HOME RENOVATION
FIRESIDE
COOKING
Carrie and John
share their tips for
success.
THE GEAR
To minimize smoke
and cleanup,
use a cooking grate
that catches grease.
The Moreys cook
pizzas and steak
directly on the
grate but use a
cast-iron skillet—
preheated on the
grate—for fish.
WOOD
Oak is John’s go-to.
“It makes a nice
bed of coals,” he
says. Cooking
over coals rather
than a flame cuts
down on smoke.
HIGH HEAT
Be patient. It can
take an hour to get
the embers hot
enough. “There’s a
difference between
starting a fire
and getting it hot
enough to cook on,”
Carrie says.
John began making
dinner in the fireplace
after Carrie gave him
a campfire cooking
grate so he wouldn’t
have to grill in the
rain. A low “mantel”
serves as a ledge for
cooking tools.
The whole family
joins in the pizza-
making. “I like to place
a bunch of ingredients
in bowls and let
imaginations take
over,” Carrie says.
The Morey girls top
handmade crusts that
were parbaked in the
oven (400°F for five
minutes) to give them
structure. The pizzas,
especially if loaded
with toppings,
sometimes also need
to be finished under a
broiler because the
fireplace heat is only
from the bottom.
COOKING IN A FIREPLACE ALLOWS
FOR A DIFFERENT SMOKE FLAVOR THAN
AN OUTDOOR GRILL. CARRIE MOREY
32 | May 2019
A FIREPLACE THAT
BURNS WOOD IS
SAFER FOR
COOKING THAN A
GAS ONE.
