Cooking in the fireplace

[boudin noir]

Steaks can be cooked by throwing (placing) them directly on the grill. When they are cooked just brush off the ashes.

[boudin noir]

Steaks can be cooked by throwing (placing) them directly on the grill. When they are cooked just brush off the ashes.

I meant directly on the coals.

[MisterKrazee]

Steaks can be cooked by throwing (placing) them directly on the grill. When they are cooked just brush off the ashes.

I meant directly on the coals.

It's called clinching.

[William Colsher]

First post - I never expected it to be in a conversation like this

Historic House Fitters makes a variety of hearth cooking items including trivets o support regular pans and the somewhat hard to find spider type frying pan: http://www.historichousefitters.com/subcat.asp?cat=12

[Arey]

On a hearth cooking program years ago in one episode the appropriately colonially garbed cook roasted a chicken using a tin 3 sided gadget. The chicken was in the open side facing the fire, and the three sides reflected the heat from the fire onto the chicken. I don't remember what the chicken was sitting on, it may have been a skewer or how long it took to roast. The whole setup sat right on the hearth close to the fire, and the chicken looked very nicely browned when done.

As a side note: Walter Staib on A Taste of History in recent series of the show has been cooking in a colonial era kitchen with a beehive oven next to the fireplace, so he's been doing a lot of recipes that wouldn't be possible in an open hearth.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Arey (log)

[Franci]

Very interesting ideas! Let's see if with the holidays coming I can put some of these into practice. Thanks!

[Okanagancook]

Put a medium sized eggplant in the hot coals for a total of about 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through and pricking it before putting in the fire (no foil).  Nice char flavour!  Saved a bunch of electricity.  What the heck I thought, put some carrot wrapped in foil in the hot coals for about 14 minutes, turning once....a little charred with a nice flavour too.

 

[btbyrd]

Nancy Carter Crump has a book called "Hearthside Cooking: Early American Southern Cuisine Updated for Today's Hearth and Cookstove" that centers around cooking in a fireplace/hearth. Each recipe includes instructions in for both the hearth and for a modern oven. Obviously, it's focused on Southern food, but it might be worth looking into. 

 

There are also a ton of dutch oven cookbooks. A lot of them are basically slow-cooker cookbooks (i.e. nothing but braises) but some focus more on using a dutch oven with a real fire.