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Cooking in a fireplace connects us with one of the oldest and most fundamental ways of preparing food. Long before the modern kitchen, the hearth was the kitchen. Roasting, baking, frying, simmering, boiling, and even drying and preserving food all took place around the fire.

Today, fireplace cooking is obviously no longer a necessity. In fact, authentic open-hearth cooking can be tedious, time-consuming, physically demanding, dirty, and potentially dangerous. I say this as a former restaurant chef who has spent countless hours cooking under demanding and stressful conditions.

Even before you begin cooking, you need to build and maintain a substantial fire. You move logs and hot embers, work with heavy pans and very hot handles, and spend a lot of time bending, squatting, and working close to intense heat. It does not take long to understand why cooks readily embraced the wood-burning cookstove when it became available.

So why bother?

For much the same reason we still build fires when our houses already have central heating. We enjoy fire. And for much the same reason serious cooks use grills, smokers, wood-fired ovens and other comparatively inconvenient methods when an ordinary kitchen range could cook dinner perfectly well. We enjoy cooking.

For me, as a professional cook, there was also something fascinating about exploring the origins of the cooking methods from which so many of the world's cuisines developed. There is a satisfaction in learning to use fire directly that is difficult to describe. Some people are drawn to the flavor. Others enjoy the process, the history, the craftsmanship or simply the magic of a live fire.

There is nothing particularly rational about it. The attraction is intuitive, sensory and perhaps a little primal.

Fortunately, you do not have to reconstruct an eighteenth-century kitchen to experience it. Fireplace spit roasting offers a practical bridge between traditional open-hearth cooking and the modern home fireplace. It lets you work directly with fire while using a cooking method that is understandable, controllable and remarkably effective.

What Is Fireplace Cooking?

Fireplace cooking, sometimes called open-hearth cooking, means preparing food using the heat of a wood fire built in an open fireplace or cooking hearth.

Historically, the fireplace was a complete cooking system rather than simply a place to roast meat. Cooks worked with several forms of heat at the same time. Pots could hang over the fire, Dutch ovens could sit among hot coals, skillets could rest on trivets, food could be broiled near glowing embers, and meat could turn slowly on a spit in front of the fire.

This is one of the most important ideas to understand about fireplace cooking: you are cooking with heat from the fire, rather than simply holding food in the flames.

Depending on the method, that heat may come from:

• Radiant heat from the fire and glowing embers
• Hot coals placed underneath or around cookware
• Convection from hot air
• Direct contact with heated cookware
• A controlled amount of flame when appropriate

A skilled hearth cook learns to move the food, fire and embers in relation to one another. In many ways, this is similar to learning to manage zones on a charcoal grill, except the possibilities are much broader.

The Cooking Fire

A good cooking fire begins with a good wood fire, but the goal is different from building a spectacular fireplace fire for atmosphere or a long-burning fire intended primarily to heat a room.

For cooking, we usually want a fire that produces a dependable supply of heat and, especially, glowing embers. Those embers can be moved where needed, placed under cookware, or used as a concentrated source of radiant heat.

Start with dry kindling and properly seasoned firewood. Build the fire so that air can circulate well enough to establish a clean, vigorous burn. Once a substantial bed of embers develops, the fire becomes much more useful for cooking.

New logs can then be added as necessary while embers are removed from the main fire and placed in cooking areas around the hearth.

For spit roasting, the arrangement is somewhat different. The meat is generally positioned in front of the fire rather than directly above it. Radiant heat from the fire and glowing embers roasts the surface while the spit continually turns the food.

As a general principle, try to build a fire roughly as long as the food being roasted. A whole chicken requires a much smaller fire than a suckling pig or several birds roasting side by side.

Fireplace cooking becomes considerably easier once you stop thinking of the fire as a single heat source and begin thinking of the hearth as a collection of adjustable cooking zones.

Cooking With Flame, Embers and Radiant Heat

One of the most common misconceptions about cooking with an open fire is that the food should be surrounded by flames. Usually, that is neither necessary nor desirable.

Flames are useful for establishing the fire and maintaining the supply of embers. Much of the actual cooking can be done with radiant heat from the fire and with hot coals moved around the hearth.

Radiant Heat

Radiant heat travels outward from the fire and glowing coals. This is the principal heat source in fireplace spit roasting. Moving the spit closer to or farther from the fire changes the intensity, much as raising or lowering food over a grill changes cooking temperature.

