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The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace or Campfire Hardcover – March 1, 2004

by William Rubel (Author), Ian Everard (Illustrator)
4.4 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
2003 James Beard Award NomineeThe open hearth is where American colonials baked their beans, English families took their tea, French country families prepared their pot au feu, and Italian mothers stirred their polenta. THE MAGIC OF FIRE explores both the techniques of hearth cooking and the poetry of hearth and flame through the ages. The recipe collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the past with authentic renditions of Brisket Baked under Ashes, Pot Roast, String-Roasted Turkey, Stockfish Stew, Chocolat Ancienne, and Tarte Tatin. With its evocative and erudite narrative and extraordinary paintings by master realist Ian Everard, THE MAGIC OF FIRE is the definitive work on open-hearth cooking. • The first book to cover the complete range of open-hearth cooking techniques, including ash baking, ember roasting, hearthside grilling, string- and spit-roasting, and hearthside Dutch oven baking.• Features 100 extraordinary illustrations of food and fire by master realist Ian Everard.• Many of the recipes require no special equipment. Simply open the book, light a fire, and cook.Reviews"Definitive book on cooking." —Paula Wolfert, author of Mediterranean Grains and Greens, The Cooking of Southwest France"THE MAGIC OF FIRE is the most thoughtful and thorough study of hearth cooking I know of. His book is full of practical information (the section All about the Fireplace is a masterpiece), unconventional recipes, and fascinating historical references that link his modern perspective to this primitive art. It will inspire professionals as well as serious home cooks to recover the taste that only hearth cooking can deliver. " —Paul Bertolli, chef and owner, Oliveto Cafe & Restaurant, author of Chez Panisse Cooking"There is something fundamental about cooking over an open fire. I love the flames, I love the smells, and of course, I love the taste. William Rubel's THE MAGIC OF FIRE, is an indispensable guide to this lost art." —Alice Waters, chef and owner, Chez Panisse"THE MAGIC OF FIRE is a fabulous book! It's about flames and ashes; tripods and spider pots; campfires, hearths, and fireplaces. It's about ember-roasted vegetables, flat breads, stews, steamed puddings, salt cod—deeply fundamental foods that will make you see the possibilities of your fireplace in a new light. Passion, experience, and good writing have met in a book that's good reading, with instructions that are clear as a bell." —Deborah Madison"It's a fun read, particularly for those who have always been fascinated by early American history." —The Baltimore Sun "The bible of hearth cooking." —House & Garden "[An] enchanting, step-by-step, illustrated field guide." —The Philadelphia Inquirer "A seemingly romantic concept that the author insists is quite practical." —Sarasota Herald Tribune "If you're looking for something totally different, I'd dare say you probably won't find another book like this one." —National Barbecue News The best instruction of skillful cooking on the hearth now in print.” —The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles"
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  1. Print length
    296 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    William Rubel
  4. Publication date
    March 1, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    8.75 x 1 x 12.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1580084532
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1580084536
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why cook by the hearth when our modern stoves offer such convenience? William Rubel's remarkable The Magic of Fire provides unexpected answers to the question, not immediately apparent to those interested in pursuing live-fire cooking and the intense flavors it produces. To be sure, the book is definitive in its exploration of open-hearth technique; readers learn everything they need to know about equipment, methods (including ash baking, ember roasting, and hearthside grilling, among others), and even about fire itself (it has various life stages, each best for a particular cooking task). Rubel also provides 100 delicious hearthside recipes for fundamental foods like roasted red peppers, ember-baked fish, pot roasts, and desserts, including bread pudding and baked apples--formulas he conscientiously walks us through.

