River Cottage on Fire

Course outline

• The back to basics campfire/barbecue - an ancient way to cook

  Find out why cooking outside can be so good for your health and wellbeing. You will learn how to get a fire going, the importance of fuel and heat management and the endless possibilities of cooking with open fire. This lesson will show you the possibilities of cooking in the simplest sense and give you the confidence and know how to give it a go even if your new to this stripped back, homespun approach to wild cooking. We will round off the lesson with a simple yet delicious roasted tomato dish.

• The wood oven - From pizza to slow roast meat to fish to vegetables to bread

  Explore the versatility of a homemade cob oven (or an off the shelf alternative). Learn how to get the fire going, manage and utilise every last bit of heat it has to offer. During this lesson you will create hand-stretched wood-baked pizzas and flatbreads. You will learn how to roast fish, and will finish off with a slow roasted lamb shoulder with lentil dal and spices.

• The hangi or earth oven - the extraordinary flavour dimensions of underground cooking

  Cooking in the earth is a technique that has been practiced in different ways and by different cultures for many thousands of years but is still as effective now as it was then.

  This lesson will show you how to make your own earth oven at home. From digging the pit, to heating the stones to digging up your supper. You will be amazed by the flavours offered by this form of cooking, and by the end of the lesson you will be able to cook a leg of venison or lamb.

• Ember based cooking - Overcoming your natural instincts

  Ember based cooking is another ancient technique – it involves cooking food directly in the hot embers of the fire. You’ll have no need for grills after this lesson. Once you’ve grasped the principles it’s amazing what can be done. In this lesson you will make a selection of recipes including baked root vegetable salad with herbs and labneh, onions baked in their skins and served with blue cheese, honey, thyme and walnuts, blackened leeks with mussels and lemon mayonnaise and a dirty steak - cooked directly in the embers of a hot barbecue.