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Feuerküche
German, Monika Di Muro, Chris Bay, Monika Flückiger, 2018
There is (fortunately) nothing esoteric about archaic fire cooking
13.6.2019
Translation: machine translated
"Archaic fire cooking" is the name of the course I signed up for. I initially feared that it was a shamanic spirituality seminar. Fortunately, I was so wrong.
"Tschou i bi dr Nino," says the young man in outdoor gear at the Felsenegg mountain station. He's not wearing a tie-dye shirt or a necklace made of energy stones. That reassures me. I was expecting worse. We first hike for a good hour to a farm where we make a fire and cook various dishes using the simplest of methods. The course participants include the executive board of an architecture firm, an interested couple and a prison officer. Most of the participants are men.
Chillfood
The course was created by Monika di Muro and Chris Bay. They have put together a manifesto with principles for fire cooking. It's not just barbecuing that we're doing on this spring evening. We don't have a barbecue. Nino has brought two pots and a cast iron pan. The most important tools for turning the fire are tongs and metal sticks. We cook on the embers and in the fire. Now I realise that archaic does not equal esoteric.
archaic
Adjective
belonging to the prehistoric, early period or having come down from it
Everyone starts with their task. I am in the bread group and initially disappointed that I am not allowed to prepare meat. "The bread section is almost the most challenging," Nino reassures me. He turns out to be right. I shape the pieces of yeast dough into flatbreads that go straight into the hot embers. The difficulty lies in leaving the bread in the embers long enough for it to bake through. This is just before they turn black. Fortunately, a pair of fireproof gloves is also part of the equipment, so I don't burn my fingers.
I still burnt a few loaves of bread in the hot embers. I also got distracted by the other groups. They tied chicken to the wood with wire, collected herbs or buttered a whole side of salmon. We prepared the following:
- Wild herb soup
- Marrow bone
- Israeli fire aubergine
- Salmon on a fir wheel with fire cabbage (a white cabbage in the fire)
- Dung scratcher on a hazel stick
- Chicken hearts with chilli and ginger
- Küngel deep-fried in the gamelle
- Spring onions in the fire
- Burnt hazelnut cream
Just throw it in
It takes courage to put aubergines and cabbage directly into the fire. The beef bones cut lengthways for the marrowbone also end up directly in the embers. One filled with oil
gamella lid is added by Nino. "I came up with this idea when I found one of these lids by the side of the road on a hike. We turned it straight into a deep-fat fryer." We fry a chopped rabbit in it. That's also what archaic fire cooking is all about: Repurposing things. We nail the salmon side to a plank of fir wood. We attach the dung scratchers to the branch of a hazel bush with wire. The birds then hang by the fire like Jesus on the cross.
We also prepare the soup in archaic style. A dozen stones lie in the middle of the fire for an hour. We then put the red-hot stones into the soup water. It starts to boil after a short time.
Speaking of soup: there is no fixed order. It's an anarchic-archaic fire cooking course. Marrowbone, bread, chicken hearts and then aubergines. There are no plates either, everyone has a spoon, there is no other cutlery or even plates. Everyone sticks their spoon into the pot for the "roasted hazelnut cream" dessert. This is the only slightly esoteric moment of a successful evening.
You can find the full range of courses offered by Chillfood on the website. If you want to read more from me on esoteric or culinary topics, you can follow my author profile below and you will receive an email with my new texts. You can find recipes and other delicious ideas in Monika and Chris's cookery book.
Simon Balissat
Teamleader Editorial
Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.chWhen I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.
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