120. Unlike many companies Klover are wonderfully responsive to ideas and suggestions and, despite hob covers being largely unknown in Italy, took on board the advantages of being able to control the amount of heat being given off to the kitchen, speeding up the heating of the hotplate and the oven, pushing more heat to the water jacket etc. We are hoping that they will be in production in February and have asked that it be possible for them to be retro fitted.
I have followed your blog carefully and with enjoyment. It is a wonderful asset for us, and also for potential customers, to have an objective and considered voice speaking from the experience of living day to day with a Klover pellet cooker.
I've loved the Smart 120 since the first day I spotted it in Italy, before I even knew what it was capable of, and really enjoy the positive feedback we get from Smart 120 users.
Reply from Roger: I have emailed John Nightingale (I had his email address because he and his son were very helpful in the Autumn of 2012 and early 2013 when we were investigating the possibility of installing the Smart). I have agreed to the plan to circulate notes on cooking and have welcomed the offer of hob covers to try out. He is happy for me to give a candid report on them. He also said that I could publish his email address in this comment, so here it is:
j.nightingale@firepowerheating.co.uk
Comment by Roger:
We expect to have a grandchild soon and are planning to get a nursery guard to go around the Smart 120. It does not get as hot as a normal wood stove but is too hot to risk with a toddler.
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Roger's comment: For timing and zone control we use the pre-existing house programmer, not the Smart's programmer, but the Smart is set up to target the water temperature. In addition, we have two "room" thermostats and 19 out of 20 radiators have thermostatic valves (3 of these radiators, large ones, are turned down to a frost setting because of the Smart's direct space heating. I'll post comments on these details and other issues later.