Campsite

A three-ingredient camp pizza cooked low and slow under a lid in a cast iron pan or dutch oven — crisp on the bottom, no oven required, ready in about twenty minutes over the fire.

A cast iron Dutch oven cornbread with a golden, crackling crust — the camp bread I make for chili nights, wherever the fire happens to be.

A slow-fermented, no-knead bread mixed days ahead and baked in a cast iron dutch oven buried in charcoal briquettes — the crust cracks, the crumb is open, and the method works over a campfire, a backyard fire pit, or your kitchen oven.

Fire grilled fish five ways, plus the cast iron trout with bacon and caramelized onions I have eaten for breakfast since childhood.

From-scratch pancake batter cooked in a cast iron pan over the fire, plus the rules that keep pancakes from sticking — and rather more pancake history than you asked for.

Grilled country bread rubbed with garlic and crushed tomato, finished with good olive oil and fleur de sel. Four ingredients, five minutes, made over a wood fire.

You followed every step in Building a Fire, the flames did their thing, and now everyone around your site has a full belly and heavy eyelids. The logs have burned down to a soft orange glow, the conversation has gotten quiet, and you are ready to crawl into your sleeping bag. Here is the part …

Crispy corned beef, potato grated straight into the pan and a fried egg on top. A fifteen-minute cast iron breakfast that works with a tin of beef.

Here’s the truth: how to build a fire is the one skill that decides whether your night by the coals goes well, or ends with you fanning damp smoke into your own eyes for twenty minutes. It isn’t complicated, but it isn’t intuitive either — most people stack too much wood too soon and smother …

Quite simply put, you will not see me cook with any other type of cookware than cast iron. When it comes to cooking over fire — campfire, backyard BBQ, fireplace, wood oven, doesn’t matter — it’s my go-to, and after years of hauling these pans around I have zero interest in switching. 🔥 Why Cast …