Fire Pit Cooking: A Beginner's Guide

Most fire pits in Britain are used purely for warmth. That is a waste of a genuinely capable cooking setup.

Cooking over open fire is not difficult, but it is different from a barbecue. Here is what actually matters.

Cook on embers, not flames

This is the single most important thing, and where most beginners go wrong.

Flames are inconsistent, sooty and far too fierce. They blacken the outside of food while leaving the middle raw, and deposit an unpleasant taste. What you want is the bed of glowing embers that forms once the fire has burned down.

Practically: light the fire 45 minutes to an hour before you plan to cook. Let it burn hard, then let it collapse into embers. That glowing bed is your cooking heat.

Build a two-zone fire

Rake the embers so they are deep on one side and thin on the other. You now have a hot zone for searing and a cooler zone for finishing or holding food warm.

This one technique solves most open-fire cooking problems. Sear over the hot side, move across to finish.

Use dry hardwood

Oak, ash, beech and birch burn hot, produce good embers and last. Softwoods such as pine burn fast, spit resin and taste of it.

Never burn treated or painted timber, pallets of unknown origin, or anything with adhesive. You are cooking over the smoke.

Keep wood dry. Damp wood produces smoke and disappointment rather than heat. A log carrier or covered store makes a real difference.

Accessories that genuinely earn their place

You do not need much, but a few things transform what is possible:

• A grill grate or BBQ rack. The foundation. Something like a half moon mesh rack covers part of the pit, leaving the rest for the fire.
• A plancha or flat plate. Opens up everything that would fall through a grate: eggs, prawns, sliced vegetables, smash burgers. A plancha plate is probably the single biggest upgrade to a fire pit.
• A long-handled pan or skillet. A cast skillet handles anything you would cook in a frying pan, with better heat.
• Heat-resistant gloves. Not optional. Proper gloves let you move grates and pans without improvising with tea towels.
• Skewers. Sturdy skewers or a kebab rack keep food at a controllable height.
• A marshmallow fork. Do not overthink it. Long forks keep children at a safe distance and are the reason half of families light a fire pit at all.

Browse the full range in accessories and covers.

What to cook first

Start with things that are forgiving:

• Sausages and burgers. Hard to ruin, and they teach you where the hot spots are.
• Whole vegetables. Peppers, corn, aubergine straight onto embers. Char the skin, peel it back.
• Flatbreads. Two minutes on a hot plate. Enormously satisfying.
• Steak. Once you trust your two-zone setup, open fire does a better crust than almost anything else.

Leave whole joints and anything requiring precise timing until you have a feel for the heat.

Safety, briefly

• Site the pit on non-combustible ground, well clear of fences, sheds and overhanging branches.
• Keep water or sand nearby.
• Never leave a lit fire unattended with children or pets around.
• Let ash cool completely before disposal. Embers stay hot far longer than people expect, sometimes more than 24 hours.
• Empty ash out rather than leaving it to sit in the bowl over winter. It holds moisture against the metal.

For more on protecting your fire pit out of season, see our guide to winter protection. And if fire pit cooking gives you the taste for it, masonry vs portable barbecues is a good next read.