GETTING HOT & BOTHERED

If you’re looking for inspiration in April, and let’s face it, we’re all looking for inspiration, I have something for you.  The Bristol Fire School, run by Genevieve Taylor, live fire cook, teacher and author of a dozen cookbooks devoted to cooking on fire.  With titles like ‘Charred’ and ‘Seared’, you know what page she’s on from the outset, plus she’s a really lovely gal who clearly loves sharing her passion and knowledge with everyone.

The school operates out of her back yard, packed with BBQ rigs, from Fire Pits and Weber’s to Kamado Joe Kettles.  She takes a small gathering of eight students, boys and girls, all with a passion for flames, some novices, some dyed in the wool, so it’s a small class where you get lots of attention and no question is too stupid.  You also get to find out where to source the best charcoal the country has to offer, in fact you come away packed with new knowledge and a sack full of confidence.

We cooked and ate so much food, an astonishing array of different dishes I would never have even contemplated previously, and certainly would never have attempted.  But now, step aside, we’re coming through with the Baked Feta, lemon thyme and garlic, Smoked Mussels with breadcrumbs and thyme, Grilled Cod with chermoula, Stuffed, Rolled Bavette Steak, Smoked Hasselback potatoes, Salsa Verde.  And that wasn’t even the half of it.  We even baked a Roast Orange and cardamom polenta cake to perfection and scoffed it with lashings of Greek yoghurt.

I’ve been cooking over fire for at least 10 years but would be the first to admit that you can teach an old dog new tricks, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect, just a few weeks ahead of our Pop Up, here at Longford Farmhouse on the 12th and 13th April.  I know a lot of people mock the idea of the barbeque being the bloke’s domain, with a beer in hand, not a lot between the ears and a sharing platter of carbonated meat at the end, but I know that isn’t the case.

Genevieve was a quiet demon with the coals, deft of tongs, slowing the pace and introducing the idea of control into the proceedings, turning stress and worry into the joy of communal participation, collaboration, encouragement, bliss.

So, the clocks have changed, Spring is in full flow, the garden beckons and you’re up for a new challenge.  Grab a copy of one of Genevieve’s books, ‘Seared’ for meat, ‘Charred’ for vegetables, ‘Scorched’ for fish, order some sustainably coppiced charcoal from Black Fox in the New Forest, invest in a Weber kettle BBQ, or a Big Green Egg if you’re feeling flush and crack on with having the best time of your life in the comfort of your own back yard.