Can You Cook With Fire Logs?

What could be better than sitting down in front of a fire pit this summer, with friends and family around, cooking up some tasty treats to share?

Cooking on a fire is both fun and easy - but what if you are using heat logs or eco logs rather than traditional firewood? Will your food be safe and edible? Will it taste the same? In this post, we take you through our top tips to great campfire cooking.

Use Natural Products

When you cook over wood of any sort there will always be some transfer of flavour. The smoke given off by your wood fuel will penetrate the items you are cooking and leave a bit of an aftertaste. The extent of this flavour will be influenced by what you cook and how you cook it, as well as what you cook it on.

To prevent an unpleasant taste in your food it’s best to use natural wood products. Anything that is treated with chemicals will affect your food and make it inedible. Some heat logs do contain a chemical component to help them bind the wood shavings together so make sure you look for untreated logs like our own.

This tip also applies to firelighters. Always use natural firelighters rather than the chemical-based blocks (usually white in colour) to help prevent any unpleasant tastes affecting your food.

Create Great Embers

A lot of recipes call for food to be cooked in the embers rather than over and open flame. It’s really easy to wrap up jacket potatoes or parcels of meat and veg, then pop them in the base of the fire while you cook up beans in a pan over the top, or grill off some burgers and sausages.

Heat logs generally give off a strong flame, so you may want to let your burn down for a short while before you start to cook. You can also combine burning fire logs with night briquettes to create strong embers that will last longer.

Accessorise

Use the right accessories when cooking. Toast marshmallows on skewers, or use them to make veg kebabs. A grill rack lets you cook multiple items at once over a lower heat than putting items directly in the flames. Alternatively, use kitchen foil to create parcels of meat with a little oil and place them on the embers. As well as keeping the meat tender its a great way to keep your fire pit clean.

Remember Your Hygiene

The most important rules to follow are those of health and hygiene. To prevent you, or others, getting sick, make sure food is properly cooked before you eat it. Keep raw and cooked foods separate, use different chopping boards and knives for veg and meat, or make sure you clean your preparation tools thoroughly when you swap items. Your cooking accessories should be cleaned before the first use and, ideally, in between uses as well. Finally, remember to wash your hands regularly during food prep and cooking.