But the book's greatest--and most exciting--virtue lies in its presentation of fire cooking not merely as a "hobbyist" project but as a means for understanding cooking itself. It does this by revealing the relationship of fire to the things it cooks; in learning, for example, that a hearthside frittata requires "a moderately mature fire with gentle to moderate flames" to cook while simple toast needs "a new to moderately mature fire with moderate to high flames," we begin to see just how cooking works. For anyone interested in this everyday but still magical feat, this is thrilling stuff. With over 100 color illustrations of the required fires (whose preparation is thoroughly detailed); a discussion of alternative cooking "venues," including campsites; and a useful food glossary, this guide, both practical and illuminating, is an unexpected treasure. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Open-hearth cooking is probably the least-explored atavism in the modern kitchen. Culinary purists who unflinchingly butcher their own fowl or grind their spices with a mortar and pestle tend to draw the line at the hearth; even campers do what they can to make their fires more like stoves. But traditional cooking specialist Rubel's pursuit of "the poetry of fire" makes a compelling case for the allure of hearth cooking. Despite the prerequisites basic firebuilding technique and an arsenal of equipment that would not look out of place in a medieval dungeon Rubel's recipes are surprisingly straightforward. They run the gamut from delicate desserts (steamed custards, clafouti) to the inevitable roast beasts (wild duck, leg of lamb), and he describes the type of flame necessary for each dish (as in, "a mature fire with gentle to moderate flames"). The erudite and apparently well-traveled Rubel intersperses recipes for Gigot la ficelle and Ember-baked Trout with anecdotes that begin "when I was in Northern Kenya..." or "while studying mushroom cookery in China, near Myanmar...." He does not address the impracticalities of fireplace cooking (the hazards of unintended conflagrations, the purgatorial heat), merely recalling that a guest once had to remove his shirt in midwinter at one of Rubel's meals. Those brave enough to follow Rubel's footsteps will undoubtedly consider this book a classic work of its kind. It may also appeal to readers who want to take the manly art of barbecue to a new level, and it will be irresistible to slow-foodies.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Rubel
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 1, 2004
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1580084532
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1580084536
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.7 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.75 x 1 x 12.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers appreciate the book's carefully described techniques of hearth cookery and its 100 recipes with heartbreaking simplicity and flavor. They praise the beautiful paintings and sketches throughout the book, and one customer notes how it covers foods and cooking techniques from around the world. They like the fire metaphor, with one review highlighting the tantalizing glimpses of how fire is used in cooking.

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6 customers mention "Recipes"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's recipes, which carefully describe hearth cookery techniques and feature 100 recipes with heartbreaking simplicity and flavor. The book includes beautiful paintings and sketches, with one customer noting its global food and techniques from around the world.

"...It starts with a lucid little essay [TOO little: I would have loved something deeper] on hearth cooking, aptly weaving the poetics of the practice..." Read more

"...What is so deceptive about this book is its elegant simplicity. You might think a mere onion, thrown onto the coals is just a cooked onion...." Read more

"...the one you are going to use for more than just drooling over the pretty pictures. (Mind you, the pictures are quite droolworthy.)..." Read more

"...The descriptions are very well done, the paintings and sketches are simply wonderful and the recipes will keep a person busy for a very long time...." Read more

3 customers mention "Fire metaphor"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the fire metaphor in the book, with one mentioning how it provides tantalizing glimpses of how to use it.

"...There are a couple of pages on the fire itself, and a few coy words on the complications of preparing multicourse meals...." Read more

"...be duplicated by any other heat source, and that is literally the MAGIC of fire." Read more

"...Tantalizing glimpses of how fire is and has been used around the world add more spice...." Read more

3 customers mention "Readability"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable, with one mentioning it's fun to read.

"...It is fantastic...." Read more

"...the world and from many different time periods make the book really fun to read...." Read more

"I love this book. I had seen it years ago and finally found it again." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • J. V. Lewis
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful and Fundamental Book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2006
    Verified Purchase
    Cooking in fire and coals wasn't important to me until I ate in a humble farmhouse kitchen in the mountains of the Veneto a few years ago. The flavors of woodsmoke in the roast squab and the wild-mushroom risotto were magical. They transformed simple, lean ingredients into something amazingly rich, complex, and soul-stirring. I was haunted for months after by the memory of those flavors. Then I had one of the greatest meals of my life at Chez Panisse, which featured flame-broiled rabbit sausages and coal-roasted lamb, which was finshed in the kitchen fireplace in a puff of rosemary smoke. From my vantage in the dining room I watched the utterly simple preparation, an immemorial process, and vowed to learn whatever I could about hearth cooking. In lieu of a grandmother with traditional hearth-cooking skills, I had books, and The Magic of Fire continues to stand out above the others.

    This book teaches almost everything I've needed to know to cook with fire. It starts with a lucid little essay [TOO little: I would have loved something deeper] on hearth cooking, aptly weaving the poetics of the practice into the pragmatics. It introduces the tools of the craft and provides a quick peek at various hearth-cooking methods. Again, much more detail would have been welcome, but this is a tantalizing glimpse into a craft that can absorb years of practice. There are a couple of pages on the fire itself, and a few coy words on the complications of preparing multicourse meals. Then to the food.

