As the outdoor fire cooking turns warm, you may want to cook outdoors over your fire pit. But first you’ll need the right gear. Make sure your fire pit is located in a safe and secure area where the flames can’t reach anything flammable, and that you have all the cooking equipment you’ll need like grilling tools and a camping Dutch oven. You’ll also need a bucket of water or sand nearby to extinguish the fire as needed.

Embrace the Elements: Unleashing the Delights of Outdoor Cooking

Possibly the simplest method of outdoor cooking fire cooking is roasting food over red glowing embers (not over flames to avoid soot contamination and burnt foods). Popular techniques include using long skewers to cook hot dogs or toasting marshmallows for making s’mores. Hungarians often roast slab bacon (Szalonna) this way as well. Other methods include using fireplace popcorn poppers and pie irons (small iron molds with long handles) to toast foods on the side or top of the campfire. You can also cook in foil packages or leaf packages that are suspended on a grill, over the fire, or in a cooking receptacle such as a dutch oven that is elevated above the fire.

When it comes to building a fire for outdoor cooking, you’ll want to build a core of small, tinder-sized sticks and then gradually add larger pieces. If you put on full logs too early, they might smother the flames. A good core fire will burn for a long time, and can be used to cook with if you add in more tinder as needed.