The pros and cons pros cooking on an open fire

Cooking on an open fire is an experience that everyone should have at one point or another.

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As well as the rush of adrenalin that you get from cooking on an open fire there is something exhilarating about watching the food in front of you slowly starting to heat up from the flames underneath it. It is important to remember though that it is actually the heat from the coals or wood that you are using as a heat source that cooks the food, rather than the flames. The heat from the fuel is kept at a constant temperature and so cooks the food thoroughly and evenly, whereas the temperature of the flames fluctuates depending on the section of flame that you are using.  Wherever your cooking, weather its indoors or outdoors you may want to consider a Gloucestershire Fire Risk Assessment which can be sourced from links including http://keloscape.co.uk/fire-risk-assessment/ to cover from all angles.

When choosing your heat source, you should ensure that any charcoal or coals are not coated in any type of lighter fluid as this will translate to the flavour of the food. If using wood, you should ensure that this is brown in colour as green wood creates more smoke but loses heat so your food will take longer to cook, and the smoke excess smoke will make the experience a less pleasurable one.

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Planning is important when cooking on an open fire as you should light the fire at least 15 minutes before you want to start cooking any food. This allows time for the charcoal, coals or wooden to fully heat up and for the flames and smoke to die down a little before your place your food on the skillet or grill over the fire. You should then ensure that you watch the food as it is cooking and regularly turn the items to prevent them from sticking to the pans and always make sure that the food is cooked thoroughly. It is also important to make sure that you don’t add any raw meat to the grill that already has cooked or part cooked meat on it as this is where contamination of food can occur.  Keeping your cooking utensils next to your open fire will help to make this process a lot easier and won’t mean that you need to leave the fire to head into the kitchen to find the fish slice to turn your burgers.