Buschbeck Recipes: 16 Favourites to Cook on Your Buschbeck Outdoor Fireplace

Looking for Buschbeck recipes? You are in the right place. I have cooked on my Buschbeck outdoor fireplace most evenings since 2020, when it became the centre of our Geelong backyard during lockdown, and those years of smoky, slightly chaotic dinners turned into my cookbook, The Wood Fire Kitchen.

Below are 16 of my favourite recipes from the book, shared in full, plus the guides I wish someone had handed me when my Buschbeck first arrived: how to light it, how to read the heat, and how to get the most from the pizza oven insert, the rotisserie and the cast iron grill. Bookmark this page. I add more recipes regularly.

Start here: how to cook on a Buschbeck

If your fireplace is new, read these first. Every recipe works better once you can build the right fire and read your heat zones.

• How to Use a Buschbeck Outdoor Fireplace: Wood, Lighting and Your First Cook: Everything I wish someone had told me before my first fire: how to use a Buschbeck outdoor fireplace properly, from choosing wood to lighting it and cooking your first meal.
• Buschbeck Temperature Guide: How to Read Heat Zones on a Wood Fire: Forget guessing. Here's how I read Buschbeck temperature using nothing but my eyes, my hand and a bit of fire-watching patience.
• How to Use the Buschbeck Pizza Oven Insert (Without Burning the Base): The Buschbeck pizza oven insert turns your fireplace into a proper pizza machine - but only if you heat it right. Here's exactly how I do it, burnt bases and all the lessons I learned getting there.
• How to Use the Buschbeck Rotisserie, Plus Low-and-Slow Smoking: The Buschbeck rotisserie is the most rewarding tool on the whole fireplace, if you set it up properly. Here's everything I've learned about balance, indirect heat, low-and-slow smoking and the dreaded stall.
• Buschbeck Accessories: Which Ones You Actually Need (and Why): Every Buschbeck comes with a grill rack and that's enough to cook a cracking dinner. But a handful of Buschbeck accessories turn your fireplace into a proper outdoor kitchen. Here's what I actually use, and what I'd skip.
• How to Grill and Roast on a Buschbeck Outdoor Fireplace: Grilling is where most of us start with a Buschbeck, and it's where a wood fire truly earns its keep. Here's how I grill and roast properly, every single time.
• Cast Iron on Your Buschbeck: Grill, Hotplate and Camp Oven Care: Your Buschbeck cast iron grill, hotplate and camp oven are the hardest-working tools by the fire. Here is how I keep mine seasoned, rust-free and cooking beautifully, cook after cook.
• Buschbeck Cleaning, Safety and Care: Keep Your Fireplace for Life: A proper Buschbeck cleaning and safety routine - from fire bans and ash disposal to pizza stone care - so your outdoor fireplace lasts for life, not just a season.

Buschbeck pizza and bread recipes

• My Everyday Pizza Dough for the Buschbeck Pizza Oven Insert: This is the dough I make every single week for the Buschbeck pizza oven insert—five minutes of mixing and the time does the rest.
• Margherita Pizza on the Buschbeck Pizza Stone: Simple, hot and fast - this is the Margherita pizza I make every time we fire up the Buschbeck, and the one the kids fight over.
• Calzone on the Buschbeck Pizza Stone: A calzone is just a pizza folded in half, but on the Buschbeck pizza stone it turns into a proper treat, crisp outside and steamy within.
• Wood-Fired Rosemary Focaccia in the Buschbeck: This rosemary focaccia baked in the Buschbeck comes out golden and crackly on the outside, soft and oily within - it's the bread I make when friends are coming over.
• Damper on a Stick, Cooked Over the Buschbeck Fire: This is the recipe my kids beg for every time we light the Buschbeck: dough wound round a stick, toasted over glowing coals, then stuffed with butter and golden syrup.

