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OT: How do you cook over a wood fire?

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Comments

  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Botch said:
    Most food shows I've watched that visit a famous barbeque shack, the pitmaster's primary tool is a shovel, he's always moving burned-down coals to the cooker, from a separate fire.  
    Here's a clip about the Skylight Inn. Watch from 5:00 to 6:30 to see how they burn the wood to coals and then spread the coals under (near) the meat. Just coals, no flame. The way traditional Q is cooked.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKwt1yxnJoo

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • Watch a few episodes of Man Fire Food.  Great show.  
  • saluki2007
    saluki2007 Posts: 6,354
    This is the best thread in a long while. Thanks for sharing all your wisdom guys. 
    Large and Small BGE
    Central, IL

  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    You definitely get wood flavor. Most food is over the fire a relative short time (compared to smoking a pork butt or brisket). And yes, visible smoke does not equal good smoke flavor. 
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,165
    I consider this thread as a "set the hook" environment.  I am definitely learning the total open fire concept and this after feeling very comfortable with the stick burner operation.  I thought I quit after going down the stick burner acquisition road some 3+ years ago...  And for the record, I am not going any further down the trail that @SciAggie has established.  But playing with and occasionally mastering fire is a whole lot of fun...   B)
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    @lousubcap I would follow up and say that cooking over coals may seem difficult and intimidating but I have learned that it is not as hard to manage as some may fear. This is not humble bragging. Of course there is a learning curve but it is short. 
    Just as you can turn a knob on a gas grill from low to high, with coals you just drag away or add more. I think a Santa Maria grill is a great tool for those that like to play with fire. 
     

    I think a SM grill with a fold down front and the side area to generate coals would make it much more fun to operate. I think they would be almost a necessary accessory in my opinion. 

    Once you realize that you only want to cook with COALS then managing heat is much more simple. Managing the fire to generate coals is a separate skill set but one that’s also fun to master. 
    It is just a hoot to grill protein and veggies, make paella, grill bread, make gravy or whatever over wood. Add a piece of 3/8” or 1/4” plate and you have a wood fired Blackstone griddle. 
    Of all the cooking toys I have in my arsenal I think my hearth is the most pure fun to use. 
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    @johnmitchell Your BIL’s setup looks like a ton of fun. 
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • womaus
    womaus Posts: 256
    Search out a hardcover copy of 

    Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way 

    by Francis Mallman

    Be sure to get the hardcover, the pics are worth the $25.00 you'll need to spend.
  • womaus
    womaus Posts: 256
    Wanted to add that I picked up one of these more than a few years ago, have put it to good use over time. I have a side of the road find Weber kettle base that I use for the wood fire, this just places over the top.

    https://gabbysgrills.com

    Stock photo off of the Gabby's website:




  • womaus
    womaus Posts: 256

    Or for more fun set up a Schwenker

    https://germangirlinamerica.com/how-to-schwenker-grill/

    Easy and cheap to do with EMT tubing, a little bit of chain and a grill top. I use the same roadside find kettle sans legs for the open fire (we've got residential open fire restrictions in my area, I take these grills right to the edge of right or wrong).

    Again, stock photo off of website:


  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    One of the most interesting threads. 
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Eoin
    Eoin Posts: 4,304
    womaus said:

    Or for more fun set up a Schwenker

    https://germangirlinamerica.com/how-to-schwenker-grill/

    Easy and cheap to do with EMT tubing, a little bit of chain and a grill top. I use the same roadside find kettle sans legs for the open fire (we've got residential open fire restrictions in my area, I take these grills right to the edge of right or wrong).

    Again, stock photo off of website:


    Schwenker's are great, saw them a lot in Saarland / Pfalz when I lived in that corner of Germany. 
  • rifrench
    rifrench Posts: 469
    Very interesting, the Schwenker.  Another tool in the cooking box, one that I would like to try.
     1 LBGE, 1 SBGE, 1 KBQ and a 26" Blackstone near Blackstone, Virginia
  • rifrench said:
    Very interesting, the Schwenker.  Another tool in the cooking box, one that I would like to try.
    My FIL uses one for summer cooks. Half chickens or Brats for the family, works great.
    South of Columbus, Ohio.


  • billt01
    billt01 Posts: 1,523
    Love this.......