Embers and Coals

Glowing embers provide concentrated, manageable heat. Traditional hearth cooks moved them around constantly. A few coals might go under a skillet, more could be placed around a Dutch oven, and another pile could provide additional heat beneath food cooking near the fire.

Flame

Flame creates intense and variable heat. It can contribute flavor and browning, but sustained direct flame can scorch the exterior of food before the interior is properly cooked. Learning to work beside the fire rather than simply inside it is one of the basic skills of hearth cooking.

Choosing Firewood for Fireplace Cooking

Good firewood makes fireplace cooking considerably easier. Dry, seasoned wood lights more readily, burns more cleanly and produces a more useful fire than wet or green wood.

Use Dry, Seasoned Wood

For practical purposes, firewood with a moisture content around 20% or less is a good target. A simple wood moisture meter is the easiest way to check it.

Seasoning time varies with the type and size of wood and with climate and storage conditions. Split wood dries more effectively than unsplit rounds. Store it off the ground where air can circulate, with protection from rain and snow while leaving the sides sufficiently open for drying.

Hardwoods

Dense hardwoods such as oak, hickory, maple, ash and many fruitwoods are particularly useful because they produce substantial heat and long-lasting embers.

Fruitwoods such as apple and cherry can also contribute pleasant aromatic qualities to a cooking fire.

What Wood Should You Avoid?

Use clean, untreated firewood. Avoid painted, pressure-treated, chemically treated or manufactured wood products unless they are specifically intended and approved for cooking.

For food preparation, knowing what you are burning is just as important as knowing what you are cooking.

Fireplace Cooking Equipment

A fully equipped historic hearth could contain an impressive collection of specialized tools, but you do not need all of them to begin.

Spit and Rotisserie

A fireplace rotisserie is one of the most accessible ways to begin cooking with an indoor fire. Meat rotates slowly in front of the fire so that radiant heat reaches the entire surface.

This method works particularly well for poultry, roasts and other foods that benefit from even exposure to heat and continuous self-basting.

Crane and Trammel

A fireplace crane swings pots toward and away from the fire. A trammel or adjustable hook changes the height of a suspended pot. Together they gave traditional hearth cooks considerable control over cooking temperature.

Trivets

A trivet raises a pan or pot above hot embers. Different heights allow the cook to regulate the intensity of the heat underneath the cookware.

Dutch Ovens

Traditional cast-iron Dutch ovens are particularly well suited to hearth cooking. Coals can be placed underneath the pot and on the lid, effectively creating a small oven inside the fireplace.

Fireplace Tools

Long, sturdy tongs, a poker and a shovel are essential working tools. Hearth cooking involves moving burning logs and embers repeatedly, so tools designed primarily for decoration are less useful than substantial tools capable of safely handling a real fire.

A Kitchen Fireplace?

Back when most household cooking took place at the hearth, the fireplace was the kitchen. Modern fireplaces evolved in a very different direction. They are usually designed primarily for appearance and atmosphere, with cooking rarely considered at all.

That distinction matters if you are thinking about putting a wood-burning fireplace in a kitchen and actually intend to cook with it.

A conventional living-room fireplace installed in a kitchen may provide a wonderful focal point and several cozy evenings each winter. That alone may justify building one. But it does not automatically make a particularly good cooking fireplace.

If cooking is one of the reasons for building the fireplace, it makes sense to design the hearth around the cook rather than simply around the fire's appearance.

The Hearth Is Your Work Surface

One of the first things to notice about traditional cooking fireplaces is the amount of usable space around the fire.

A modern decorative fireplace tends to emphasize the firebox. A cooking fireplace needs a working hearth.

You need somewhere to position cookware, place a Dutch oven, move embers, set a trivet, work with a shovel and tongs, and possibly position a rotisserie in front of the fire. A large firebox without adequate working space can actually be less useful than a smaller fire combined with a generous hearth.

This is why the Tuscan fireplace shown above has always interested me. Notice the relationship between the relatively contained wood-burning area and the much larger surrounding hearth. The fire supplies the heat, but the hearth supplies the kitchen.

Consider a Raised Hearth

Traditional hearth cooking involved a great deal of bending and squatting because fireplaces were generally at floor level. Anyone who has spent an afternoon cooking this way quickly develops an appreciation for working height.

