Some people choose a fire pit just for its visual and entertainment value. Fire pits make an attractive addition to any landscape and they can extend the time you can entertain (or just hang out and chill) outside for several months both in the spring and in the fall.
More adventurous souls though may want to give fire pit cookery a shot. Not only can it be a lot of fun but the food, especially if yours is a wood burning fire pit, when cooked right is often some of the tastiest you will ever have eaten, especially meats.
Whatever you choose to cook the real key to successful firepit cookery is being able to keep a nice hot fire burning for several hours. The beast way to build a long lasting fire is to start small – with dry kindling and firelighters (solid firelighters not lighter fluid) and then build up the fire gradually. Piling on too much wood right away will simply result in a fire that burns bright for a few minutes and then abruptly dies.
If you are using a wood burning fire pit to cook with the type of wood you use will make a difference to the taste of almost anything that you are cooking. Apple, cherry, mesquite, maple, red oak and peach woods, or wood chips,are all popular cooking woods but they each produce food with a very distinct flavor.
For example, mesquite is great for producing a strong smoky flavor when cooking red meats while apple wood produces a lighter flavor that is perfect for white meats like chicken or pork. If you want to try your hand at pizza red oak is a great choice and it is normally the wood chosen by fine dining restaurants to cook their wood fired pizzas.
