What can you cook on a rocket stove?

My wife and I have been doing the SEPPer thing at Allerton Abbey, and among other things, experimenting with cooking on the rocket stove there.

Here's a sample of what we've done so far:
The first attempt at burgers ended up charred, but the dogs didn't mind, and we brought plenty...
(Tomorrow I'll be trying marinara sauce for spaghetti (squash - for the gluten-free crowd) from scratch)

I didn't know before, but I apparently could have gotten a few badge bits for the things I was doing in the meal prep, etc.

I cleaned out the ashes yesterday and spread them on the hugel mounds, but I didn't know, so I didn't take pictures of the before shots, or label them... AND there's a badge bit for cooking something on a rocket stove, which we've been doing all week!

I'll try to better document my rituals in the rocket stove/food prep today, so I can get credit for the things that I'm going to do - anyway...

To that end, here's the start of the day, cleaning out the ashes (I'll hold off scattering them until the sun is up, to better photograph the scattering). I'll also show the starting of the fire.

My "stove" is just the barrel on a regular ol RMH, but I use it for everything that requires heat. I use an induction burner or propane camp stove when I am not running the heater. It is sort of a relief now that heating season is starting and I get free cooking, as the induction burner I use my solar power with does a rather poor job of cooking. The barrel offers a large surface for many items and ways to vary the heat delivery through implement or grill placement. I'm currently on the hunt to scavenge one of those old Weber grill covers as they are the same diameter as a standard barrel (23") and I'd like to play with an impromptu oven option...

The beginning of breakfast -
Step 1:  To build a fire (in the rocket stove) & take pictures before, during, and after...
Step 2:  Show picture of initial food ingredients before cooking
Step 3:  Show cooking in progress...
Step 4:  Show picture of food after having been cooked.
Step 5:  Eat! 😊 (No photo required, as actually eating food isn't part of the BB)

For expediency sake, I won't bother to show cooking my whole meal, because it's impractical to take photos and cook at the same time...

I also need the stove to cool off, so I don't burn my eggs, and I have to figure out how to do a long slow simmer on this batch stove, for the spaghetti sauce later...

When I want to simmer something on the wood fire, I set the pan on a stove ring. The one I'm using is the base of a stainless colander that fell off (poor quality spot welds) and it provides about a 2 cm gap. I can also move the pan to a corner where the surface isn't radiating as much heat...does the "left" side of that cooktop qualify?

For a really long cook time, I am needing to do a combination of things - like moving the pot closer to the hot spot as the fire wanes, or moving it onto the edge of the stove right after adding more wood... I'm away from home here, so I have to use what I have on hand.

The last morning

Since this is not intended for a badge bit, I've reverted to my favorite non-stick skillet (ceramic coated something, but I love it!)

Phil Stevens wrote:When I want to simmer something on the wood fire, I set the pan on a stove ring. The one I'm using is the base of a stainless colander that fell off (poor quality spot welds) and it provides about a 2 cm gap. I can also move the pan to a corner where the surface isn't radiating as much heat...does the "left" side of that cooktop qualify?

As it turned out, they seem to have something like that at Allerton Abbey, but we didn't know about it until we were cleaning up to depart. There's a big pile of dishes, pots, and even utensils piled up behind the stove. There's even what looks like a wok. Live and learn?