The enticing, elemental aroma of steaks cooking on a wood fire. Plump, juicy chickens revolving on a rotisserie. Delicious pizza, baking to perfect crispness in a stone hearth oven. All of it in full view of the customer.
This is the allure of artisan cooking platforms. Cooking over an open flame has exerted a powerful draw on humankind since the discovery of fire—or, rather, the controlled use of fire—during the early Stone Ages. It was a turning point in cultural evolution then, and it is an important feature of on-trend and dynamic restaurant concepts today.
The word artisan may have lost some of its meaning in this marketing-oriented era, but the craft of artisan cooking is still very much alive, and in fact it’s been staging a robust resurgence.
Buzzworthy chefs have been embracing traditional styles of food preparation (hello, house-made pickles and house-cured salumi!) and ancient methods of cooking, including cooking over wood and other solid fuels.
According to Tim Green, Synergy’s resident pizza specialist and artisan cooking guru, cooking with solid fuel is the oldest method of cooking, and perhaps the simplest. For the purposes of this discussion, “solid fuel” means any material that has mass and matter that is flammable and nontoxic, including wood, charcoal and to a lesser extent coal. The equipment itself encompasses stone-hearth ovens, grills, and rotisseries, as well as more specialized platforms such as tandoor ovens, duck ovens, and specific styles of grilling such as robata and yakitori.
“People have an innate love of this type of cooking,” says Green, who joined Synergy earlier this year after serving as corporate chef for the famed Wood Stone Corp. for 15 years. “Who hasn’t craved the taste of a marshmallow or a hot dog cooked over the open flame of a campfire, or a juicy hamburger fresh of the charcoal grill?”
In a restaurant setting, solid-fuel cooking confers many benefits and poses some challenges as well. From the operator’s point of view, there is simplicity. “One of the biggest challenges we face today in the industry is the cost of skilled labor, training, and employee turnover,” explains Green. “Cooking with solid fuel eliminates the need for complex sauces, marinades, sauté skills and lots of specialized equipment. By eliminating these processes, we decrease food inventory, prep time, cooking equipment, and real-estate for that equipment, training, and food waste.”
The benefit for the customers is flavor—and a compelling backstory. Cooking with solid fuel and an open flame achieves great food flavors and textures. When done in the context of an open kitchen, it speaks to transparency, freshness and a statement of skill and quality. “Cooking with solid fuel/open flame/stone hearth methods is tremendously theatrical,” says Green. “Guests love to see fire, and are even more excited when their food is cooked with that fire. Seeing an open kitchen with solid fuel and smelling the unique aromas of wood or charcoal tells us that our food will be fresh, whole, and full of flavor. The customer also perceives that cooking with a live fire means that the cook must be paying great attention to the food. We like that.”
But there are also challenges that come with the commitment to cooking with these artisan platforms. Green points out that many regions of North America no longer allow cooking with solid fuel, particularly urban areas, because of concerns about pollution. Where allowed, there is a need for powerful ventilation systems, fire suppression and the room and manpower to receive and store fuel, whether wood, charcoal or coal, as well as a system to dispose of ashes.
And there are certainly issues for the kitchen team. “Cooks need to become Fire Managers as well as cooks, a process that takes training and experience—even for those former campers among the crew who are familiar with fire,” says Green. “It’s not like setting a timer on a combi oven and walking away to do something else—solid fuel cooking needs to be watched closely.” There are even issues of appearance and demeanor when moving cooks out to the stage of an open kitchen, which is something not everyone is comfortable with.
But for those operators who take the plunge, there is magic in store. Says Green: “What is every chef looking for today? Simple, bold, flavors from the food we are cooking.” And that goes double for our guests.
For more information about artisan cooking platforms and solid fuel cooking, check our blog for updates.