Open fire barbeque is having its moment. Cooking on an open fire – that is, cooking in the open air with wood logs or 100% hardwood charcoal – is the bbq version of circus performers doing the high-wire without a safety net. The line between bliss and complete failure is razor-thin. And for those ready to veer away from those rust-collecting Webers and ubiquitous charcoal briquette grills, this summer is the perfect time to start.
Why the summer of 2022? Because it’s fun to get your hands dirty, obviously. To be more specific, the primitive art of cooking your food without gas or electricity is a ritual that eschews convenience. Turn off the phones, the timers, and the open-to-the-recipe iPad. For BBQ lovers, precise temperatures, expensive cooking equipment, paint-by-number recipes, soulless wood pellets and Bluetooth meat thermometers are often the norm. And sure, they have their place, but open-fire cooking shifts focus away from pre-programmed formulas and encourages innovation and experimentation.
We’ve spent two-plus years indoors. This summer, it’s time to get outside and play with fire this summer!
The Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix uniquely captures the spirit of cooking with fire. Check the trailer below for some visual inspiration:
If you’re ready to venture into these rough and tricky waters, I’ve laid out everything you need to get started, below. I began using these methods years ago, well before quarantines and restrictions, and have leaned into them the past several seasons — creating food experiences and long-lunches for my pop-up – Open Fire Co – in both Australia and New Orleans.
The boss is the fire. After years of cooking over an open flame, I’ve come to understand it is the fire that decides when food is finished, when it needs a little longer, and when it desires a blood sacrifice. In traditional BBQ in the US, the person looking after the fire is a position low on the ladder of the staff. “Pit B*tch” is the colloquial term often associated with it. On my crew, the fire manager is the most experienced of us in curating the balance between heat, flame, smoke, and source. This individual is communicating all day with the fire. Since there is no backup plan, the fire must be tended to with diligence and respect. For getting started, you likely won’t be doing big open-air fires. The best way to start is either with a small campfire or a charcoal grill (parrilla) that can contain your coals.
I like to use dried hardwood more than lump hardwood charcoal, just as personal preference. The best practice for wood logs is to build a separate “mother” fire. This is a campfire that will burn down the logs until they are hot enough for you to use them to cook. When they’re black and roughly 50%+ red with coal and ash you transfer them into your cooking fire. Conversely, if a log in your cooking fire is in danger of going out, returning it to the mother fire for several minutes can reignite it.
The goal of your cooking fire – whether on the ground, on an iron plate or in a parrilla – is to have fairly even, long-lasting heat. If it’s consistent throughout, you can move your food closer or further away depending on how long you need to cook it without hyper-focusing on the exact temperature. The weather can vary significantly from one day to the next, so I try not to over-analyze it. If you’re cooking in the summer in Louisiana, as I sometimes do, the 100+ heat will help you cook the food. In the winter, the cold air will fight you.
The general rule is if you can hold your hand over the flame for 5 seconds, that’s medium heat.
Folks often ask what is my preferred wood. After all, in closed chambered barbeque, the wood imparts considerable flavor to the end product. I usually go with pecan, living in the South. In open-air cooking, my answer is a bit different. I’m after the driest, reasonably dense wood I can get. It could be hickory, oak, or pecan. In Australia, I used red gum, ironbark, or even dry stringybark on occasion. I just want it dry enough that it can stay smoky for hours on end. This is because the flavor I’m after is the campfire-like smoke itself, not the wood. There’s nothing worse than having even slightly wet wood go out time after time when it gets spread out.
All to say, there is no need to break the bank when you’re just getting started. The kiln-dried wood at your hardware store should suffice as you get your bearings. On a big hanging BBQ event day, I use 160 kilos but you can use as little as 2-3kg if just cooking a couple of steaks for the family.
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I started out with one of those suburban backyard firepits that you see at Lowe’s and a couple of replacement Weber cast iron grill racks that I set up on bricks (although they have sleeker ones now). This, combined with your regular arsenal of grill gear (tongs, fire gloves, etc) is more than enough to get you started. There are options to go fancier (like a half oil drum). If you want to campfire cook and hang food above the fire, get star pickets from the hardware store and some garden hooks to build a trapeze above your campfire. Here are some other unexpected things I’ve found useful.
The best part of fire cooking is experimentation, so I’m not going to overload you but there are a couple of classics to get you started.
Chicken over the fire is a treasure and perhaps one the items that’s as good the next day as it is day of. All that smoky goodness just shines.
These bell pepper egg “boats” are a common sight at Argentine parrilladas. My BBQ partner Santi is from Mercedes, Argentina and takes special care to select four bulb capsicums so they lay evenly when cut in half.
*this recipe appears in one of my cookbooks: the World Sauces Cookbooks, as does a recipe for chimichurri.
Out of all of the variety of foods that one can smoke above a fire, nothing takes the smoke quite like lamb. This is one of the stalwarts of my fire-based cuisine. The most important part is ordering meat. A good butcher makes all the difference in sourcing and quality, which is essential for something as delicate as fire cooking.
In New Orleans, my butcher is Piece of Meat. I usually ask for a whole leg – meaning the chump (rump) and shank on. I also request for them to not touch the shank or knuckle (including the tendon) so there’s a natural loop from where to hang a S-hook. As well, I make sure they leave ALL the fat on, this is important as many butchers in the US will trim the fat (I sometimes get a chuckle from Leigh Ann at PoM because it means she doesn’t have to do much).
NOTE: what you’re looking for is #4800 on this chart.
One reason this is a great recipe to begin learning is the rump, fat and bone will protect the rest of the leg from burning. So even if you char or overcook it, the rest of the leg will still be perfect. And you’ll find some folks love that crispy burned part (or use it to make a banging stock). When the leg is finished you’ll have a range from cooked to rare, something smoky for everyone.
*Another method is to truss the leg and hang it for a while knuckle down. It’s not my preference but can have the advantage of a more even cook.
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When cooking with open flames, you don’t have the guardrails often associated or assumed with barbeque. Your normal store-bought charcoal briquettes are chemically pressed to be uniform. Wood or lump hardwood charcoal is not uniform. Split wood especially can spark and send burning pieces into the surrounding area with even a small gust of wind. One should always take – at a minimum – the safety protocols associated with an open campfire. In the days leading up to an event for Open Fire Co, we always check the weather conditions.
Here are some other tips to keep you and your environment safe.
Remember, there is no food worth cooking in dangerous conditions. If you are not completely comfortable with suppressing your fire, you should wait or work with someone who is.
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Up until now, many who are keen on open-fire cooking most certainly can trace their interest back to that Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table. He is the North Star of Argentine-style open-fire cooking. His new book is veggie and vegan-focused and offers some great insight. Here are some more folks to keep an eye on: