Roasting in Ashes and Coals: Tips for Open-Fire Cooking

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Serve roasted acorn squash halves with abundant garlic slivers fried in olive oil, chunks of goat cheese, chopped cilantro, and a sprinkle of salt.
Serve roasted acorn squash halves with abundant garlic slivers fried in olive oil, chunks of goat cheese, chopped cilantro, and a sprinkle of salt.
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For best results with ash-roasted vegetables, choose foods that have a sacrificial outer layer, since the outside will scorch.
For best results with ash-roasted vegetables, choose foods that have a sacrificial outer layer, since the outside will scorch.
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“Cooking with Fire” by Paula Marcoux combines personal experience, historical context and literary references to illustrate the possibilities of cooking outside the pan. From roasting on a spit to baking in a Tannur, these rediscovered techniques and recipes aim to capture the flavors of wood-fired cooking.
“Cooking with Fire” by Paula Marcoux combines personal experience, historical context and literary references to illustrate the possibilities of cooking outside the pan. From roasting on a spit to baking in a Tannur, these rediscovered techniques and recipes aim to capture the flavors of wood-fired cooking.

The rediscovered techniques of open-fire cooking offer distinctive flavors and a unique culinary experience. Knowing which foods are most easily adapted to cooking in ashes and coals can be the key to successful hearth cooking. From ancient roasted egg recipes to techniques for avoiding exploding chestnuts, Cooking with Fire by Paula Marcoux (Storey Publishing, 2014) offers background and best practices of wood-fired cooking. The following excerpt is from Chapter 1, “A Fire and a Stick.”

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Cooking With Fire.

Roasting in Ashes and Coals 

What can you roast by a fire using no utensils whatsoever? Most ingredients I’ve had success with in this mode exhibit a few common characteristics. Self contained, high-density items with moderate internal moisture (sweet potatoes, butternut squash) do well, because cooking by this method is low and slow and steady. It’s also good if the foods come equipped with a sacrificial layer that can be stripped away before eating (plantains, corn, garlic) since the cooking is done right down in the ashes, and some exterior charring and ash adhesion come with the territory.

  • Published on Mar 23, 2015
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