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
Ebook
Overview
Revel in the fun of cooking with live fire. This hot collection from food historian and archaeologist Paula Marcoux includes more than 100 fire-cooked recipes that range from cheese on a stick to roasted rabbit and naan bread. Marcoux’s straightforward instructions and inspired musings on cooking with fire are paired with mouthwatering photographs that will have you building primitive bread ovens and turning pork on a homemade spit. Gather all your friends around a fire and start the feast.
Chapter 1 A Fire and a Stick
Back to Basics – Getting Started: Roasting on a Stick – Toasting Cheese – Roasting in Ashes and Coals – Baking Bread under the Ashes
Chapter 2 A Few Simple Tools
Spit Roasting – How to Make an Efficient and Pleasant Roasting Hearth – The Spit – Roast on a String – Cooking on Skewers – The Grill – The Schwenker – The Plank – Searing with a Hot Iron
Chapter 3 Pots and Pans
The Griddle in All Its Guises – Cakes on the Griddle – Tortillas -- Griddled Breads of Northwestern Europe – British Griddle Breads – Other Things to Cook on the Griddle – The Griddle on Steroids: The Argentine Infiernillo – Pots over Fire – The Clay Pot – Iron Pots and Pans – Shallow Frying – Deep Frying – Baking Bread in a Cast-Iron Pot
Chapter 4 More Gear
The Tannur, the Furnace, and the Potager – The Cast-Iron Cookstove – Smoke – Barbeque, Two Ways
Chapter 5 Retained Heat
Underground Inspiration from around the World – The Earth Oven: Cooking in a Hole in the Ground – The Masonry Oven – Building a Basic Wood-Fired Oven – Getting Ready to Bake – Heating an Oven – Cooking with an Oven Full of Fire – Getting Ready for Pizza – Using Retained Heat – The Cooling Curve – Bread for the Wood-Fired Oven – Natural Leavening for Your Wood-Fired Bread – Natural Leavening Q & A – Overnight Cooking Traditions – Overnight in a New England Brick Oven
Resources, References, and Details
Acknowledgements
Index
“No grill? No problem. Marcoux, a food historian, takes us back to paleo times with this outstanding book about cooking over a campground-style wood fire.”
“Paula Marcoux is a connoisseur of fire. She knows how to build one and how to find its sweet spot, and has deep respect for our culinary ancestors, early humans who first took to flame. Her new cookbook, “Cooking with Fire,” is a refreshing departure from the pile of grilling cookbooks on the market.”
- Title: 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
- Author: Paula Marcoux
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 320
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781603429122, 9781612121581, 1612121586, 1603429123
- Resource ID: LLS:9781603429122
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T07:18:47Z
Paula Marcoux is a food historian who lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts; she has worked professionally as an archaeologist, cook, and bread-oven builder. She is the food editor of Edible South Shore magazine, writes on food history topics for popular and academic audiences, and consults with museums, film producers, and publishers. She also gives regular workshops on natural leavening, historic baking, and wood-fired cooking. Her web site is www.themagnificentleaven.com.