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Hearth Cooking Instructions
Connie Limon
Fireplace safety:
Follow the maintenance schedule recommended by a chimney sweep or fire department
Keep flammable materials away from fireplace and hearth
Never leave a fire unattended
Do not follow cooking instructions that you do not believe is safe in your home
Where does traditional hearth cooking take place?
On the hearth in front of the fire, beside the fire, within the fireplace and at times, also in the ashes or over the flames.
What type of tools and equipment is required for hearth cooking?
Shovel and tongs from the standard fireplace kit
The hearthside tripod with short legs and about 10 inches round holds cooking utensils above the hearth so embers can be shoveled underneath.
Use two common red bricks to improvise a stand
Dutch oven
A cast iron pot with lid that can be piled with embers
Use a 6-quart Dutch oven or improvise one from a 6-quart saucepan with a lid that can hold the embers and use two bricks to act as legs for the pan
If your Dutch oven has a flat bottom with no legs, set it on the tripod or on bricks
Use a fireplace shovel to place embers underneath and on top of the Dutch oven
Remove the embers with a fireplace shovel before checking on the doneness of the food
Do not spill embers when removing the lid from the pan
Lift the lid off with a fireplace hook rather than household or barbecue pot holders
Handles must not be flammable
Cast iron is ideal for use as a skillet
Fire Tips:
Use dry, seasoned firewood
Oak and maple make better, longer-lasting embers than softer woods such as pine and fir.
Remove the metal grate from the fireplace to prepare the fireplace for cooking
It is better not to clean out the fireplace between uses as logs burn longer when they are sitting on a little ash.
You should start a fire about one and one-half hour before starting to cook.
Remove the firedogs or fire grate from the fireplace
Build the fire on two logs that are positioned parallel to each other with ends pointing toward the back wall of the fireplace.
While you cook, add logs as needed
You will need to maintain a fire that is medium-hot to hot.
You can use any traditional masonry fireplace that is in safe working condition.
Hearth Cooking Methods
The Hearthside tripod method:
Place the tripod, or two bricks, on the hearth in front of the fire
Tripods should always be placed toward the center of the hearth and within a few inches of the fireplace where the fire is burning for safety.
A burning fire in the fireplace is essential to pull fumes generated by the embers up the chimney.
When you have the tripod in place, set the cooking utensil on top of it.
Start cooking by shoveling a layer of embers about one-inch thick under the cooking utensil. This will create a high heat.
When the embers cool, add additional embers, just a sprinkling at a time throughout the cooking process.
If the food cooks too quickly, shovel embers back into the fireplace.
If the food cooks too slowly, shovel additional embers under the pot.
You should keep the cooking utensil covered to conserve heat.
Place the tripod and pot very close to the fire to simmer. The ingredients will simmer on the side of the pot closest to the flames.
When food is cooked, remove it from the tripod
Immediately shovel all the embers back into the fireplace.
Pot beside the fire method:
Place a covered pot on hearth 2-4 inches from a medium to hot fire or beside the fire within the fireplace
Heat the ingredients by bringing water to a simmer on the side closet to the flames
Stir as needed to distribute heat
Control heat by moving the pot closer to or farther away from fire
To speed up cooking push embers against bottom pot nearest fire
Ember roasting method:
Bake food directly on embers next to a medium fire
Ember roasting method works best when fire is built directly on a bed of ash
Source: Tips for Hearth Cooking. (cover story). Vegetarian Times [serial online]. November 2003;2:50. Available from: MAS Ultra - School Edition, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 15, 2008.
Written by: Connie Limon For more helpful cooking tips, visit http://smalldogs2.com/CookingTips To find a variety of reprint articles visit http://www.camelotarticles.com
Article submitted Thursday, September 18, 2008
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