Russian oven

A Russian oven or Russian stove (Russian: Русская печь) is a unique type of masonry stove that first appeared in the 15th century. It is used both for cooking and domestic heating in traditional Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian households. The Russian oven burns firewood or wood manufacturing waste.

A Russian oven is designed to retain heat for long periods of time. This is achieved by channeling the smoke and hot air produced by combustion through a complex labyrinth of passages, warming the bricks from which the oven is constructed.

A brick flue (Russian: борова) in the attic, sometimes with a chamber for smoking food, is required to slow down the cooling of the oven.

The Russian oven is usually in the centre of the log hut (izba). The builders of Russian ovens are referred to as "stovemakers" (pechniki). Good stovemakers always had a high status among the population. A badly built Russian oven may be very difficult to repair, bake unevenly, smoke, or retain heat poorly.

There are many designs for the Russian oven. For example, there is a variant with two hearths (one of the hearths is used mainly for fast cooking, the other mainly for heating in winter).

Various types of firewood can be used, for example birch or pine. Aspen is the least efficient for heating a Russian oven because the amount needed is twice that of other woods.

Besides its use for domestic heating, in winter people may sleep on top of the oven to keep warm. The oven is also used for cooking, for example, to bake pancakes or pies. The porridge or the pancakes prepared in such an oven may differ in taste from the same meal prepared on a modern stove or range. The process of cooking in the Russian oven can be called "languor" — holding dishes for a long period of time at a steady temperature. Foods that are believed to acquire a distinctive character from being prepared in a Russian oven include baked milk, pastila candies, mushrooms cooked in sour cream, or even a simple potato. Bread is put in and taken out from the oven using a special wooden paddle on a long shank. Cast iron pots with soup or milk are taken out with a two-pronged metal stick.

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Wikipedia