The Joy of Outdoor Fire Pit Cookery
Maybe it comes as a result of watching one too many cookery shows but these days I am far more adventurous when it comes to preparing food. I even recently ventured into a new method of cooking altogether – outdoor fire pit cookery.
The fire pit in our back garden was originally built just for entertainment purposes. We have a nice big yard and sitting around it on a chilly fall evening was a very relaxing experience. Better than being stuck inside in front of the TV anyway.
I had always though about using the outdoor fire pit to cook but never quite got around to it, thinking it was probably too hard. After seeing it done on one of those cookery challenge shows though I finally decided to give it a try.
The one thing that I learned in my pre cooking research was that the type of firewood you use to cook with makes a big difference to the way the food will eventually taste. all wood cooked food will have a slightly smoky taste but I discovered that each wood also produced its own distinct flavors and aromas.
There are a growing number of stores that specialize in selling cooking woods foor use with an outdoor fire pit and the people there will usually be more than happy to tell you just which woods will produce the best tastes for certain foods or recipes but it is also a lot of fun to experiment yourself to figure out just which wood produces the flavors you like most.
What I discovered was that to cook red meats and roast veggies the best flavors were produced by cedar and mesquite. On the other hand I found that fruit woods – apple, peach and cherry-were great for pork dishes as they imparted a slightly sweet flavor that was rather unique and unlike anything I had ever tasted before. And my personal favorite – turkey – was taken to a whole new level of succulent greatness when cooked using pecan wood.