Fires: building a cooking fire

Many campfire cooking activities need embers to cook on, rather than flames - here's how to prepare your fire.

Introduction

Here we’re describing two ways to build a cooking fire in a fire box, however you can apply the same method to a fire pit or other fireplace to create a cooking fire.

A fire box is a strong rectangular or square fire pit with a lip to hold a grill. It has foldable legs, making it easier to stow away. The fire box provides a handy contained structure to cook with embers. The hot embers are created in the base of the fire and the flames occur above the burning fuel.

What you'll need

fire pit
fire gloves
fire lighting resources – Dragons Sneeze, flint & steel etc.
ignition material, kindling
seasoned wood for fuel to feed the fire
bricks or flat logs to raise the fire pit up if necessary
fire safety kit

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Environmental Considerations

Consider the environmental impact of preparing, carrying out & completing this activity. Could this impact be reduced? Specific considerations for this activity could include:

leave no trace – keep fire box away from ground to avoid scorching
use dead wood for burning
dispose of wood ash carefully

Health & Safety Considerations

Follow your usual operating procedures and carry out appropriate risk benefit assessments.
Some considerations particular to this activity include:

general fire safety (for more information look at our Fire safety guide)
have a fire safety kit to hand

Setting up:

If you are using the fire box above grass or a surface that could be affected by heat then it is advisable to raise the box up – ideally at least 20cm, but any distance will reduce the heat impact on the surface below.

The amount of heat a cooking fire gives off is surprisingly high so it’s important to spend time preparing the right set up.

If you have time you can create an oven space and or a warming space underneath the firebox.

Technique 1 - fire in the middle:

Build a fire in the middle of your fire box (for advice on lighting fires read how to create & maintain a fire). Let it grow then start to die down.

Keep adding fuel at the edges to keep the fire burning and, as embers develop, push them into the middle to add to the ember bed.

Keep adding fuel to the fire at the sides and add to bed when necessary.

Technique 2 - fire one side, embers on the other:

Using a double fire box in the way described here helps to maintain a bed of hot embers to cook with on one side, whilst keeping the fire going (flames) on the other. Periodically swapping sides means you always have hot embers.

Step #1

Light a small fire in one side of the box (for advice on lighting fires see how to create and maintain a fire).

Continue to feed the fire with increasingly larger pieces of dry, seasoned wood.

Once the fire has been going for a while, embers will have developed.

Step #2

Using a stick, scrape some or all the remaining burning fuel over to the empty side of the fire box, and add more fuel to get it going.

This will leave a bed of embers on the original side. Alternatively light a fire in the middle and spread it out.

Safety note: make sure when you are doing this you don’t accidentally flick burning embers out of the box.

Step #3

On one side, add more wood fuel to keep the fire going, to build up more hot embers.

Leave the other side as a bed of embers to cook on.

Step #4

You can cook directly in the embers or use a grill.

Over time these embers will start to die down. To build them up again, remove the grill and either move the burning fire back over the dying embers or put more fuel on to build the fire back up.

double firebox with pan on right side grill

Take it further

Check out Snapdragons Forest instructions for making a fire that's perfect for toasting marshmallows!

They posted this in October 2021 and kindly gave us permission to share it here.

Disclaimer: Muddy Faces cannot take any responsibility for accidents or damage that occurs as a result of following this activity.You are responsible for making sure the activity is conducted safely.