If a new fireplace is being designed specifically with cooking in mind, a raised hearth or raised firebox can make tending the fire, handling cookware, and managing food considerably more comfortable.

The correct height depends on the design and the kinds of cooking you intend to do. The important point is to consider ergonomics before the masonry is built. Once several tons of brick and stone are in place, adjusting the working height becomes difficult.

Plan for Spit Roasting

If fireplace rotisserie cooking is part of the plan, think about the space in front of the fire as carefully as the firebox itself.

The spit needs enough room to hold the food securely and rotate without hitting the fireplace structure. The cook needs access to the spit and motor, and there must be enough distance between the food and the fire to regulate heat effectively.

A wide opening can be particularly useful when roasting larger pieces of meat or several birds.

Think About Where the Coals Will Go

Traditional hearth cooking depends heavily on moving embers away from the main fire.

If you intend to cook in Dutch ovens, skillets, or other hearth cookware, provide enough noncombustible hearth area to establish separate coal beds. This lets you maintain the main fire in one area while cooking over embers in another.

This is one of the reasons simply making the firebox enormous does not necessarily produce a better kitchen fireplace. A cooking hearth needs space for both fire and cooking.

Ventilation and Chimney Design Come First

A fireplace that smokes into the room is annoying when used for atmosphere. In a kitchen, where someone may be working in front of the fire for hours, it is unacceptable.

Fireplace opening dimensions, chimney height, flue sizing, draft, combustion air, and the surrounding room all interact. A cooking fireplace should therefore be planned as a complete system rather than as a decorative masonry opening with a chimney added afterward.

New construction must also comply with applicable building and fire codes. If you are planning a working kitchen fireplace, involve a qualified fireplace or chimney professional and the appropriate local building authority early in the design process.

A Fireplace Is Different From a Wood-Fired Oven

A wood-fired oven and a cooking fireplace solve different problems.

A masonry oven stores heat in its walls and cooking chamber. The enclosed chamber is especially useful for bread, pizza, and roasting.

An open hearth gives the cook direct access to the fire. It is better suited to spit roasting, hanging pots, cooking over movable embers and the visual and physical experience of working directly with live fire.

For a serious cook with enough room, the ideal arrangement might even include both.

Build for the Way You Will Actually Cook

Before commissioning a kitchen fireplace, decide what you expect to do with it.

If the primary goal is atmosphere, build a beautiful fireplace.

If the primary goal is occasional rotisserie cooking, make sure there is sufficient width, depth, and working space for the rotisserie and the person operating it.

If you envision full open-hearth cooking with pots, pans, Dutch ovens, trivets and movable coal beds, the hearth itself becomes a working kitchen and should be designed accordingly.

The Tuscan fireplace shown here remains one of the best modern examples I have found of this idea. Unfortunately, we do not sell it, and I still do not have a source for one. But if I were designing a new kitchen around serious live-fire cooking, I would show a picture like this to a skilled mason or fireplace designer and begin the conversation there.

Fireplace Cooking Safety

Cooking around an open wood fire demands attention. Sparks, hot embers, heavy cookware, extremely hot metal, and burning logs are all part of the process.

Before cooking in a fireplace:

• Make sure the fireplace and chimney are suitable for wood burning and are in sound condition.
• Have the chimney and fireplace inspected regularly by a qualified professional. Annual inspection is generally recommended for wood-burning systems.
• Make sure the damper or flue is fully open before starting the fire.
• Keep combustible materials well away from the hearth and cooking area.
• Use substantial fireplace tools with handles long enough to keep your hands away from the fire.
• Use dry, clean, properly seasoned firewood.
• Wear appropriate clothing and avoid loose sleeves near the fire.
• Use heat-resistant gloves or mitts when handling hot metal or cookware.
• Keep children and pets away from the active cooking area.
• Never leave an open fire unattended.
• Use an appropriate fireplace screen whenever the fire is left burning without someone actively working at the hearth.

Fireplace cooking adds another layer of activity to an already hazardous environment. Work deliberately. Give yourself room. Keep the hearth organized. And remember that every piece of metal near the fire should be assumed to be hot.

Getting Started With Fireplace Cooking

If this all sounds like a lot of work, it can be. A complete open-hearth meal may involve tending several cooking processes and managing a large fire for hours.

