Hearth Cooking: An Ancient Cooking Technique Revisited

Hearth cooking flavors food from the fire. Learn how to cook on an open hearth, an ancient, practical and enjoyable culinary tradition.

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On the hob, a kettle steamed; on the hearth, a cat reposed. — Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend 
On the hob, a kettle steamed; on the hearth, a cat reposed. — Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend 
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Cooking by the fire’s light is silent. It is lyrical. It is as stress-free a cooking method as there can be.
Cooking by the fire’s light is silent. It is lyrical. It is as stress-free a cooking method as there can be.
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Warning: Once you begin cooking over an open fire, you may get hooked on this peaceful form of meditation! Eventually, the consummate hearth-cooking chef will want the full setup for this ancient form of cooking.
Warning: Once you begin cooking over an open fire, you may get hooked on this peaceful form of meditation! Eventually, the consummate hearth-cooking chef will want the full setup for this ancient form of cooking.
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Ember-baked fish cooks quickly, charring the outside while yielding moist, tender flesh.
Ember-baked fish cooks quickly, charring the outside while yielding moist, tender flesh.
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Artichokes, onions, peppers and most other dense vegetables roast beautifully on a bed of embers.
Artichokes, onions, peppers and most other dense vegetables roast beautifully on a bed of embers.

Hearth cooking is an ancient method that is rustic yet elegant, producing delicious, flavorful food.

We cannot know what dream the cat dreams while sleeping on the hearth in front of a gentle fire. We can only assume that in her obvious quietude that hers is a dream of contentment. Of our own dreams, of our pleasure at looking into flames, at feeling the moist warmth of a wood fire upon our face, there can be no question. Many a love has been kindled under the spell of the fire.

It is difficult to compare hearth cooking with cooking on a modern kitchen stove because the open hearth is so much more than a place to cook. The firelight casts its spell over the room and infuses everything cooked on the hearth with a touch of magic.

Hearth cooking is an ancient and wonderful craft. It is the craft that stands at the center of European cuisine. With few exceptions, all recipes that originated in Europe were first created on an open hearth and only adapted comparatively recently to the modern kitchen. All adaptations involve a shift, however subtle. When translating languages, even when the meaning of the words remains precisely the same, there is an inevitable shift in feeling, a shift in the poetry of sound: ocean, le mer, el mar, il mare. In making the move from the open hearth to the modern kitchen, recipes undergo two shifts: always a shift of poetry and often a shift in flavor.

Richer Food Flavor from Fire

  • Published on Oct 29, 2008
Tagged with: campfire, campfire cuisine
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