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Preparing The Fire
Before you cook on your Engel, fire it up first. You need to proof the oven and grill. Load it up with some dry wood and do a quick burn with the flue open (flue handle up). Once finished, lightly oil the grill bar with some cooking spray.
Establishing a fire for cooking
Your choice of fuel determines the quality of your fire. Wood that has aged for a year is ideal for wood fired cooking.
Manuka, Kanuka and Macrocarpa as well as wood from oak, fruit or nut trees are also great burning options to use in your outdoor fireplace.
Bigger pieces of hard wood are perfect for slow cooking, while a large lump charcoal generates the right conditions for cooking on the grill.
Burning your outdoor fire with smaller pieces of wood works well to generate a hotter oven which is perfect for wood firing pizzas and focaccia bread.
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Quick Advice For Cooking With Your Engel Fire
When cooking on your outdoor fire, don’t use mouldy or musty wood as it results in an unpleasant smell that will taint your food.
Don’t leave too much bark on your wood as it creates a bitter smoke.
Pine is ideal for starting your outdoor fire because it burns quickly, but it imparts an acrid flavour and should never be used for the cooking.
Never use treated wood for wood fired cooking.
Refrain from overloading the fire basket of the Engel Fire as pieces of wood may fall behind the basket.
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Cooking On The Stones: Wood Fired Pizzas & Breads
Before using your outdoor fireplace as a Pizza Oven, always ensure that the fire basket has been cleaned out. Ash acts as an insulator and will prevent the bricks from heating to the required temperature for outdoor wood fired pizza cooking.
Light your fire and with the fire basket rolled forward and bring the temperature of the stones up to 300 degrees (check the heat with your laser probe as supplied by Engel Fires).
When your fireplace has reached the desired temperature, push the basket back and load your pizzas, or breads straight onto the hot stone. You can now control the temperature by opening and closing the front doors and the flue.
In just 3-5 minutes you will have the ultimate crispy wood fired pizza!
For best results you want a VERY hot outdoor oven, the hotter the better. This is what gives the pizza the rise it needs.
For thinner breads like focaccia or large loaf tins place it into a well-oiled shallow baking tray at around 220 degrees. This is also the ideal temperature for wood firing breads in larger loaf tines.
For a perfect finish to your wood fired breads brush them with a good amount of water and a drizzle of oil.
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Cooking On Your Wood Fired Grill
Before grilling your meat on your Engel Fire ensure the flames have burnt down to smouldering embers and bring your meat up to room temperature before grilling on your outdoor fireplace.
Oil the meat and season with flaky sea salt and a good crack of fresh pepper (always oil the meat – not the grill).
Once you have placed the meat onto the wood fired grill, cook it until you have some good char marks, this will make it easier to remove and turn.
Rest your meat before cutting. Loosely wrap larger cuts of meat with tinfoil for at least 20 minutes while smaller cuts like chops and steaks should be rested for up to 10 minutes.
Raise the grill to the top of your outdoor wood fired BBQ for cooking food at a lower temperature, this is great for infusing a smoky flavour. Things like brined chicken work well using this method of wood fired cooking.
