Why Should You Cook Over a Fire Pit?

When you consider that cooking over an open fire pit is a flashback to the past before gas grills became the norm, it's easy to see why cooking over a fire pit has been gaining in popularity lately, especially with people spending so much more time outdoors in their outdoor living spaces. You can even talk to a swimming pool builder or a landscape designer to have them build a fire pit in your backyard. There’s no reason to completely give up your gas grill, but you can use a fire pit as a way to shake up both your outdoor cooking and your entertaining plans.

Fire pits were the favored type of cooking for decades until propane fuel grills came into the forefront of outdoor cooking. Propane grills were considered more convenient and they certainly cooked more quickly than did a charcoal fueled fire. What propane grills lacked though was the delicious taste of outdoor cooking that only cooking over an open flame of a charcoal grill can offer.

Smokers started gaining in popularity for outdoor parties and cooking and that seemed to be followed by a return to fire pit cooking. A fire pit, by definition, is an outdoor cooking apparatus that could be as simple as a metal legged charcoal grill, to a brick and mortar or chiminea structure. Cooking over the flames of an outdoor fire pit adds a more relaxed ambiance to the festivities. You will want to make certain once you’re done with your cooking though that you use a fire pit cover to keep dirt, leaves and debris from falling into the structure and keep it off of the grill rack.

From cooking meat to grilling fruits and vegetables, cooking over an outdoor fire pit is something that can be done by almost everyone. You don’t need any special cooking talent and any special fuel other than charcoal. However, you may opt to cook in your fire pit over wood rather than charcoal briquettes. Imagine cooking with cherry wood or other fragrant-type woods to add flavor and interest to the meat you cook.

Fire pits also lend themselves to your guests pulling up a chair and lingering around the warmth of the structure long after the meal is over. Imagine the kids roasting marshmallows over the open flames while the adults relax and keep a watchful eye on the proceedings – it is fun for all! Constructing a fire pit will certainly add to the number of months that you can utilize your outdoor living space.