Of the many methods for cooking with live fire, few rival the simplicity, speed, and flavor-to-effort ratio of the 茅clade de moules. This traditional dish (going back at least to the 13th century) is from the French d茅partement of Charente-Maritime, which sits on the Atlantic coast north of Bordeaux. It originated when hungry mussel foragers carried their haul up from the sea to the pine forests along the coast and used the fuel they found there to cook their catch quickly and deliciously, without pans or implements. This was often done directly on the ground, on a flat area of dried mud, but over time wooden boards became de rigueur, as they keep the food cleaner.

Mussels generally come in two-pound bags, so you’ll want two or three bags depending on the size of your board and the number of people you’re feeding. Traditionally, they’re cooked on a round wooden board a couple of feet across; if you have the carpentry skills and are so inclined, you could cut and attach a few planks together to create such a substrate. Unless you have a big round board, though, it’s probably best to think of this as an appetizer rather than a main course.

The method couldn’t be simpler. Soak your board for at least four hours before cooking, which helps keep it from catching on fire. Hammer four nails about an inch apart into a cross shape at the center of your board so that the heads protrude at least an inch. Start with the larger mussels first, and lean them against the nails, hinge side up (this keeps the ash from getting inside) and the point angled toward the center of your board. Now work your way around, placing the mussels in concentric rings or a spiral until they’re all arranged. Make sure they’re crowded together tightly so they can’t pop open during cooking and ruin your beautiful arrangement. Spread the pine needles generously over the top so that you can’t see any mussels鈥攜ou want a layer at least a couple of inches thick, but four or so is ideal. Then light the needles in several places, starting at the base, and fan the flames into a conflagration. Once they burn down to ash, you can fan or blow the ash away and begin eating.

Serve them on the still-smoking board or transfer them to a platter. Crusty bread and salted butter (and a glass of cold white wine) are the traditional accompaniments, as is a bowl of boiled new potatoes, but the mussels are also amazing piled on top of a green salad or added to a larger seafood spread or raw bar situation. You could also use the mussels as components in other dishes, or toss them in a little melted butter and hot sauce and stuff them into hot dog buns, lobster roll鈥搒tyle.

It’s easy, impressive (and very social media鈥揻riendly), and above all it’s primal鈥攁n inspiring way to enlist flames to make your dinner. Besides the elegance of the arranged shells and the drama of a whooshing fire, the pine needles impart a delightfully smoky flavor to the mussels that plays beautifully with their briny character: a real fusion of land and sea. An 茅clade de moules is also a terrific way to eat in high style but lower on the food chain, as farmed shellfish are one of . So rejoice, and fire up an 茅clade at your next cookout, campfire, or clambake.

The Gear You’ll Need

1. You’ll need a good-sized plank, 1-by-12 or 2-by-12, cut a couple of feet long. Don’t use pressure-treated wood or plywood: the chemicals in the former and the glue in the latter are toxic, and you don’t want those fumes near your food. You’ll also need four nails at least a couple of inches long, and a hammer to hit them with. And you’ll need an armload or two of bone-dry pine needles (foraged or store-bought) as fuel for your fire, and something to light the fire with. Buy needles from a local garden center rather than a big box store, where the quality can be inconsistent.
2. If you don’t have pine needles, you could try other dried plant material. Dried fava bean stalks are another traditional fuel source, but most people prefer pine needles because they burn faster. A longer cook time means your mussels might get rubbery. Dried grass could work well, but not lawn clippings鈥攖hink long dead grass from the edge of a meadow, or maybe beach grass. They won’t give you the piney flavor, but they’ll burn fast.

Be sure to set this up somewhere safe, far from combustible materials, as you would any other type of cooking fire.

The post How to Cook a Perfect 脡clade de Moules appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Cooking with fire is as primal as food gets鈥攊t鈥檚 a foundational facet of our humanity. Evidence suggests that humans were only able to evolve our big, energy-hungry brains after we learned to use fire to transform food, making it more nutritious and easier to eat. Diverse methods developed around the world over many millennia offer myriad options for imparting the irresistible flavor of fire, and mastering these methods will make you a much better cook.

We鈥檙e all familiar with grilling, where everything sits above the heat and receives a similar char. This meal uses an open flame to cook three different components, and each one has a completely different character. It will open your eyes to the many possibilities around live-fire cooking, whether you鈥檙e in the backyard or the backwoods. Fire constantly changes, needing to be fed and adjusted, and as a result you need to reposition the food, moving it to hotter or cooler areas, or turning it so it cooks evenly. It鈥檚 an immersive and engaging (and extremely analog) process鈥攁nd an excellent antidote for too much screen time.

A few years ago, a chef friend turned me onto the metal tripod as an essential accessory for the firepit in my garden: three metal legs and a chain with a hook to hold the handle of a pot, like a Dutch oven, witch鈥檚 cauldron鈥搒tyle. It鈥檚 inexpensive, portable, adjustable, and perfect for making a slow-cooked stew on a campfire. It also produces the best chicken you鈥檝e ever tasted: the perfect balance of grilled, roasted, and smoked flavors. This is not a quick method鈥攐ptimal results generally take about three hours. But it鈥檚 worth the time investment, and you don鈥檛 have to watch it like a hawk. You can prep other ingredients, gather firewood, take a dip, or just hang out around the fire and savor the aromas.

Build Your Fire Setup

You can do this over a traditional campfire or a circular metal firepit that sits on the ground鈥攁nywhere you鈥檙e able to safely build a fire and set up the tripod. Don鈥檛 put a tripod on top of a kettle-style grill or anything that鈥檚 already on legs. Ideally, you also have a grill you can set up over part or all of the fire, because you can use that surface as both stove and grill for other parts of the meal. If you don鈥檛, you can put your skillet directly on some embers for the mushrooms and greens.