You do not need to begin there.

Spit roasting is an excellent introduction because it uses a familiar cooking principle and requires relatively little specialized hearth equipment. Build a good fire, establish a strong bed of embers, position the meat in front of the heat, and adjust the distance as it cooks.

Once you become comfortable reading the fire, you can add a skillet, Dutch oven or other hearth-cooking methods.

That gradual approach retains what is most enjoyable about fireplace cooking: the fire, the food, and the satisfaction of mastering a cooking method that predates nearly everything else in the kitchen.

Fireplace Cooking FAQ

What is fireplace cooking?

Fireplace cooking is the preparation of food using heat from a wood fire built in an open fireplace or cooking hearth. Traditional methods include spit roasting, cooking in suspended pots, frying or sautéing in pans, baking in Dutch ovens, and cooking directly over or beside hot embers.

Can you really cook in a home fireplace?

Yes, provided the fireplace is a functioning wood-burning fireplace that is suitable for the intended use and is operated safely. Fireplace design varies considerably, however. A large open hearth provides more cooking possibilities than a shallow decorative fireplace. A fireplace rotisserie is often one of the easiest ways to adapt a conventional wood-burning fireplace to cooking.

Can I use a gas fireplace for fireplace cooking?

Do not assume that a gas fireplace is suitable for cooking. Most gas fireplaces and decorative gas appliances are designed and listed for a specific use. Follow the appliance manufacturer's instructions. Fireplace cooking as described on this page is intended primarily for appropriate wood-burning fireplaces and cooking hearths.

Do you cook directly over the flames?

Usually, no. Much fireplace cooking uses radiant heat from the fire or heat from glowing embers rather than continuous direct flame. In spit roasting, the food normally turns in front of the fire. For pan and Dutch-oven cooking, embers can be moved from the main fire and placed around the cookware.

What is the best wood for fireplace cooking?

Dry, seasoned hardwood is generally the most useful choice. Oak, hickory, maple, ash and suitable fruitwoods such as apple and cherry can produce substantial heat and good embers. Whatever species you choose, use clean, untreated wood that has been properly dried.

How dry should firewood be?

A moisture content of approximately 20% or less is a useful target for properly seasoned firewood. A wood moisture meter provides a quick way to check. Dry wood generally lights more easily, burns more cleanly and produces a more useful cooking fire than wet wood.

Can I cook with pine or other softwoods?

For sustained hearth cooking, dense seasoned hardwoods are usually more useful because they tend to provide longer-lasting heat and embers. Wood selection also depends on availability and the cooking method. Whatever you burn should be dry, clean and untreated.

Can I burn construction scraps or pallet wood?

Only burn wood when you know what it is and know that it is clean and untreated. Painted, pressure-treated, glued or chemically treated wood can produce undesirable or hazardous combustion products and has no place in a cooking fire.

How big should a fireplace cooking fire be?

The size of the fire should match the food and cooking method. For spit roasting, a useful rule is to build a fire approximately as long as the food being roasted so the entire piece receives reasonably even radiant heat. Larger foods or multiple birds require a wider fire than a single chicken.

How do you regulate temperature when cooking in a fireplace?

You regulate heat primarily by changing the relationship between the food and the fire. Move food closer to or farther from the fire, raise or lower cookware when your equipment permits, adjust the size of the fire, or add and remove embers beneath cookware. Fireplace cooking involves managing heat spatially rather than setting a thermostat.

What foods can be cooked on a fireplace rotisserie?

Poultry, roasts and many other substantial cuts of meat are well suited to spit roasting. Chickens, ducks, turkeys, pork roasts, beef roasts and similar foods can all benefit from the even exposure produced by continuous rotation. The food must be securely balanced and attached to the spit before cooking begins.

Why does a fireplace rotisserie cook in front of the fire instead of over it?

Positioning the food in front of the fire exposes it to strong radiant heat while making that heat easier to regulate. The distance between the food and the fire becomes an effective temperature adjustment. It also reduces the likelihood of exposing the food continuously to direct flames.

Do I need a special fireplace to cook with a rotisserie?

Many conventional wood-burning fireplaces can accommodate a properly sized fireplace rotisserie if there is adequate space and a safe operating area. Measure the fireplace opening and consider the size of the food you intend to cook. Very shallow, enclosed or unusually small fireplaces may be less suitable.

