The Backyard Fire Cookbook: Get Outside and Master Ember Roasting, Charcoal Grilling, Cast-Iron Cooking, and Live-Fire Feasting

Ditch the gas grill and light your fire with this comprehensive guide from the author of The New Camp Cookbook. The Backyard Fire Cookbook offers techniques and recipes to master cooking with live fire and coals, including planking, cast iron, foil packets, and more.
 
There’s no denying the thrill of cooking outdoors and the sense of community it brings when people gather around a fire, and in this book, author Linda Ly will teach you how to master the flames. For the adventurous, start by building a home fire pit. It’s easier than it sounds and requires minimal investment of time and space. If you’d rather not, that’s okay! There are plenty of other options, from vessel fire pits to tabletop grills. Even a charcoal kettle grill will give you more flavor than cooking with gas. Ly also covers everything you need to know about fuel sources (hardwood, hardwood lump charcoal, and smoking wood), her go-to grilling tools and accessories, secrets for stocking an indoor and outdoor pantry, fire making, fire safety, and tips and tricks for grilling more efficiently.

You can choose your own adventure with over 70 recipes for ember roasting, wood-fired cooking, charcoal grilling, and foil pack meals. Next-level techniques like dutch oven cooking, grilling a la plancha, and plank grilling are all part of the fun, too. With modern twists on classics and globally-inspired meals like Smoky Ember-Roasted Eggplant Dip, Thai Chicken Pizza with Sweet Chili Sauce, Grilled Oysters with Kimchi Butter, Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf on a Plank, and Artichoke, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Feta Stuffed Flank Steak, you’ll find a recipe for almost every occasion. This is not a book about low-and-slow barbecue, and you won’t find overnight marinades or complicated recipes, either. Ly aims to encourage easy, accessible grilling that you look forward to doing on a weeknight because, quite simply, food just tastes better outside.

Whether you’re a seasoned home cook or a novice on the grill, The Backyard Fire Cookbook will help you make the backyard your new kitchen.


The Great Outdoor Cooking series brings the flavors of the kitchen into the wild, with recipes designed for campfires, cabins, trails, and backyards alike. With a beautiful photo for every recipe, an attractive giftable package, and an affordable price, each book blends easy techniques with adventurous spirit, proving that outdoor meals can be just as fun—and delicious—as anything cooked indoors.

Other books in the series include The National Parks Cookbook, The New Camp Cookbook, The Family Camp Cookbook, Cabin Cocktails, Camp Cocktails, New Camp Cookbook Fireside Warmers, and New Camp Cookbook on the Trail.

Linda Ly is the author of The New Camp Cookbook, The Backyard Fire Cookbook, The CSA Cookbook, The No-Waste Vegetable Cookbook, and The National Parks Cookbook and the blogger behind the award-winning gardenbetty.com, a lifestyle site devoted to modern homesteading, green living, and adventure traveling. Nearly two million visitors turn to the blog every year for inspiration, tips, and tricks for eating well and living well, both in their backyards and in the great outdoors. Linda has been featured in national and regional media including Country Living, HGTV, Better Homes & Gardens, and Heritage Radio Network. Her passion for camping and cooking has taken her all over the American West, but she calls Bend, Oregon, home.