    The food: 100 recipes of heartbreaking simplicity and flavor. Have you ever eaten a sweet red pepper roasted to blackness in wood coals? One ingredient, simply transformed, may be the most delicious vegetable you'll ever eat. Unless you've had the great fortune to have eaten a young eggplant prepared the same way. Roasted garlic-sage duck will scent the neighborhood like no lighter-fluid-marinated hamburger patty aver will. And, if you crave an instant return trip to the north Veneto, try the grilled polenta with porcini. It is unaccountably good.

    You are unlikely to find such pleasures from such simple preparations anywhere else. A warning: complications, both financial and conjugal, may arrise if your dedication to these hearthside pleasures leeds you to tearing out the patio in preparation for building a dedicated outdoor fireplace and bread oven. But great pleasures are a path of no return.
    38 people found this helpful
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  • Mercy Ingraham
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Magic of Fire: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace
    Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2002
    Verified Purchase
    I purchased this book from Amazon.com last month, and am I glad I did! It is fantastic. I have spent years cooking over fires while camping, backpacking, backyard barbecuing and more recently, demonstrating cooking over the fire in historic sites. This book contains what none of the other books on hearth cooking do--how to work with the fire. I have shelves of cookbooks that talk about recipes from colonial times, but not one of them tells you how to actually use the fire to prepare the meal.
    To begin, it is a BEAUTIFUL book. The illustrations are worthy of their own frames for hanging. The book is well organized, and you can chose to read first about food and then about fire, or the reverse. The author instructs us in the proper use of equipment, but makes it clear that the average kitchen contains the necessary implements to get started. Mr. Rubel has obviously done a lot of traveling, because he brings us delicious food from all over the world. The recipes are clearly described and easy to follow. You feel you know the author personally after reading the book, because he tells you when he first encountered the food, and why he loves it. The range of recipes is wonderful. You can start with flat unleavened bread cooked directly on the coals (yes! you can do this in your living room!) and progress to Pot au-feu. There are menus for every taste and palate.
    I have made quite a few of the recipes, and they have all been resounding successes. What is so deceptive about this book is its elegant simplicity. You might think a mere onion, thrown onto the coals is just a cooked onion. But it is not! ROASTED food tastes very different from baked, and this is true for all vegetables and meats. The carmelization that takes place over the fire cannot be duplicated by any other heat source, and that is literally the MAGIC of fire.
    38 people found this helpful
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  • C. H. Dye
    5.0 out of 5 stars It will make you fall in love with slow food.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    The Magic of Fire is that rare coffee-table sized book -- it's the one you are going to use for more than just drooling over the pretty pictures. (Mind you, the pictures are quite droolworthy.) Rubel carefully describes the techniques of hearth cookery, and then provides a number of recipes to practice upon. Tantalizing glimpses of how fire is and has been used around the world add more spice. A must read for anyone who loves traditional foods, or even just the warmth of a good fire. I recently took my copy with me to the mountains, just because I'd have a chance to play with a campfire, something I can't do at home, and found myself looking at the fire in whole new ways.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Grillmaster
    1.0 out of 5 stars Better know what you are getting
    Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2007
    It is a great looking book, but that's where everything good about it ends. The book is big and has great animation but it's not really about cooking. Granted, it has recipes but nothing particular stands out. Also, it skips a fundamental step, FIRE. What is the best way to set it up, best wood to use, how to manage it?
    I was disappointed.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Dennis G. Nelson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A One Of A Kind Book.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    I volunteer at a Historic Site on weekends. Lately I took training there on hearth cooking, as one of their buildings is a 1840's era kitchen where all cooking was done in a fireplace. I went searching for recipes for this type of cooking. Although this book is not focused on historic recipes only, it does turn out to be a wealth of information on this method of cooking. The descriptions are very well done, the paintings and sketches are simply wonderful and the recipes will keep a person busy for a very long time. This book would be "the best" I would recommend for anyone wanting to do hearth cooking.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • tk
    5.0 out of 5 stars great drawings
    Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    great drawings of hand-made tools from 1700s that were traditionally used in Europe for hearth cooking. I really thought the drawings of the vegetables to be quite attractive as well. Lots of quotes from traditional texts to motivate.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars GrwT
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2020
    Verified Purchase
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