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In my opinion, cooking with fire is the best way to cook.
Using smoke to slowly cook large pieces of meat or embers for the direct cooking of smaller meat cuts and vegetables. There are so many ways of using fire with food. This is why it is so appealing to me. It’s not just a source of heat, it’s flavour as well.
I started cooking barbecue on a homemade UDS style smoker, made out of an oil drum. Over time, this developed into a horizontal offset smoker, made from two oil drums. Using wood instead of charcoal. This gave me more cooking space as well as giving me more experience with fire management and temperature control,with the help of the Tel-tru thermometer that I imported from America. Three years on, the same smoker is still going strong and is in constant use.
My cooking is inspired by styles from a variety of different places. From the American way of slow cooking meat in offset smokers for a long period of time, using simple rubs and letting the flavour of the meat shine through. To the Southern American asado style of live fire cooking, involving gently cooking meat (often whole animals) over fire. As well as grilling directly over coals in Japanese Konro grills.
Cooking for myself, I like to experiment with different styles/techniques. Seeing what works and can be adapted for different recipes. On my recent cooks I have been experimenting with flavoured beef fats. Primarily with chimichurri as well as blue cheese. This is something that can be used on large roasting joints, steaks and vegetables.
In the future I will be looking at different varieties of wood to cook with, cooking and curing cuts of meat that I have not yet visited as well as vegetables, fruit and fish. As I am always looking to improve and develop my outdoor cooking.
Make sure to check out Ben's epic Instagram feed
Cooking with fire.
There are some great people in the U.K. who are doing wonderful things when cooking with fire. We'd like to spend a bit of time with some of these stars and find out what makes them tick. First up is Ben Racey a past UK BBQ Mag Pitboss winner, who has caught our eye with some of the pretty incredible food he is cooking.