Something has stirred in the forest, still faint, but definitely stirring. The forest in question is the tangled thicket of my thoughts into which a seed has fallen and taken root. If it grows and thrives I shall tell you more about it. Having a computer, which can do more that two or three million things at the same time, allows me, a forgetful septuagenarian mortal, to let the seed grow or wither whilst I concern myself with meatier meditations on cooking in a wood fired pizza oven. Whatever my feelings on meat eating are, were or will be must be disregarded when confronted with a toothsome côte de boeuf looking as sexy, and bronzed as the one in the picture above these words….or the gigot below.
There is a visceral quality to cooking with a medium as direct as the living heat and fire of an oven such as this which quality extends as much to the burnt offerings and burnt hands of the novice as to the glorious look and unique taste of dishes that emerge successfully from the heat of furnace. I am very taken by this style of cooking whilst being equally aware of its demands…lots of wood and lots of time. There needs to be an intense heat created for the quick preparations such as pizzas or flatbreads but that which interests me most is the slow cooking that happens while the oven is cooling down……which is something that might well interest some of you who would like to spend a few days cooking and taking pictures in the Vendée in a new and glamorous location….and so the seed begins to grow.
This is wonderful. Gorgeous looking food. I’m toying with the idea of having a brick oven in the back garden when we retire so we can do food like this. My husband blanched a bit thinking we would be building it. I reassured him, that no, we’d hire someone. 🙂
This one was at a friend’s house…I was very, very impressed:)
I’d be hoping for more invitations. 😊
idea is still germinating:)
Are we all sking Father (or Mother!) Christmas for wood fired ovens?! Am intrigued about your plans for next year…
love the idea of skiing for a wood fired oven….Santa would be most appreciative:)
😉 Could be a new winter sport! Damn my fast typing and not checking for typos!
..and damn my pedantry:)
asking….!
🙂
I’m skiing for a wood fired oven too, but it’s a bit warm in London and the snow won’t settle.
Build one of those and you can do all manner of roasting and baking photography courses 😉
A winter Olympics based on wood fired ovens is coming to London this Christmas….:)
What a treat 🙂
🙂
Wow a wood fired oven would be amazing. Just imagine how good all your food would taste! Gorgeous photos as always.
I’m imagining…:)
I got to cook in one down in the south of France. Using vine roots and oak. Pizza cooked to perfection in 2 minutes. From memory the oven reached over 800ºC. Very hot.
It does get very hot…but there’s also the thing of closing the front and blocking the flue to let the temperature slowly drop “while my gigot gently weeps” pace George Harrison..:)
Sounds very interesting. I love slow cooked foods and taking photos…very interesting…
It could well be….:)
. . . ‘in a new and glamorous location’ ? Am I dense or this a very planned titillation . . . ? . . . . most interesting . . .
….have to wait until Christmas morning before opening presents:)
Lovely post. I’m hungry again.
Just finished your book! Loved it 🙂 !!
Oh! Thank you for letting me know, Eha!!
Good to hear….and I hear your book is doing famously well…congrats:)
That roast is nothing short of spectacular, Roger. Zia often talks of a time when there was a large brick oven in a neighbor’s yard. One day a week, the women would gather and bake bread. Today, brick ovens are making a resurgence and some are having them built in their yards. They’re for pizza. Nothing wrong with pizza, mind, but do try to use a little imagination.
That said, I do just love clams. . .
There seems to be a resurgence of the brick/clay oven…and I agree, there good for a lot more than pizza:)
Drool.
indeed:)
With bated breath… In the meantime, good lord, those photos are making me hungry. (Vegetarian tonight for dinner here, alas.)
Same here…vegetarian dinner, that is:)
Fede and I are going to make a wood fired oven this coming summer! (I can’t remember what they are called in Argentina but one of those!) I am SO looking forward to it. Your little pizza looks divine.. c
Looking forward to seeing the results from your oven…they’ll be excellent, that’s for sure.Just been listening to the Food Programme on BBC Radio4(we get it on a digital radio) all about a Kiwi lady, Juliet Harbutt, who revolutionised artisan cheese making in the UK over the last 30 years…brilliant lady..check her out:)