Set up your tripod. Light a charcoal or hardwood fire that鈥檚 just off to one side of the tripod, so that the chain isn鈥檛 hanging down into the fire. Let it burn for at least thirty to forty-five minutes to create a bed of embers. Use a shovel to spread some of these out under the tripod, and keep the fire burning off to one side. You want some radiant heat from embers underneath your bird, and a nice fire burning next to it for lots of indirect heat and smoke, as well as a steady supply of more embers. You don鈥檛 want a raging bonfire, which will burn your food, and you don鈥檛 want an anemic little smolder that won鈥檛 get the job done.

Note: Fires vary, so the times here are imprecise. You鈥檒l need to use your senses鈥攁nd a meat thermometer鈥攖o determine when each component is done. The sides won鈥檛 need as long as the chicken, so once they鈥檙e cooked, put them around the perimeter to keep warm.

Prep and Cook the Chicken

If you can, rub the chicken inside and out with some salt a day ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge overnight. A pre-seasoned chicken will taste notably better than one salted right before cooking.

Using stainless steel or aluminum wire, you鈥檙e going to truss the chicken according to the standard method (see below), but you鈥檙e going to twist loops of wire at the neck, cavity opening, and the middle of the back. By giving you three points to hang it from, these loops will allow you to easily reposition the bird in relation to the heat鈥攏eck up, neck down, and breast down. You can also raise or lower the bird using the chain for even more control.

You don鈥檛 need to brush anything on your chicken, especially if you salted it the night before. You鈥檒l get a beautiful golden brown and crispy skin all over as you rotate it to cook all sides. But if you want it saucier, combine equal parts soy sauce, maple syrup, vinegar, and tomato puree in a saucepan to make an easy barbecue-style sauce. Put that on or near the fire to heat up and simmer so that it reduces gently while the bird cooks. Brush it all over every half hour or so. For extra credit (and flavor), make a brush out of sprigs of rosemary, parsley, and oregano tied together with string. Or if you鈥檙e in the woods, use a couple nice bunches of fresh white pine or spruce needles to furnish your brush.

Use a poker or tongs to turn the chicken every half hour or so, using a different loop to hang it so that a different side faces the fire. Raise or lower it as needed; you want the hot side to be active, steaming and bubbling and catching some color. Feed the fire and rake out more embers as needed to maintain proper heat. It鈥檚 ready to eat when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast and the thigh (don鈥檛 let the probe touch bone) reads 165藲F. Let it rest for five to ten minutes before carving, and serve the extra sauce (if using) on the side.

Don鈥檛 Forget Your Vegetables

The chicken is going to drip fat and juices and some of your basting mixture (if you鈥檙e using it) as it cooks鈥攅specially when you turn it so the cavity is pointing down. Putting a pan beneath it to catch that goodness is smart, and having something in the pan to cook in those drippings is smarter still. Mushrooms make an excellent choice, especially with some slivered onions and a handful of fresh herbs. Button or cremini are fine, but if you can get oyster, maitake, or similar, you鈥檙e in for a treat.

Make sure they have a little oil or fat to get them going, sprinkle on some salt, and position the pan so it catches the drips but doesn鈥檛 burn. Stir or shake the pan regularly as the mushrooms cook, and taste before serving. When they鈥檙e done, you can move the pan off to the side to keep warm, or move the mixture to a serving bowl and use the pan to cook something else鈥攍ike some broccoli rabe.

Broccoli rabe looks like lanky broccoli, but it鈥檚 more closely related to turnips. Its slight bitterness and sturdy texture make it ideal for grilling鈥攊t gets irresistibly savory and tender over a fire. Trim the stalk ends if they鈥檙e brown, then toss your rabe in enough olive oil to coat the stalks, leaves, and florets with a little shine. Sprinkle on a fat pinch of salt per bunch and toss again to distribute it evenly. When the stalks are a vivid dark green and becoming tender, take the rabe off the fire and hit it with some lemon juice and a bit more olive oil.

The Gear You鈥檒l Need

The Tripod

Lodge Cast Iron makes a that鈥檚 also designed to keep a full Dutch oven off the ground, so it鈥檒l be sturdy enough for your chicken.

Wire or Butcher鈥檚 Twine

Stainless steel or aluminum wire for the chicken is best. Alternatively, soak butcher鈥檚 twine in water for 15 minutes before trussing to reduce the singeing.

Carbon Steel or Cast-Iron Pan

If you鈥檙e making vegetables (and you鈥檒l want to), use a pan that鈥檚 built for live-fire cooking, like or

How To Truss a Chicken

1.

Pat a 4-to-5-pound chicken dry with paper towels, and rub with a tablespoon of salt. Cut a 6-foot piece of wire or butcher’s twine.

2.

Place the chicken in front of you, breast up, with the neck pointing away from you.

3.

Make a 2-to-3-inch loop at the midpoint of the wire and twist the loop a couple of times to secure it. You want your loops to easily fit over the tripod鈥檚 hook with room to spare.

4.

Position the loop behind the back in between the wings. Cross the wire over the breasts, then around again to secure the wings. Pass the ends of the wire under the thighs and cross over the leg joints; twist to secure. Create a second loop around the ends of the drumsticks. Flip the chicken so that it鈥檚 breast-side down.

5.

Bring the wires back up to the neck, twisting one more loop at the midpoint of the back, then tie the wires to the loop at the neck and twist to secure them. Snip off any extra wire. Now you have a properly trussed bird that can be hung three different ways for even cooking.

The post How to Cook a Chicken Over an Open Flame appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.