    Stellar examples all!
    Have:
     XLBGE / Stumps Baby XL / Couple of Stokers (Gen 1 and Gen 3) / Blackstone 36 / Maxey 3x5 water pan hog cooker
    Had:
    LBGE / Lang 60D / Cookshack SM150 / Stumps Stretch / Stumps Baby

    Fat Willies BBQ
    Ola, Ga

  • Slippy
    Slippy Posts: 214
    I thought this had some pretty good info, and got me to wanting a SM...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq-nNfUrgNc 
    Rockwall, TX  •  LBGE, Big Hat Ranger offset smoker, Really old 22" Weber Kettle, Pile of Pecan and Post Oak... 
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Slippy said:
    I thought this had some pretty good info, and got me to wanting a SM...  
    That's Chef Robert Del Grande. Owns a restaurant in Houston.
    He has one of those wood fired grills in his home kitchen! And COPPER... LOTS of copper!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,165
    @SciAggie - you have perfected cooking over a wood fire on many different rigs and set-ups.  That looks great as always.  
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    @lousubcap Thanks. I’d like to keep this thread alive. As you well know, running a stick burner requires knowing how to manage a fire. Splits need to be sized to match the pit you are running and added at proper intervals to keep a steady, clean fire. 

    Camp ovens, woks, planchas, - all have their own unique fire management needs. None of it is difficult - it just takes some experience. People did it for thousands of years, huh?

    If we add cooks along in this thread maybe someone will find a nugget of useful information every now and again. 
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • bicktrav
    bicktrav Posts: 640
    SciAggie said:
    For lack of a better place I thought I’d put tonight’s cook here. I have a 24” discada I like to use over a wood fire. I put a chimney full of hot lump under it for a uniform source of heat. I like to add small sticks that will ignite quickly when I need a sudden burst of intense heat. 
    It’s a bit like being able to go from medium to high heat - then back to medium easily. It works great when I’m stir frying. I do the same thing making paella. You want a steady medium heat most of the time. When you add the rice and need to bring it to a quick boil, throw on the small stuff - by the time it burns out you have the rice at a simmer.

    I made fried rice tonight. 
    The bed of coals.

    Medium heat cooking the bacon.


    Upping the heat to stir fry.




    If you use small sticks the fire is almost out by the time you clean the wok/discada.
    This is an awesome and timely revival of this thread! I made tritip tonight on my SM grill, which turned out fantastic. Also parboiled some sweet potatoes and finished them on a cast-iron skillet over the fire. After that, I watched the Francis Mallman Chef's Table, so it's definitely been a wood-fire night for me!

    Quick question: did you start your fire with logs or chunks? How long did you let them burn to get that coal bed? Were you poking, blowing, or raking, or did you just let it go on its own? 
    Southern California
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    @bicktrav I begin with a chimney starter full of lump. Then I added small sticks when I wanted flame to bump the temperature. Keep in mind this is only a good strategy if you are cooking in some kind of vessel - wok, skillet, pot, etc... Flames directly under a protein or vegetable generally doesn't turn out too well. In those cases if you need more heat just add more coals.
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • bicktrav
    bicktrav Posts: 640
    In the spirit of keeping this thread alive, I figured I'd post my cook tonight: tri tip with sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts (sides not pictured). This one was a bit of a learning experience. The food was fine, not great. We were having some people over, and there was a good amount of food. I didn't build a big enough fire for the amount I had to cook. By the time I realized I needed more heat, it was getting crazy late--kids needed to eat--and I had to work with the inadequate coal bed. I guess I could have just thrown in some fresh wood, but I chose not to because I didn't want to smoke out the food (common wisdom is that you don't cook over fresh wood, only glowing coals). Anyway, another live fire cooking lesson learned. Next time, I'll build a much bigger fire. 




    Southern California
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,165
    I don't know about the sides but those tri-tips look great right there.  Thanks for keeping the "fire" thread going.  
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    Now you see the merit of the side brazier. You can have a ready source of fresh coals - or a place to go with excess coals if you need to reduce the heat. You can use something as simple as an inexpensive outdoor fire pit. 
    You manage this cook well. Those tri-tips look great. 
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
  • bicktrav
    bicktrav Posts: 640
    SciAggie said:
    Now you see the merit of the side brazier. You can have a ready source of fresh coals - or a place to go with excess coals if you need to reduce the heat. You can use something as simple as an inexpensive outdoor fire pit. 
    You manage this cook well. Those tri-tips look great. 
    Yep. I've got an old fire pit that I've gotta clean. I think I'll do that today, so I don't run into this issue again.
    Southern California