89 recipes I actually cook on the fire in my backyard, from blistered tomatoes and wood-fired pizza to rotisserie chicken, slow camp-oven dinners and desserts baked in the embers. Plus everything I wish someone had told me about lighting, reading and controlling a real wood fire.
Printed to order and shipped by Blurb. By Jac Bowie · @thewoodfirekitchen
dinner, by the fire.
You probably know me from weddings. Away from the desk, you'll find me in the backyard by my Buschbeck, waiting for the flames to drop back to a deep orange glow, because that's when it's time to cook.
This book started in 2020, when we were living in Geelong and Victoria's long lockdowns shrank our world to the house and the garden. The fireplace became the centre of everything, and very quickly, dinner started happening there. I burnt things. I undercooked things. I learnt that a raging fire is lovely to look at and terrible to cook on. But every night I got a little better.
I started sharing what I was cooking on Instagram as @thewoodfirekitchen, and a whole community of people who love fire, food and long evenings outside found me. You kept asking for a cookbook. This is it.
Light the fire, invite a few people over, and let the evening take as long as it takes. — Jac
everything you need, start to finish.
original recipes
Quick weeknight grills, weekend feasts, sharing plates, showstoppers and an adventurous Outside the Box chapter.
mastering your Buschbeck
Wood and lighting the fire, heat zones and temperatures, tools, cast iron and camp ovens, pizza and baking, smoke, low-and-slow and the rotisserie.
the accessory guide
What every official Buschbeck accessory does and how I use it, plus a Buschbeck kit line on every recipe so you know exactly what you need.
ten chapters of recipes.
know your heat before you chop.
Under every recipe title there's a Fire line telling you the kind of heat you need, so you can plan your fire first. Every recipe finishes with a Fire note: where to put the pan, when to add wood, and how to adapt it to a kitchen oven on a rainy night.
simple food, cooked over real fire.
try a few Buschbeck recipes first.
I've shared some of my favourite recipes and Buschbeck guides from the book on my Journal, in full.
- My everyday Buschbeck pizza dough
- Buschbeck rotisserie chicken with garlic butter
- The perfect steak on a Buschbeck
- Buschbeck rotisserie lamb
- Wood-fired rosemary focaccia
- Fireside breakfast on the Buschbeck hotplate
- How to use a Buschbeck outdoor fireplace
- How to use the Buschbeck pizza oven insert
- Buschbeck temperature guide: heat zones
- Buschbeck accessories: which ones you need
one fire, a whole meal.
Start with the dishes that need the hottest fire and finish with the ones that love the falling heat. The book has a menu for every kind of get-together.
hi, i'm jac.
I'm a Melbourne-based author, speaker, radio and podcast host and business coach, and the face of The Wood Fire Kitchen.
Most days I run The Wedding Academy, the online school that has trained more than 11,000 wedding professionals since 2004, and I've written a whole shelf of books for the wedding industry. This one is just for fun: my first cookbook, and the passion project that grew out of those lockdown nights by the fire.
Find more recipes and fire-cooking inspiration on Instagram at @thewoodfirekitchen. Here for the weddings? See the Wedding Handbook series.
good to know.
Do I need a Buschbeck to use this book?
The recipes are written for a Buschbeck-style masonry outdoor fireplace with a grill, hotplate, pizza stone and perhaps a rotisserie, but most of them work over any good wood fire. You don't need every accessory either: a grill, a cast iron pan and a camp oven will take you through most of the book.
I'm new to cooking with fire. Is it for me?
Yes. Before the recipes there's a whole section on choosing wood, lighting the fire, reading the heat, cast iron and care, and every recipe has a Fire line telling you the heat you need, plus a Fire note with the advice I'd give you if I were standing next to you.
Metric or imperial?
Both. Metric comes first with imperial in brackets, and there's a full conversion and safe-temperature table at the back.
How is the paperback printed and shipped?
It's a full-colour 8 × 10 in paperback, printed to order and shipped by Blurb. You'll see shipping options and any local taxes at the Blurb checkout.
Is this an official Buschbeck book?
No. It's an independent cookbook I wrote for my own Buschbeck and the community that grew around it. It isn't affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Buschbeck. Always follow your manufacturer's instructions and local fire regulations.
light the fire. pull up a chair.
230 full-colour pages, 89 recipes and everything you need to cook beautifully on your Buschbeck.
Buschbeck is a trademark of its owner. The Wood Fire Kitchen is an independent publication and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Buschbeck. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions and local fire regulations.