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7/12/14

Steaks over a Campfire and using my Solar Oven = "cool" cooking this summer




We grill out a lot... no really.  A lot.  Year round.  So it's no wonder we go through grills fairly often.  I won't invest in an $800 grill because I know we will be buying a new one by the end of the 2nd or 3rd season.

We also like to have backyard bonfires.  Since we have a wood deck, we were using our fire pit on the grass area in the backyard.  However, we installed a patio last Spring of 2013 with concrete pavers.  This allowed us to put our firepit on the concrete and it's been getting heavy use ever since.

We enjoy grilled steak, seafood, vegetables, chicken and burgers... but cooking them under the broiler when you don't have a grill just is not the same.  So one night I decided to cook over our fire pit as if we were camping.  The first night was simply jalapeno hot dogs.  The next night we made steaks and grilled veggies in a grill basket.  A couple nights later it was chicken.  

Since then, we've been 'grilling' over our patio fire pit about three times a week all summer... and it's wonderful!  The flavor of the foods cooked over a fire is incomparable to the taste of being grilled in a propane grill.

I simply get the fire going, let it burn down (about 30-45 minutes) and lay the grill rack across some flat rocks to raise it about 5-6 inches from the heat.  If it's not level, I can just add a new piece of wood or a few more rocks (the photo above has a 'fresh' log I added to the bottom to level out the rack - although the steaks are cooking over the hot coals).









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