Cooking with Fire: From Roasting on a Spit to Baking in a Tannur, Rediscovered Techniques and Recipes That Capture the Flavors of Wood-Fired Cooking

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Dead wood is ideal, and if on the beach, driftwood is perfect too, having been salt dried over long periods of time. It had to be a premium, wood-fired oven that didn’t cost the earth, wasn’t too big and that could get you cooking in a short amount of time.

If you’re cooking with charcoal, start a fire first, then add a small amount of charcoal and let it ignite. On Easter Sunday morning, in the small town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes in central Guatemala, Elbia Pérez and her sister, daughters, and 18-month-old grandson are crowded around their kitchen table. It is delicious on so many things, from fried eggs, to sliced tomatoes and avocadoes and any cooked or roasted vegetable. There is an unbeatable satisfaction to be gained from cooking over fire in the wild, or even closer to home. This course explores some of the many cooking techniques available to us when cooking with flames and coals.

It’s important to choose a fuel that is appropriate for your cooking method and the type of food you are preparing.

Everyone notices the smoke, but it’s a familiar annoyance—and compared with the daily challenge of affording food and fuel, it’s a minor one. Likewise, you can skewer apples and roast them on sticks for a tasty treat — though being patient enough to eat them without burning one’s tongue is a skill I still haven’t perfected. I’ve found that the searing heat possible with a cast-iron skillet and a direct flame makes for amazing naan and pita.

I’m not one of these chef’s who’s going to show you all of these secret or unobtainable things that you can’t replicate at home.