Buschbeck grill recipes: steak, lamb, chicken and fish

• The Perfect Steak on a Buschbeck Outdoor Fireplace: A good steak needs very little, especially when you're cooking it on a Buschbeck over properly hot coals.
• Dirty Steak Cooked Straight on the Coals (Buschbeck Method): Dirty steak on the Buschbeck is the most fun you'll have with your fire: no grill, no pan, just meat straight on the glowing coals.
• Lamb Chops with Rosemary & Garlic on the Buschbeck Grill: These rosemary and garlic lamb chops are one of the quickest, most satisfying things I cook on the Buschbeck grill.
• Chicken Souvlaki on the Buschbeck Grill: Chicken souvlaki on the Buschbeck grill is lazy, hands-on feeding at its best - skewers, warm pita and tzatziki everyone builds themselves.
• Barramundi Parcels with Lime & Herbs on the Buschbeck: Fish parcels are the easiest, most foolproof thing you'll ever cook on the Buschbeck - no drying out, no fuss, just a fragrant puff of lime and herbs when you open them up.

Buschbeck rotisserie and slow-cooked recipes

• Buschbeck Rotisserie Chicken with Garlic Butter: A whole chicken turning slowly over the coals, basted in garlic butter as it spins - this is Buschbeck rotisserie cooking at its best.
• Buschbeck Rotisserie Lamb with Lemon & Oregano: A boned leg of lamb, rubbed in lemon, garlic and oregano, turning slowly on the Buschbeck rotisserie until it bastes itself golden.
• Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder in a Camp Oven on the Buschbeck: This lamb shoulder is the dish I make when I want the Buschbeck doing all the work while I do none of it.

Starters, breakfast and dessert on the Buschbeck

• Fire-Blistered Tomatoes with Burrata on the Buschbeck: This is the dish I make when friends turn up before I'm ready - ten minutes over the coals on the Buschbeck and cherry tomatoes go sweet and jammy, ready for a cold burrata to be torn into the middle.
• Fireside Breakfast on the Buschbeck Cast Iron Hotplate: A fireside breakfast on the Buschbeck cast iron hotplate is my favourite way to start a slow morning outside, dressing gown and all.
• Fire-Baked Brownies in the Buschbeck Pizza Oven: These fudgy fire-baked brownies cooked in the Buschbeck pizza oven are the easiest way to end a night around the fire.

The golden rule of Buschbeck cooking: cook on coals, not flames. Build the fire big, let it burn down to a glowing bed, then cook.

Which Buschbeck accessories do these recipes use?

Every recipe in the book has a Buschbeck kit line, so you know exactly what to reach for. Most use the Heavy-Duty Cast Iron Grill and a good pair of heat-resistant gloves. The pizza and baking recipes use the Pizza Oven Insert with its soapstone stone, the breakfasts and seafood use the Cast Iron Hotplate, and the showstoppers use the Rotisserie. My Buschbeck accessories guide explains which ones are worth buying first.

FAQs

What can you cook on a Buschbeck outdoor fireplace?

Almost anything. With the grill you can cook steak, lamb, chicken, fish and vegetables. Add the pizza oven insert for pizza, bread, focaccia and desserts, the hotplate for breakfasts and seafood, the rotisserie for whole chickens and lamb, and a camp oven for slow-cooked dinners.

Is there a Buschbeck cookbook?

Yes. The Wood Fire Kitchen: Recipes for your Buschbeck outdoor fireplace is my 230-page cookbook with 89 recipes written for the Buschbeck, from lighting the fire to pizza, rotisserie and ember-roasted desserts. It is an independent cookbook, not an official Buschbeck publication.

Do these recipes work on other wood-fired fireplaces?

Most of them do. They are written for a Buschbeck-style masonry fireplace with a grill, hotplate, pizza stone and rotisserie, but the fire techniques work over any good wood fire. Always follow your own fireplace manual.

Should I cook with wood or charcoal in a Buschbeck?

Both work. I mostly use well-seasoned hardwood for flavour and that lovely glow, and sometimes top up with hardwood lump charcoal for steady heat. My beginner's guide covers wood, lighting and fire size.

Get all 89 Buschbeck recipes

These 16 recipes are a taste. The Wood Fire Kitchen has 89, across ten chapters: The Fire Pantry, Starters & Sharing, Breads, Pizza & Flatbreads, Beef & Lamb, Chicken & Pork, Fish & Seafood, Slow & Camp Oven, Vegetables & Sides, Outside the Box and Desserts & Drinks. It also includes menus for every occasion and a full heat-zone chart.

Get the paperback ($49 USD)

Not sure yet? Download the free sample on the book page.