What equipment do I need to start fireplace cooking?

For rotisserie cooking, a suitable spit or rotisserie plus sturdy fireplace tools may be enough to begin. More elaborate open-hearth cooking may involve a fireplace crane, trammel, trivets, cast-iron cookware, Dutch ovens, ember shovel and long fireplace tongs.

What is a fireplace crane?

A fireplace crane is a metal arm mounted in the hearth from which pots can be suspended. The crane can swing the pot toward or away from the fire. Traditional cranes were often used with adjustable hooks or trammels that allowed the cook to change the height of the pot.

What is a trammel?

A fireplace trammel is an adjustable device used to suspend a pot over or near the fire. By changing its length, the cook can raise or lower the pot and thereby change the intensity of the heat.

Can you use a Dutch oven in a fireplace?

Yes. Traditional cast-iron Dutch ovens are particularly well suited to hearth cooking because hot embers can be placed beneath the pot and, with suitable designs, on top of the lid. This surrounds the food with heat and creates an oven-like cooking environment.

Why were old cooking fireplaces so large?

The hearth served as the kitchen. A large fireplace provided space for the main fire as well as hanging pots, roasting spits, trivets, Dutch ovens and separate beds of embers. The cook needed working room around the fire in addition to room for the fire itself.

Can I build a fireplace specifically for cooking?

Yes, but a true cooking fireplace should be planned around the intended cooking methods as well as appearance. Hearth size, working height, firebox dimensions, rotisserie clearance, ventilation, chimney design and space for managing embers all matter. A qualified fireplace professional or mason familiar with wood-burning systems should be involved, and the installation must comply with applicable building and fire requirements.

Is a raised hearth better for fireplace cooking?

It can be. Raising the working area can reduce the amount of bending and squatting involved in tending the fire and handling food. Anyone designing a new cooking fireplace should consider working height early in the process rather than treating the hearth only as an architectural feature.

Is a kitchen fireplace the same as a wood-fired oven?

No. A wood-fired oven stores heat within an enclosed masonry chamber. An open cooking hearth gives the cook direct access to the fire and embers. They overlap in some capabilities, but the cooking experience and the way heat is managed are different.

Does fireplace cooking make food taste different?

It can. Wood fire provides intense radiant heat, browning and exposure to combustion aromas that differ from most conventional indoor cooking equipment. The exact effect depends on the food, wood, fire and cooking method. Just as important for many cooks is the process itself and the experience of preparing food directly with fire.

Is fireplace cooking difficult?

The basic methods are straightforward, but learning to manage a live fire takes practice. There is no thermostat and every fire behaves somewhat differently. You learn to judge heat by observing the fire, the embers and the food, then adjust distances, fuel and cooking position accordingly.

Is fireplace cooking safe?

It can be done safely when an appropriate fireplace is properly maintained and the cook uses sensible open-fire practices. The chimney and fireplace should be kept in sound condition, the flue should be open, combustible materials should be kept away from the hearth, and the fire should never be left unattended. Cooking also introduces hot cookware and metal equipment, so deliberate handling and adequate working space are important.

How often should a wood-burning fireplace and chimney be inspected?

Annual inspection by a qualified chimney professional is generally recommended. Cleaning frequency can depend on use and the condition of the chimney, so the professional performing the inspection can advise what is appropriate for your fireplace.

What is the easiest way to try fireplace cooking for the first time?

Start simply. A fireplace rotisserie and a chicken or modest roast allow you to concentrate on managing one fire and one cooking process. Once you understand how distance, fire size and ember development affect the food, more traditional open-hearth techniques become much easier to explore.

Rediscover Cooking With Fire

Fireplace cooking will never be the fastest or most convenient way to prepare a meal. That is part of its appeal.

It asks you to pay attention to the fire, the food and the physical process of cooking in a way that modern appliances rarely require. You begin to understand heat differently. You learn what embers can do, how a roast responds to radiant heat, and how cooks worked before temperature knobs, timers and thermostats existed.

You may eventually decide you want a crane, a trammel, a collection of cast iron and a fireplace designed specifically for cooking.

Or you may simply put a chicken on a spit in front of the fire.

Either way, you are participating in one of the oldest cooking traditions we have, and discovering that cooking with fire still has something to teach us.

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