page_title: Russian stove
section_title: Uses
hierarchical_section_title: Russian stove / Uses
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Изба. 1803English: Isba, Etched by the Artist, Published 1803
context_page_description: A Russian stove 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 stove burns firewood or wood manufacturing waste.
context_section_description: Besides its use for domestic heating, in winter people may sleep on top of the stove to keep warm: the large thermal mass (a proper Russian stove weighs about 2 tons) and layered design (in many variants the hot flue is separated from the outer brick shell with a layer of sand or pebbles) ensure that the outer surface of the stove is safe to touch. The stove was and is used  until today for cooking and had a strong influence on the taste of Russian cuisine. Dishes where the stove is used are pancakes to bake or pies. The porridge or the pancakes prepared in such an stove may differ in taste from the same meal prepared on a modern stove or range.  The process of cooking in the Russian stove 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 stove include baked milk, pastila candies, mushrooms cooked in sour cream, or even a simple potato.  Bread is put in and taken out from the stove using a special wooden paddle on a long shank. Cast iron pots with soup or milk are taken out with uhvat, a two-pronged metal stick.
  As well as warming and cooking, the Russian stove can be used for washing. A grown man can easily fit inside, and during World War II some people escaped the Nazis by hiding in stoves.  In former times the stove was used to treat winter diseases by warming the sick person's body inside it.
caption: Usage of the Russian stove etched by John Augustus Atkinson (1803)
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