There’s likely little that feels more timeless, visceral, and rewarding than building a fire and cooking your food. In a modern world of food-delivery apps, drive-thrus, and prepackaged plastic packets of passably palatable provender, there’s something about the direct relationship with flame and nourishment that reminds us of where we came from and, perhaps, connects us a little more tangibly to what it means to be human.
Fire cookery is often relegated to survival and “prepper” handbooks, but I contend it can and should be a more commonplace skill. I personally choose to cook over fire through the year to provide for my family in our purposely low-tech, off-grid home. I like that the fuel for our cooking can be sourced sustainably and directly from our own land as well. After all, the majority of my cooking fuel comes from wind-fallen branches and dried prunings and trimmings, rather than split cordwood. Furthermore, quite a few dishes are greatly improved by the sear and smoke of real fire cooking.
Since I’ve had a lot of practice, I’ve come up with some ideas, tips, and tricks to share with those interested in scaling their culinary skills back to Stone-Age tech. Whether you’d like to live off-grid, or
