Must have been real hard regulating the temperature in a wood stove!
I bought several pieces of cast iron cookware around 1970 at “absolute auctions” at farms in Missouri. I could get a circa 1890 or 1900 frying pan that had been in the family for only $1. Some of them have the ring cast into the bottom so they would fit into the wood stove opening after you removed the cover plate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Soup
Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making “stone soup”, which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of garnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.
I would propose stone soup as one of the early recipes.